The biggest challenge facing Sales Managers today motivating and retaining employees. Motivated employees are needed in rapidly changing workplaces. Motivated sales teams help organizations survive simply because they are more productive. Motivation is an organization's life-blood; yet "motivation," as a business subject, is largely ignored. Seldom is a clear, coherent, and overall approach taken to the challenge of motivating people. Most organizations don't give it much thought until something starts to go wrong.
There are many variables that will motivate employees to continue working towards new levels of satisfaction. Money becomes less of an issue as an employee's income becomes higher. As an employee ages, work that is interesting is more of a factor.
A psychologist from the USA, Abraham Maslow, first devised the term "trans-personal psychology" and was the first to use many humanistic methods of counseling. Maslow's work led him to believe that many apparently obvious motivations for people's behavior are less important than basic personal development.
Maslow Pioneered a model commonly known as 'Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs', which sheds much light on what motivates people to seek out certain positions and therefore helps sales Resource professionals to determine how best to use these basic building blocks which encompass human nature. Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a five tier model which explains human needs in the order in which they take precedence.
The first and most vital needs to motivate man are physiological needs which include survival, food, water, and shelter. People try to meet their needs in a certain order according to Maslow. A person must meet their physiological needs before attempted to meet the needs of safety, love, and more.
Furthermore, Maslow considers the four primary needs in his hierarchy "deficiency needs," which eliminate the supply of motivation once each is fulfilled. On the other hand, the hierarchy's final need - self-actualization - is a "being" or "growth" needs that influences behavior during the duration of a person's life. Consequently, if a business continues to give its employees opportunities to meet the importance of this high-level need, the company can expect a well-motivated workforce.
Two main beliefs surround the idea of self-actualization, a nebulous concept at best. One thought is that we can never realize self-actualization, but we are always trying to achieve our highest potential. The other main thought is that we can achieve self-actualization, however this only lasts a short while because we will soon find another goal or objective to attain. Those who are trying to achieve their highest potential have a strong desire to make an impact, often by trying to create something special, or forming ideas that come across in important ways. They usually look for positions that allow them autonomy to facilitate their goals.
