For decades the difficulty of motivating salespeople has been frustrating sales and marketing managers. To the most effective ones, two things are clear: one, the job is difficult; two, there is no one simple solution. Believing that “good salespeople are born, not made,” many managers recognize that recruiting is important. Others holding that “if you pay for performance, you’ll get it” believe that incentive compensation produces motivation. The more successful sales executives recognize that motivation is largely a result of a combination of effective recruiting practices, sensible pay plans, and good management. What else may be involved has been an open question.
A version of this article appeared in the July 1980 issue of Harvard Business Review.
