Quotas Don't Inspire Salespeople

If your team’s motivation feels low, it might not be the target, it’s the message. Watch how reframing goals around purpose creates deeper engagement and performance.

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If you prefer to read - here is the transcript:

I heard a great quote the other day, and that's “Quotas don't inspire salespeople. Missions do.”

And, you know, there's been a lot in the news about the win, the historic win that the EU had over America in the Ryder Cup. And I got really fascinated about the coaching practices of Luke Donald. And one of the things that I noticed is that he gave his team a mission. His mission was “It's our time.” They talked about wanting to stake their place in history.

And I think this has a lot of purpose for our sales teams, because in sales, your team needs a mission too. They're not going to hit the target because it's your target or the board's target, or it's what the executive team wants them to hit. They're not even going to hit the target because that's how they get paid. They're going to hit the target because they see what's in it for them.

What is their mission? What's their purpose? How is the target in their own best interest? And I think that if you can give the team those kinds of vision statements on how the target or the quota is in their best interests, how it defines the company, the team and the person that will help you get buy in for those targets and those quotas and ensure that the team excels this year and wins.

So quotas don't inspire people - missions do. How can you convert your targets and your quota, and the planning for those for next year, into a mission statement for your sales team?