What successful sales, employee motivation and radio have in common!
I come from a sales background. Thirty seven years ago I was trying to “sell” Shakespeare to 15 and 16 year olds. Believe me, you learn a few tricks about selling when you do that!
Fourteen years later, I was selling in the fast-paced pharmaceutical industry, which helped me hone those skills even further.
In both roles, I needed to persuade, influence and inspire others to think, feel or behave differently. I needed to motivate them to listen to me, to follow me, to buy from me (whether that be an idea or a product), or to want to give of their best.
And I learned that in order to do that, I needed to come at it, not from my perspective, but from theirs.
I needed to find their WIFM – their “what’s in it for me?” I needed to find the right button to press which would enable them to see there was actually something in it for them, to read Romeo and Juliet or to work a bit longer when we had a tough deadline to meet in the office.
The concept of the WIFM is not new – most managers have heard of it and sometimes joke about the fact we all transmit on our favourite radio frequency: WI- FM!_
Successful sales and marketers KNOW this. They know that unless you can tap into the other person’s WIFM, unless you can tailor your message so it presses the right buttons for them, then your chances of making a successful sale are slim, if not impossible. They know, for example, when trying to write persuasive copy they should talk “you” far more often than “I”.
Employee motivation is no different.
Fail to find their WIFM – and you’ve an uphill struggle on your hands!
And the only way you can find this out, is by making it a key objective to get to know your staff better.
Successful sales or marketers take the time to really get to know their customers.
As a manager, make it your business to get to know your staff – and you could increase employee motivation substantially!
Do you know the WIFM for each of your staff?
We have masses of information, tips, tools and techniques to help managers improve employee motivation, morale and productivity. Take a look at our amazing resources.
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For more information to help you with the people side of management,
including how to improve employee motivation and get the best out of your team, take a look at these great resources:
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Related posts:
- 7 Employee Motivation Secrets Every Manager Should Know
- Improve Employee Motivation with More Effective Team Meetings
- Five Common Mistakes Managers Can Make Which Kill Morale, Motivation and Engagement
- Successful Team Management: Jeff Bezos from Amazon
- Customer service, employee loyalty and Undercover Boss
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