Anytime you’re in a leadership position, you are faced with the question of how best to motivate those who work under you. There are countless philosophies and ideas out there, all claiming to be exactly what you need.

The Foundation of Teambuilding

The truth is, there is no one perfect answer. Moreover, what works at one time will not always work at another. There are team dynamics that you must always be in tune with. For example, suppose you offer a trip to Hawaii for the quarter’s highest closer. If newer or less experienced reps feel like they can’t stack up against the competition, then not only will they feel discouraged, but they may actually feel like there’s not much use in trying. They will then become even less productive. Some reps will respond to cash rewards, while others are incited even more by praise and recognition. As Maslow said, “If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, then you will treat everyone like a nail.” The truth is, everyone is not a nail. To be an effective motivator, you need to become an acutely attuned student of human nature and understand what makes people tick. Not until you do this on an individual level can you integrate your observations into a team-incentive approach that will work for the whole.

I strongly recommend having this discussion with your team members on an individual basis: “What do you need right now to help you feel like you can do your best? What are your goals in your work here, and how can I help you achieve them?” I can think of no better way of clearly and directly communicating your sincere and honest interest in your team and what they can bring to the table. This direct line of questioning also demonstrates to your employees that they are not just another grunt or number. This direct approach, combined with quiet observation, will give you the vital information you need to discover what motivates each particular employee.

One of the biggest mistakes managers make is withholding praise or acknowledgement until after an employee has “been good” or done something to “deserve” it. You may have heard the old grass adage: You tell the grass, “When you grow, and only after you grow, will I then give you water.” This is just not how motivation works. This kind of reward system demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of human nature and basic human needs. It breeds insecurity amongst employees, who may never function at their best over the long-term because they can never feel confident about what they’re doing or where they stand.

Rewarding after the fact also creates resentment. It doesn’t take an employee long to figure out that a boss considers her/his value conditional. How can anyone be expected to feel enthusiastic about her/his work and free to unleash her/his greatest productive energies with such a message confronting her/him every day? Yes, it is the typical tug-of-war in the workplace: Employers feel that their employees are privileged to even have the job; employees feel that employers don’t appreciate how hard they work. Going back to the grass analogy, I would suggest that “nourishing” your team from the get-go, whether they have merited it or not, will spawn the greatest growth and productivity over the long term. Your employees will work thoroughly, creatively and enthusiastically because you have bred this kind of work ethic. Then, you’ll no longer feel like you’ve got to pull teeth to get even the bare minimum accomplished.

Let’s spend some time together exploring what it takes to get the best out of your team. There needs to be enough pressure that your workers are stimulated to action, but not so much that the environment becomes stressful and debilitating. One of the best ways to accomplish this proper level of pressure is to help your team members feel like they personally have stock in the outcome. Brainstorm ways in which a certain task or project can really become something your team can take ownership of, rather than something you’re barking at them to do. Your team members have to feel compelled to achieve because of their personal stake in the situation, not because “the boss said so.” How do you inspire them to have a vision for why the task has to be done? How do you instill in them that they are a vital part of the company’s success? This type of communication and understanding, before the task is even begun, speaks volumes to your team. There is no better way to kick off a new campaign than for your employees to all have a secure knowledge of their standing within the company and why the company values and needs them.

When motivating others, there is a direct relationship between the type of persuasive technique used and how short or long-lasting the results will be. Basically, the most controlling and coercive measures yield the most temporary results, while the most deferring and respectful measures, those in which people feel free to act voluntarily, yield the most lasting results. Another interesting relationship is that it is often the use of control or force that is the easiest motivator to employ, perhaps giving reason to why this strategy is so commonly used. On the other end of the spectrum, control takes more time and patience to develop.

Conclusion
Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it. Sure you’ve seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? Were you unable to convince someone to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Imagine being able to overcome objections before they happen, know what your prospect is thinking and feeling, feel more confident in your ability to persuade.

Ego kicks in anytime someone challenges your abilities, especially your abilities to do your business, your immediate and instinctive reaction is to prove them wrong! When employing this tactic, be careful to avoid damaging the ego. VERY IMPORTANT: When you cause damage instead of producing a challenge, you will create an air of indifference from your prospect.

Another challenge to someone’s ego is commonly used by sports coaches in a team environment. When during football practice a player is not putting in 100 percent, is late for meetings, or keeps making the same mistake, the coach has a perfect ego-based solution. He brings the team together and explains exactly what has happened with that particular player. He then has the whole team, except for the guilty player, run laps. This punishment is a challenge to the ego of this football player. Such a situation only has to happen once to be persuasive for each member of the team.

