The New Science of Sales and What Truly Motivates Your Team
For generations, the world of sales has been driven by a single, seemingly unshakeable belief: money motivates. The formula was simple. A low base salary, a high commission rate, and a leaderboard on the wall. We believed that the path to a high-performing sales team was a purely transactional one, paved with cash incentives and the thrill of the chase.
This model created legends. It built empires. And in today's relationship-driven, purpose-led economy, it is becoming increasingly obsolete.
The old playbook is failing. We are seeing sales teams burn out. We are seeing customer relationships suffer. We are seeing a disconnect between short-term sales targets and the long-term health of the business. Why? Because we have been focusing on the wrong things. We have been trying to incentivize a transaction when we should have been inspiring a relationship.
This led to one of the most important and strategic conversations I've had in a long time. I had the pleasure of sitting down on my podcast with Justin Brady from OnDeck, and he came armed with the tough, essential questions that every modern leader needs to be asking about their sales culture.
We had a robust conversation about sales incentives, customer relationships, and the deep, human drivers that actually lead to sustainable success. We explored why a memorable experience often beats a monetary bonus and uncovered the three pillars that truly drive results.
Today, I want to expand on that powerful conversation and give you my definitive guide to the new science of sales—a science built not just on closing deals, but on opening relationships.
The Flaw in the Old Model - Why Cash Isn't King Anymore
Let's start by dissecting why the traditional, commission-heavy model is beginning to crack.
1. It Can Incentivize the Wrong Behaviour:
When a salesperson's primary motivation is to maximize their commission this month, it can lead to behaviours that are good for them in the short term but terrible for the business in the long term. They might push a product that isn't the right fit for the customer, over-promise on features, or offer aggressive discounts that erode your profit margins, all to get the deal over the line before the end of the month. This creates unhappy customers and a high churn rate, which is a cancer in any business.
2. It Fosters a "Lone Wolf" Culture:
A purely commission-based structure pits team members against each other. It discourages collaboration, knowledge sharing, and mentorship. Why would a top performer share their secrets with a junior team member if that person is just going to become their competitor for the top spot on the leaderboard? This creates a toxic, individualistic culture instead of a collaborative, high-performing team.
3. It Neglects the Modern Buyer's Journey:
Today's customer is more educated and has more choice than ever before. They don't want to be "sold to" by a pushy salesperson. They want to be guided by a trusted advisor. The sales process is no longer a single transaction; it's a long-term relationship that involves marketing, customer success, and product development. A commission structure that only rewards the final "close" fails to recognize and motivate the team-based effort that is required to win and keep a modern customer.
4. It Doesn't Motivate Everyone:
Perhaps most importantly, we now understand through decades of psychological research (popularized by authors like Daniel Pink in his book Drive) that once people are paid fairly for their work, money is not the primary motivator for complex, creative tasks. For roles that require problem-solving and relationship-building (like modern sales), the true drivers are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. The old model completely ignores these powerful human needs.
The New Model - Memorable Beats Monetary
So, if cash isn't the king, what is? As Justin and I discussed, the key is to build a system where memorable beats monetary. It's about creating a culture and a compensation structure that rewards the right behaviours and taps into those deeper, more powerful human motivators.
This is built on three foundational pillars.
Pillar 1: Purpose (The "Why")
This is the bedrock. Your sales team must understand and believe in the mission of your company. They are not just selling a product; they are selling a solution to a problem. They are changing their customers' lives for the better.
- Connect them to the impact. Regularly share customer success stories and testimonials with the sales team. Let them hear directly from a customer whose business was transformed or whose life was made easier by your product.
- Weave your purpose into your sales training. Your training should be as much about your company's "why" and your customer's world as it is about your product's features.
When a salesperson believes they are part of a meaningful mission, their work becomes a cause, not just a job. Their resilience, their creativity, and their empathy all increase dramatically.
Pillar 2: Mastery (The "How")
Great salespeople are craftspeople. They have an innate desire to get better at what they do. Your job as a leader is to create an environment that fosters this pursuit of mastery.
- Invest in world-class training. This doesn't just mean product knowledge. Invest in training on negotiation, strategic communication, active listening, and commercial acumen. Give them the tools to become true masters of their craft.
- Create a culture of coaching. The sales manager's primary role should not be to inspect a pipeline, but to be a coach. They should be regularly listening to sales calls (with permission), providing constructive feedback, and helping each team member identify and work on their specific areas for growth.
- Foster peer-to-peer learning. Create rituals where the team shares their wins and their losses. A "deal post-mortem" where the team analyses a lost deal without blame can be one of the most powerful learning opportunities you can create.
When you invest in your team's mastery, you are showing them that you value their long-term growth, not just their short-term targets. This builds immense loyalty.
Pillar 3: Autonomy (The "Who")
Top performers do not want to be micromanaged. They want clear goals and then the freedom and trust to figure out the best way to achieve them.
- Delegate outcomes, not tasks. Give your team a clear target (e.g., "Achieve X amount of new business from Y sector this quarter") but give them autonomy over their daily activities.
- Trust them. Assume they are professionals who want to do a great job. Create a culture of accountability based on results, not on tracking their every move.
- Reward creative problem-solving. When a team member finds a new, innovative way to open up a market or solve a customer's problem, celebrate it publicly. This encourages initiative and ownership.
So, What About the Money? The Modern Compensation Plan
This does not mean you don't pay your sales team well. You absolutely must. But the structure needs to be smarter.
- A Higher Base Salary: This provides financial security and removes the "desperation" from their work. It allows them to focus on finding the right solution for the customer, not just the fastest commission cheque.
- Team-Based or Company-Wide Bonuses: A significant portion of their variable pay should be tied to the success of the whole team or the whole company. This could be based on overall revenue targets, customer retention rates, or profitability. This fosters a collaborative "we're all in this together" mindset.
- Non-Monetary Rewards and Recognition: This is where the "memorable" part comes in. The rewards for exceptional performance should be experiences and recognition, not just cash.
- The President's Club: The top performers get a truly memorable experience—a trip to an amazing destination with their partners, a weekend at a luxury retreat. The shared memory and status from an experience like this can be far more motivating than a cash bonus that just gets absorbed into a mortgage payment.
- Public Recognition: Celebrate your top performers in a meaningful way. A personal, heartfelt acknowledgement from the CEO in a company-wide meeting can be incredibly powerful.
- Opportunities for Growth: Reward a top performer with a special project, a mentorship role, or a spot in a prestigious leadership development program.
A Conversation for Every Leader
Justin's tough questions forced a fantastic, high-level discussion about these very principles. Our full conversation on the podcast is a strategic deep dive into how to apply this modern "science of sales" to your own business. It is for any leader who knows that to build a great company, you must first build a great sales culture.
Your Sales Team is the Heartbeat of Your Brand
In the end, your sales team is so much more than a revenue-generating function. They are the human face of your brand. They are the front line of your customer relationships. They are the interpreters of your company's purpose in the marketplace.
To treat their motivation as a simple transactional equation is to do them, and your business, a profound disservice.
By building a sales culture on the powerful pillars of purpose, mastery, and autonomy, and by creating a compensation structure that rewards collaboration and long-term value, you do more than just motivate your team. You inspire them. You empower them to become trusted advisors. And you build a sustainable, resilient, and deeply human sales engine that will drive your business forward for years to come.
What is one change you could make to your own sales culture or incentive structure to better align with these principles?
