Is it Wrong to be Money Motivated?
I’ll never forget interviewing a prospective employee who had two years
of sales experience selling copiers. After spending a few minutes
going over his background, I asked him, “Would you describe yourself as
money-motivated?”
“Money-motivated?” he asked back. He sat there trying to find the
right answer that existed somewhere between what he really felt and
what he thought was the morally correct answer. I could tell he was
struggling with this. He seemed to think to himself, ‘If I tell him
I’m not money-motivated then he may not think I’m ambitious enough to
do well in sales. If I tell him I am money-motivated then he’ll just
think I’m some sort of cheap selfish jerk who will do anything to get a
sale.’
How would you answer that question? Do you think it’s wrong to be
money-motivated? Do you think that deep down inside you really are,
but then think that at some level this belief may conflict with some
other part of your moral or even religious beliefs? For most people in
sales, this internal conflict ensues in a consistent hesitation to do
everything that it takes to win. Even beyond this, it results in
deservability issues, which can kill the sale and kill a career. Most
sales people who sabotage their sales really don’t feel deep down that
they deserve the sale or the money that goes along with it because at
some point in their life, they felt that being ‘money-motivated’ was
morally wrong.
In my own opinion (and this is just my opinion), I don’t think it’s
morally wrong to be ‘money-motivated.’ I don’t even think that the
phrase is an accurate description of what many of us perceive to be the
motivation for effective selling. It’s not money that is motivating a
strong sales rep. It’s getting a strong return on the investment of
his time. It’s knowing that a sales rep is maximizing his
effectiveness and being a good steward of his career. Spend one unit
of your time and see if you can get a return of five units back, that
sort of thing. Money is just a unit of measure of how we value things.
And what’s even paradoxical about sales success is that during each
transaction, the less you focus on your own remuneration and more on
the benefit to your prospect, the more money you make.
Here’s what I mean by this: your motivation has to be in the service of
others. Think about it. In sales, it’s an economic impossibility for
people to purchase a product or service unless there is a tangible or
perceived value which is equal to or greater than the price of
purchase. You’ve got to have some sort of value that you bring to the
decision-making formula, and if you follow this three-part ‘mental
model’ of selling, you’ll see yourself selling more, deserving more,
and enjoying relationships with your customers more. And you’ll
certainly make more money as a derivative of your service:
1. First, understand that in the world of sales, you have to
believe in what you are selling. If you don’t have belief in your
value then you are a phony and every prospect will see through it. 
Your lack of belief will result in your own personal hesitation and
people will sense it and refuse to buy.
2. Second, know that your success in sales is a byproduct of the
value that you bring to the world. When people say that they are
‘money motivated’, it’s not really the money that motivates them. It’s
the representation of value, which is really what money is. Money
represents a measure of value. It’s how we keep score of the amount of
value that we have brought to the world. If you contribute more to
people, then you deserve more. If you bring the value of your service
to more people, the ensuing result is remuneration through
compensation. In other words, the more you sell, the more you make.
3. Third, understand that if you sell with the proper mindset and
belief, you will see every objection with a duty to overcome it. When
you believe that what you have can really benefit someone else, and
that they are making the wrong decision not to buy from you, then you
will approach your sales process with a duty, with a commitment, with
an attitude of service to the other person as you try to help them buy
what you are selling. It’s really that simple. When you believe it,
then they need it, and all that’s left is learning how to overcome
their objections in a way that leads them to take action in making the
purchase.
Remember that there’s nothing wrong with being money-motivated, as long
as you understand how it really all fits together. And if you think
this way, then you’ll never hesitate again about what motivates you and
how your financial reward fits in the big picture.
Copyright (c) 2008 Scott Love
Scott Love improves recruiter performance by getting recruiters to
think at a higher level, to develop a better strategy, to master
recruiting tactics, and to develop better work habits. He has created a
simple step-by-step system of recruiting success that is replicable.
Nearly 2,500 search firms and staffing agencies from sixteen countries
have invested in his training tools. Visit his website for free videos,
training tools, free downloads, and articles at www.GreatRecruiterTraining.com