There are many challenging messages geared towards our egos. Think of a multilevel marketing meeting, where managers say they are looking for “go-getters” and “people who can take action.” Or what about a teacher who tells the student, “I’d like you to do these advanced assignments”? I have seen sales representatives make a subtle attack on the prospect’s ego when they were not getting the sale. They simply say, “I guess you don’t have the authority to make that decision.” You should see the egos take action! Another example is giving people credit for things they don’t even know. When you give people credit for knowing something they really know nothing about, they generally will say nothing and allow you to believe them to be smarter or more aware than they really are. The catch is that they then will try to live up to the undeserved credit that you have bestowed upon them in order to lead you to believe they really are smart. You have heard such phrases as, “You probably already know….” or “You will soon realize…” These are direct challenges to our egos.

In persuasion, we are faced with the difficult task of building the egos of our listeners while placing our own egos on hold. In order to effectively persuade, you have to let go of your ego and focus on your objective. You don’t have time to mend a bruised ego. Check your ego in at the door and remember your overriding purpose. Focus on persuasion, not on yourself.

As always make a comment and bookmark this page for others. Do you agree? Have an example? Disagree? Forward this page to a friend you think might need help with their ego.

Good listening is not just looking at someone and nodding your head in agreement. You have to acknowledge what is being said and let the other person know that you understand. The more you can acknowledge what is being said, the greater ability you have to persuade and influence. Why? Because the person speaking with you will feel important and understood (Law of Esteem).

Why is listening so difficult for most of us? Why is it that when two people get together and talk, they both walk away with two completely different views about the conversation?  This is an enormous problem in our society today!  Just think about where the world would be today if people took the time to sincerely listen?  Dr. Stephen R. Covey says that to be a Highly Effective Person you must “first seek to understand.”  When you really and truly understand where the other person comes from, your ability to persuade increases 10 fold.  I have included some of the main problems people have with listening so you can get a jump start on developing this critical skill.

• Thinking about our response while the other person is talking. Instead of thinking about what the other person is saying, we often think about what we personally want to say next or where we want the conversation to lead. We are mentally planning our own agenda. In effect, we patiently wait our turn to talk but we never have give and take between the two parties.

• Not Concentrating. We talk at a rate of 120 to 150 words per minute, but we can think 400 to 800 words per minute. This allows us time to think in between words that are being said. We can pretend to listen while really thinking of something else.

• Jumping to Conclusions. Sometimes we assume we know exactly what the other person is going to say next and we begin forming reactions based on those assumptions. We start putting words into the other speaker’s mouth because we are so sure of what they mean.

I encourage you to leave a comment. Are you guilty of any of the above?

As always, if you feel others will benefit from this post please bookmark it at one of the websites below. Thanks.

The journey to success starts with belief, proven principles and a burning desire to change. A lot of it will boil down to how your mind is programmed and whether you have given yourself permission to win.

Let’s revisit the good old days of sitting in math class. Take the mathematical operation 4 + 4, for example. The answer is 8, right? What if we keep the same numbers, however, but change the operation—say, 4 x 4. The answer is 16—the same two numbers with a different operator yield twice the results. Now think about 4 to the fourth power, or 256. Again, same numbers but the resulting figure is exponentially greater than the one we started with. This is what I mean when I talk about the Exponential Factor. Using the same raw material—you—we can create massive success just by thinking about and approaching things differently. By changing your outlook and the way you operate, you can exact profound change.

Andre Maurois imparted the now-famous anecdote: “If you create an act, you create a habit. If you create a habit, you create a character. If you create a character, you create a destiny.” Small things usually do make the biggest differences. That’s just working smarter, not harder.

We know that it is not about working twice as hard. For example, Olympic champion Peter Vidmar used to always be the last gymnast to leave the gym. Surrounded by many very gifted athletes, he felt that he didn’t have the natural talent that some of his competitors did. He knew that he couldn’t practice or work out twice as hard as they did. Hour for hour, he gave it just as much as they did. He made one minor adjustment, however, and it paid off with big dividends. He always just added on another fifteen minutes or so to each workout after everyone else had left the gym. When he went on to win a gold medal over those he felt were more innately gifted, he attributed the extra fifteen-minute workouts as being a key to his success.

My challenge to you is to keep coming back to this website and I’ll show you how you can have the Exponential Factor. The result will be exponential success with no limits. Some people are satisfied with minor successes throughout their lives. Adding to their lives a little at a time is good enough. Others want to multiply the joy they have and the goals they want to accomplish. Then there are those who demand the most from life and want to achieve success exponentially. Just remember, it starts with how you look at it. It’s the same basic building blocks, but exponential success just has a better plan and execution.

Learning how to persuade and influence will make the difference between hoping for better income and having a better income. Ask yourself, how much income and money have you lost with your inability to persuade and influence.

Now, I’m sure you have seen some success, but think of the times you couldn’t get it done. Has there ever been a time when you did not get your point across? You were unable to convince somebody to do something? Have you reached your full potential? Are you able to motivate yourself and others to achieve more and accomplish their goals? What about your relationships? Have you ever had a time when you couldn’t convince your boss or convince your coworkers? Face it, everyday, there are times you can’t get yourself to do the things you know you need to be doing. Self persuasion alone is priceless. Now this includes success mastery and personal motivation. The ability to get yourself to do the things you want to do, when you don’t feel like doing them. What skills or techniques are you lacking?

