ABSTRACT
This chapter examines what is known about motivation as a psychological process and how a person's motivation to perform a given job is affected by environmental, organizational and personal variables. Environmental characteristics also influence a salesperson's perceptions of the linkages between effort and performance. How the salesperson perceives general economic conditions, territory potential, the strength of competition, restrictions on product availability, and so forth are all likely to affect his or her thoughts on how much sales performance can be improved by simply increasing efforts. It suggests sales managers should examine the characteristics of their salespeople and attempt to determine their relative valences for various rewards when designing compensation and incentive programs. Environmental factors such as variations in territory potential and strength of competition can constrain a salesperson's ability to achieve high levels of performance. According to the Incentive Research Foundation, studies show that organizations that have reward systems in place to reinforce stellar performance.
