Valence is a sales and marketing term for a salesperson’s desire to receive additional amounts of a given reward (e.g., a pay increase). Valences can influence salespeople’s level of motivation.
Valence and “the stick” have been controversial forms of motivation for centuries. Which is the best way to motivate your salespeople? Is it through valence or through the stick? Do you continue to give them more rewards for their performance or do you beat them with sticks until they do the job you are expecting.
This goes back to the old metaphor of the mule pulling the cart. Does the mule pull the cart further and longer when motivated by the stick or is it motivated more with the carrot?
With the stick strategy, people are going to do it faster because people fear pain and we do everything possible to avoid pain. In fact, our minds are set up to where we store more painful memories longer than we do pleasurable memories.
The reason for that is, the mind is set up to protect you and so it’s more difficult to get people to respond to pleasure. But people will respond longer to pleasure than they will to pain.
For example, when you beat the mule, that is the only time it will perform at the level you expect him to perform but as soon as the pain is no longer there, it will start to perform less again, or maybe, not at all. Whereas, when you motivate the mule with the carrot, as long as that carrot is there, the mule is going to continue to pull the cart in order for him to reach and eat the carrot.
But the next challenge is how far do you put the carrot out? If you put it too close, the mule will get the reward fast and quit pulling the cart immediately. If you put it too far away and the mule can never taste the reward, it will get tired and eventually will quit pulling the cart as well.
The goal is, you have to find the balance in the middle where it’s not too much but yet it’s enough to motivate the mule to pull the cart.
When motivating your golf membership sales staff you need to take this into consideration. You need to make sure you are giving them a taste of the carrot; otherwise they are never going to sell effectively. You need to take care of your salespeople because they are the ones who are generating revenue to pay the salaries of entire staff and expenses of the golf course.
For more free tips on growing the game, increasing rounds through golf course marketing, golf marketing, golf course campaigns, golf campaigns, professional golf membership sales and advancing your golf career visit us today @ www.golfmarketingmmc.com or call 904-217-3762.