As a salesperson, sales manager, or sales leader, you are probably well aware of your company’s formal structure for recognition. Top sales people receive plaques, mention in newsletters, and trips to the beach. Recognition in this form is an effective motivator, but it fails to do one key thing. It fails to motivate middle performers.
An old friend said yesterday that selling is all about understanding self-interest, yours and theirs (the buyers). With such a simple equation, it would seem everyone would be successful in sales, which certainly isn’t the case. I think there are two important dynamics that sales professional must navigate, understanding and pressure.
Charlie Thackston is the President and Co-Founder of SOAR Performance Group. Charlie is responsible for the vision and strategy of the company. Additionally, Charlie is a lead consultant, responsible for developing and implementing Sales Capital Management℠ solutions for our clients.
In his experience as a managing partner for a leading sales effectiveness consulting firm, Charlie has helped global sales organizations such as HP, Siemens, Verizon and SAP to enable sales best practices to achieve improved business results. Charlie’s Sales Capital Management℠ engagements have focused on accelerating growth, sales leadership development, sales performance coaching, global account management skills, consultative selling skills, new business development, partner/channel management, territory management, funnel/forecast management, collaborative business planning, margin acceleration strategies, and executive engagement skills.
Additionally, as a Vice President responsible for sales, marketing, and business development, Charlie has led high performance teams that consistently delivered accelerated growth in both revenue and profitability. His leadership enabled successful public stock offerings for two market innovators, T/R Systems (acquired by EFI) and Datalogix (acquired by Oracle). Additionally, he has served in the role of Vice President of Marketing for Firstwave, an early leader in the customer relationship management market, sales consultant roles for Management Science America (MSA) where he was consistently recognized as a top performer and financial management roles with General Electric and Monsanto.
Charlie is also the Chairman of the Atlanta Chapter of the Sales Management Association. He holds BBA and MBA degrees in Accounting and Finance from the University of Georgia, and resides in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and children.
John Thackston
John Thackston is the CEO and Co-Founder of SOAR Performance Group. John is responsible for ensuring the success of our clients through effective client relationship development and project management. Additionally, John supports the overall strategic direction and operational management of the company. During his tenure with the company, John has supported the growth of our Sales Capital Management℠ practice by providing exceptional service to our industry leading clients.
John leverages his expertise in designing, developing, and deploying Sales Capital Management℠ projects to help our clients effectively drive new go-to-market approaches and improve bottom line results. Additionally, John has been asked to share his perspective on business to business sales as a guest speaker and panelist for the Sales Management Association.
John is a Cum Laude graduate of Washington and Lee University where he was a 4 year member of the football team. Additionally, in John’s prior experience he supported areas of sales, customer relationship management, and finance at both Cousins Properties and Metropolitan Real Estate Equity Management.
It seems like every conversation around motivating a sales force eventually turns towards the old ‘carrot and stick’ analogy. Either we should reward our teams for doing what we want (carrot) or punish them for failing (stick). Do you know where this analogy came from? It came from an old farmer’s story about getting a donkey to plow. I find it incredibly ironic when people discuss this as the “key to understanding sales force motivation” because:
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