Be fired by motivation beyond cash rewards

Letters to the Editor usually begin with the phrase “I read with interest⦔ However, in this case, nothing could be further from the truth. The Special Report into Motivation (MW April 27) starts by outlining a scene from a movie which bears little or no relation to the reality of most sales environments we work in today; although it has distinct overtones of “The Apprentice” about it.

Quite simply, sales professionals who are worth their position simply wouldn’t stand for that sort of behaviour from management and would drive good sales people straight out the door – to another employer.

Today’s employees, whether sales- or service-based, demand far more from their management and any motivation programmes offered to them. In much the same way as the consumer has moved on and become more demanding, so have employees; after all why shouldn’t they, employees are consumers too after all.

More issues affect motivation than simply the reward and whether it should be cash or non-cash. From aligning with the employer’s brand through to having the right training to provide the confidence to present the right product to a customer all have a big impact on an individual’s level of motivation. These seem to have been consistently missed in these Special Reports over the years – perhaps they’re too complex to deal with in three pages?

Alternatively, perhaps it’s the fault of the industry, as presumably your writer can only work with the comments he’s given. If so, we have a wake-up call coming if we can’t recognise that trotting out the same old ideas and continuing to focus attention on reward just doesn’t pass muster any more.

I agree that “Money isn’t everything”, but wouldn’t it be great if “Special” was, indeed, special?

Tim Lofts

Planning & strategy director

Euro RSCG Skybridge

1 Hartfield Road

London SW19