If only…

If only we knew why our sales revenue is falling…

If only we knew how effective we are at meeting client needs…

If only we knew what motivates our people to go the extra mile…

What if…

What if it is possible to know what brings in the money…

What if it is possible to know if you are effective in serving client needs…

What if it is possible to motivate your people to go the extra mile…

Then you will have BREAKTHROUGH GROWTH!

So the question of old remains… what drives performance in a sustainable manner?

With the advent of technology and the internet, we can now access a huge volume of data and pair it with immense computing strength to generate insights for us. Armed with these insights, not only can we learn about how people tick, we can make right decisions to seize the opportunities ahead of us.

How then?

When it comes to data, it is easy to get trapped in the sheer volume of work, such that one experiences “paralysis by analysis”. Hence it is important to approach data in a systematic method.

Say, if I would like to find out what motivates my sales team, I can pool data from various sources:

• hiring interviews
• on-going performance review forms
• client feedback
• supervisor observations
• personal sales achievement
• and the like…

Once we have these data on hand, one of the first thing to do is to check for:

• Validity: it measures motivation
• Reliability: it is a consistent measure and free of errors

So lets examine the list above:

• hiring interviews
  • Valid? No. That interview was completed years ago, what motivates him then might not motivate him now.
  • Reliable? No. Depends on the judgement of the interviewer and the ability to express by the candidate.
• on-going performance review forms
  • Valid? No. It measures performance, not motivation.
  • Reliable? Yes, if carried out properly.
• client feedback
  • Valid? No. Client feedback (“complains”) usually measure performance, not motivation.
  • Reliable? Not really. More feedback from bad service than good service, so it is biased.
• supervisor observations
  • Valid? Could be, provided the supervisor is trained to look out for the right signs.
  • Reliable? May not be a consistent judgement across different supervisors.
• personal sales achievement
  • Valid? Could be, supposed that high sales figures comes from motivation within the salesperson rather than riding on a favorable trend.
  • Reliable? May not be if these figures could be doctored.

Many managers rely on flawed assumptions of the above to examine motivation levels of employees, but it could cause more misunderstandings than needed.

Hence managers need to be equipped with the right tools for the job, here’s where Morphos comes in.

First you will need a blueprint…

Motivation = Personal Characteristics + Team Culture + Organisation Resourcing

With that, you can then look into each of the specific areas and assess them:

• Person
  • Personality: are extroverts or introverts more motivated in selling my products?
  • Attitudes: does the sales person believe in the product in a positive manner?
  • Skills: does the sales person have the competencies to sell the products?
  • Knowledge: does the sales person understand the product and its customer?
• Team
  • Do the team members hold each other to high standards of excellence?
  • Do the team members support and motivate each other?
  • Do the team members communicate and collaborate with one another?
• Organisation
  • Does the organisation provide the required resources?
  • Does the organisation provide training and on-going feedback for improvement?
  • Does the organisation track and monitor performance at a individual level?

With the above blueprint, you can then gather data through:

• Questionnaire surveys
• Focus groups
• Interviews
• Feedback from supervisors
• etc…

And assess your capabilities in doing that.

Finally, with a baseline of data, you can then test for results. Try tweaking a small area, for example, increasing the communication and collaboration between team mates by setting aside budget and time for team activities, as well as regarding it as a priority.

If in the subsequent month, you find that your salespersons are now more motivated to go the extra mile, congratulations for finding a valid and reliable predictor of motivation and answering the age-old question of “what motivates my people”.

WOW! But that sounds like a lot of work!

Yes it is. People are complex and sometimes unpredictable. They may be motivated by pay on one day, and motivated by the team on another day.

Hence, with big data, we pool huge amounts of observations and analyse them for trends, providing a clearer picture of what works for you and what doesn’t.

Speak to us today to find out more.