Sales Strategy
The Two Driving Forces of Selling Superstars | April 27, 2016 (0 comments)
This is part two in a series of the Science of Success articles based on research of top performing fine jewelry sales consultants, conducted by Exsellerate, Inc. Click here to access the free white paper from the research studies.
Tampa, FL--Knowing a person’s top two driving forces illuminates what excites them to action. This is their currency or passion. German psychiatrist Eduard Spranger, developed a list of six motivators that he determined drove people to action. Everyone possesses these six in some hierarchy. A person’s order is developed from childhood to adulthood based on how we uniquely experience conflict, stress, and pain and also pleasure, joy and satisfaction.
Spranger’s six motivators are:
- Aesthetic: A passion to experience impressions of the world and achieve form and harmony in life; self-actualization.
- Individualistic: A passion to achieve position and to use that position to affect and influence others.
- Theoretical: A passion to discover, systemize and analyze; a search for knowledge.
- Traditional: A passion to seek out and pursue the highest meaning in life, in the divine or the ideal, and achieve a system for living.
- Social: A passion to invest myself, my time, and my resources into helping others achieve their potential.
- Utilitarian: A passion to gain a return on all investments involving time, money and resources.
The top two motivators common among selling superstar were Individualistic and Utilitarian. What does this mean?
The Individualistic Driving Force. People with the Individualistic motivator are driven by status, recognition, and control over their personal freedom. They believe that “when the going gets tough, the tough gets going.” They will want to assert themselves. They like their own niche within the store in which to excel. They will seek to become the brand ambassador for Rolex, Yurman, Tacori and other recognizable brands. They may aspire to run the bridal department. Individualistics feel accomplished when rewarded for a job well done.
A word of caution: Recognizing that an Individualistic seeks to assert themself, they may aspire to become the store manager because they want to control their destiny and the destiny of others. It’s what excites them. Unfortunately, our research found “employee development and coaching” is often their least developed behavior. It is common for retailers to fall into this trap. Often making a top performer a manager means two things; you lost your top sales person and you gained an ineffective manager.
We recommend that they be placed in a non-management key role such as brand ambassador as opposed to store manager. This way their desire for control is satiated.
Interview Questions. The best method to improve hiring accuracy consists of three elements: resume, interview and assessment. Following are interview questions to ask a new hire candidate to uncover whether they possess the Individualistic motivator:
- What role does being in control of a situation play in your job satisfaction?
- How important is it for you to control your work environment?
- How important is advancing in your position?
- Would you be interested in a job that gave you the opportunity to create your own path for advancement?
- Give me an example of a time when you were able to move a group of people to action.
- What were the keys to your success?
Part Three of this series will explain the second driving force of superstars, the Utilitarian Motivator.
To learn more about the science of success, access our free research whitepaper, Unlocking the Door to the Behavioral DNA of America’s Fine Jewelry Superstars, set for release at the end of the month. Go to www.exsellerate.com to pre-order a free PDF copy and it will be automatically emailed to you on the release date.
Terry Sisco, founder and CEO of Exsellerate, Inc. has observed, studied, assessed and benchmarked the sales top performers throughout the fine jewelry industry for more than 40 years. From these insights he has authored and facilitated fun and engaging training programs that have impacted the performance of major bridal brands, industry giants such as Platinum Guild International and Blue Nile Global Call Centers, as well as national and regional chains and high-end independents. He is a CPBA, CPVA, CPHD certified to assess and analyze behaviors and driving forces. He has recently completed a research study funded by Platinum Guild USA to determine the behavioral commonalities of the top 1% of fine jewelry sales performers throughout the United States. Email tlsisco@exsellerate.com, 813-787-7355, www.exsellerate.com, facebook.com/exsellrev.