When it comes to motivation, many of us have it, but there are some of us that do not. Let’s explore exactly what motivation is. Motivation is a strength that induces us to take action on things that we want to accomplish. For every situation there is a different motivator that may cause us to take action and accomplish a goal or succeed in an endeavor.

Generally, there are six different types of motivation fit for six different situations that people experience, they are; Incentive, Fear, Achievement, Growth, Power and Social.

• Incentive motivation is a form of motivation in which you are seeking a reward.
• Fear motivation is a type of motivation that is associated with consequences.
• Achievement is a type of motivation in which you become determined to be as competent as you can.
• Growth motivation deters you from becoming comfortable and being stagnant in life, but allows you to always look for ways to change internally and externally to better yourself and your situation.
• Power is a type of motivation in which one desire to control more aspects of their own lives as well as other peoples lives.
• Social motivation is a type of motivation that a person gains when they feel the need to be accepted by others, generally a specific group. Now that we know a little bit about the six types of motivation, let’s look at the key to keeping your team ambitious and successful.

Motivation is a key factor to being successful in sales. The motivations that most sales teams possess are incentive and achievement, but those motivations often disappear throughout one’s career if a person is not reaching his or her goals. A salesperson needs something else. If you are the head of the sales department you should find ways to keep your team engage, determined, ambitious and successful too.

The key to keeping your team ambitious and successful is to encourage them constantly and consistently; if you find that hard to do because some people are simply not motivated, setting up quarterly seminars and having a motivational speaker come and talk to them is a great first step to keeping them ambitious and successful. You can even hire a very funny keynote speaker that could “break the ice”, and encourage your team in a very fun and entertaining way to meet daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly quotas. Providing incentives on top of this, whether it is compensation, time off or another reward, will give a boost to each individual’s efforts that are motivated by incentives. The professional motivational speaker hired to stimulate your sales force will also increase their self-esteem, social recognition, and overall the individual’s potential as a whole.

Most people that are in management positions are seeking the motivations of growth, power, and social recognition. As managers, in order to obtain growth, power, and social recognition, you must first possess the motivation to encourage your employees. Your employees will be your ticket to growing higher within the company, giving you the sensation of controlling a specific team within the company, and even giving you that social recognition that you are striving to obtain amongst your peers. Motivating and uplifting your sales force will stimulate productivity and quality work. Another key to success as a manager is to make sure that the employees are being treated fairly and equally. By doing this, you and your team will remain ambitious and successful, because your team will be comfortable and will be consistently looking for more incentives once they have experienced their first incentives (most likely a big juicy commission check).

As leaders, the motivation that you are seeking is primarily social. How you are perceived in the eyes of the public will be a reflection of how your employees perceive you in the workplace. As a leader, the key to keeping your team ambitious and successful will be to lead with integrity, this will automatically motivate your team by giving them a sense of belonging, trust, and pride while working with your organization. Making sure that every member of the team is performing well will ensure successful results in the working environment. Another key to building an ambitious and successful team is to make sure you are an excellent communicator, and especially a great listener. With good communication skills you will possess the motivational power to influence others. By showing your organization that you care, whether it’s through a mentorship program, encouraging them, or allowing them to be a partner in the organization, your organization/company will not fall short of success.

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Related Article: Motivating Factors: How To Create A More Effective Team