Everything you want in life, you need to persuade to get. Usually what society teaches us is not necessarily correct. They think force, or coercion, or rewarding people is the way to go. Many people are using what we call military management, which is short term compliance, but we want to talk about long term influence.

I have studied persuasion because I have been in the world of sales, I know what it is. I know what it is like to not have the right skills, because when I had my first job in persuasion, I didn’t get it done. I talked to a lot of people and made a lot of friends, but I couldn’t get them to take action. I soon realized that with everybody that I talked about and every job that I ever had, it’s all about persuasion, motivation, leadership and influence. Many times we are not getting the results, the revenue, or the respect from people around us. This is why persuasion and influence is a critical skill. As we study and research the ultra prosperous we find the common skill is the ability to persuade and influence.

This is the most important skill, but we find an interesting paradigm: it is the skill people work on last. As we pursue our wealth or want to work on real estate, set up a website, market a book, convince our children, motivate coworkers, start to grow a business, sell a product or service, what happens is we don’t see much success or we hit rock bottom and realize how much money has been lost, how many relationships have not been saved, how many people we could not convince to our point of view. Then we study human psychology and persuasion. It is like buying a car without an engine. What is going to start your engine of success? You can learn all the tools in the world, get all the degrees offered at the local universalities, but until you can understand human nature, motivate others and energize and persuade people, you will be left behind.

Throughout my years of study, I have found the ultra-prosperous all have common characteristics. I call these common characteristics the 5 P’s of Success because each attribute clearly adds to their success.

Psyche

The first is psyche. That’s the mental aspect of the game. It’s a critical skill for all successful salespeople, but it works equally well in all fields. You will not be able to achieve your goals until you believe you can achieve your goals. All the best techniques and tools will not help you until you first believe in yourself. Unfortunately, most of the people we know tend to bring us down. When you tell them about your dreams and the things you want to accomplish in life, they can be very discouraging. Do you know people like that? When you have the right psyche, you know where you’re going and what you want to accomplish, and anything that people say is not going to matter. The right psyche involves knowing what you want and having a plan to get it. When your psyche is in its proper place, you will always follow your heart.

Persistence

The second “P” is persistence. Persistence is the number one reason why people are successful in life. It’s also the driving force that determines why certain people are wealthy. Their success is not due to financial backing or education. They owe their achievements to persistence. There’s an old sales adage: “Some will; some won’t. So what? Who’s next?” It’s a numbers game. Most sales are closed after the fifth attempt. Never let obstacles in life take your eyes off your goals.

Personal Development

The next “P” is personal development. All top producers have a personal development program. There is a direct relationship between your personal development program and your income. Personal success expert Brian Tracy says, “If you can get yourself to read thirty minutes a day, you’re going to double your income every year,” and I know from personal experience that this technique works! Most homes valued at over a quarter of a million dollars have a library. Studies consistently demonstrate that those who are learning and growing every day are more optimistic about life.

They are more enthusiastic about where they’re going and what they hope to accomplish. Those who aren’t learning and growing every day become negative, pessimistic, and doubtful about themselves and their future. Turn your car into a university on wheels by listening to motivational tapes and CDs. When you’re at home, turn off the TV and read a book. There are two ways to learn in life: You can learn by trial and error, attempting to figure things out on your own, or you can learn from somebody else, who’s already been there and done it before. Somebody has already figured out everything you need to learn about life, and written a book about it or put it into a tape set. So invest in your future by investing in your personal development.

Passion

Do you know the number one thing that will change someone’s mind? It’s the next “P”–passion. More than anything, passion will allow you to recruit the hearts and minds of your prospects. Do you have passion and heartfelt conviction for your product or service? We love people who are excited, animated, and full of passion. When you have passion for something you’re excited about, you have zeal and you want to share it with the world. You’re excited to convert as many people to your cause as possible. Passion alone can be effective in swaying opinion and getting people to support your product or service. Passion springs from a combination of belief, enthusiasm, and emotion. Find passion for your product and find joy in helping others enjoy it.

Persuasion

The fifth and final “P” is persuasion. Spend a little time each day learning and mastering the world of persuasion and influence. The basic premise is to get what you want when you want it, and in the process to win friends and to help people love doing what you want them to do. There is a big difference between talking and persuading. Anyone can spit out a list of features and benefits, showing off their product or service and pushing their products on people. By using Maximum Influence you draw people to you, and thus attract more customers–and more sales. We want you to get customers to beg for your product or service and win customers for life.

Conclusion

Persuasion is the missing puzzle piece that will crack the code to dramatically increase your income, improve your relationships, and help you get what you want, when you want, and win friends for life. Ask yourself how much money and income you have lost because of your inability to persuade and influence. Think about it.