Motivation is the process that produces goal-directed behavior in an individual.

It helps to initiate desired behavior in an individual and direct it toward the attainment of organizational goals. Motivation consists of three elements - need, drive and goal. Satisfaction of the need in the individual cuts off the drive in him to work toward satisfaction of the need. The effectiveness of the sales force plays a crucial role in the success and growth of an organization. In order to attain the goals of the organization, it is essential that the sales force is highly motivated.

Motivation in the sales function refers to the amount of effort a salesperson is willing to expend in the selling job. While some salespersons are self-motivated, there are others who need to be motivated to perform. Sales managers can motivate their team by following any of the theories of motivation, namely, Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, Herzberg's two-factor theory, goal-setting theory, expectancy theory, and job design theories. Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory classifies the needs of an individual into five categories - physiological, safety or security, social, self-esteem and self-actualization needs. Physiological needs are the lowest order needs while self-actualization needs are the highest order needs. Further, as lower order needs get satisfied, an individual strives to satisfy higher order needs. Herzberg's two-factor theory states that the job environment of an individual is characterized by two types of factors - hygiene factors and motivational factors.

The goal-setting theory presumes that people have specific needs and aspirations to fulfill for which they set certain goals for themselves. They then go about achieving these goals by taking purposeful action. Further, setting higher goals produces higher output. The expectancy theory states that an individual is

motivated by the perceived consequences of his or her actions. According to this theory, motivation is a function of expectation, valence and instrumentality. Job design theories assume that all individuals have the same needs, and that ensuring certain job characteristics can satisfy these needs.

A salesperson's motivation plays a crucial role in influencing his performance and thereby his productivity. Salespersons having a high level of motivation tend to perform well in the selling job and have high productivity. On the other hand, salespersons who lack motivation tend to be poor performers and fail to achieve their sales targets. Such salespersons hence tend to have low productivity. Sales managers can take various measures to motivate the sales force and boost its productivity. These measures can be in the form of sales quotas, sales contests, well- designed compensation plans and reward systems, etc.

Further, the personality traits of the salesperson play a vital role in influencing his motivation. Salespersons can be divided into four types - competitor, achiever, ego-driven, and service-oriented. Sales managers are increasingly concerned about the need to motivate salespersons as they move through various stages in their career. The primary concern of sales managers is to motivate salespersons in the various stages of their career to direct them toward greater selling efforts and enhanced sales performance. A salesperson's career passes through four stages exploration, establishment, maintenance and disengagement.

MASLOWS NEED THEORY

Maslow's Theory of Motivation - Hierarchy of Need: - Maslows needs hierarchy
theory is probably the most popular content theory of motivation. Maslow postulates five needs arranged in successive levels. These five needs are arranged in the form of a pyramid as shown:-

Abraham Maslow was a clinical psychologist of USA and his theory of individual need is probably the most popular one. Maslow has suggested that have a complex set of needs which are exceptionally strong and the behaviour of individuals at a given time is generally determined by the strongest needs of the individual. Psychologist believe that human needs have a priority and first of all basic needs are satisfied and then the individual tries to satisfy his higher needs. In case the basic needs remain unfulfilled all efforts for

satisfying higher needs also have to be postponed. Maslow has given five basic levels of the needs of individuals which they try to satisfy in a Hierarchical order. Maslow has proposed that these needs can be arranged starting from the lowest level and moving towards the needs of the highest level. This hierarchy of individual needs is explained by Maslow as mentioned below: (i) Physiological needs: The physiological needs of individual are the starting step for the need based theory of motivation. Physiological needs are the strongest needs of the individuals. These include the basic bodily needs including food, water, air, shelter, clothing and other necessity of life. Individuals try to satisfies these basic needs first of all and then only they move towards the satisfaction of the second level needs.

(ii) Safety needs: The second level of needs comprises the safety and securities needs. Once the physiological needs are satisfied up to a reasonable level individuals make efforts to satisfied their second level needs. Here it should be noted that the reasonable satisfaction of physiological needs is a subjective matter and the level of reasonable satisfaction varies from person to person. In the modern civilized society individual are generally protected from threats of violence or physical danger and the safety and security needs include economic and job security, security regarding the source of income, insurance against risk, provisions for old age and other protected measures which can safeguards the satisfaction of physiological needs in future also.

(iii) Social needs: After the fulfillment of second level needs human beings make effort to satisfy social needs. Human being are social animals and they

always strive to belong to a social group to fulfill their emotional needs of love, affection, friendship and warmth. These social needs can be satisfied by individuals when they are in the company of their friends, relatives or any other group like a voluntary group or a work group.

(iv) Esteem needs: Ego or self esteem needs are the fourth needs in this hierarchy. These needs are related with recognition, self respect, self confidence, prestige, applause, appreciation, power and control. Through the fulfillment of these needs and individuals achieves a sense of ego satisfaction and self-worth.

(v) Self Actualization needs: These needs are at the top of this hierarchy. These include the need to fulfill what is considered by a person as the mission of his life. The desire for personal achievement arises after all other needs of the individual are satisfied. At this stage the person is looking for something challenging as it gives him initiative and enough push to work and is beneficial for the individual as well as the society. This sense of achievement provides and individual psychological sense of satisfaction.

In this way Maslow has suggested five levels of needs which he has arranged in a hierarchy. When one need is satisfied it no longer remains a motivating factor and after the satisfaction of one level of needs the next level needs emerge which seek to be satisfied. The physiological and security needs of individuals are limited but other needs of the higher order are unlimited. These needs are more likely to be dominant among the persons functioning at a higher level in the organizations. Maslow suggests that the various levels of needs are interdependent and overlapping. The next level of needs emerge after the complete satisfaction of lower level needs.