Sales professionals’ perceptions regarding financial incentives and motivation : A qualitative study in a B2B context

Abstract: It is important for a selling company to have a motivated sales force. The motivation and what employees is motivated by have occupied the interest of human resource researchers for decades. There has been a large amount of research within motivational psychology, which has produced several theories regarding human needs and motivation factors. This study focused on sales professionals within business-to-business (B2B) with the purpose to explore and describe sales professionals’ perceptions regarding financial incentives and their motivation. The study also answers the questions of how sales professionals perceive that financial incentive affects their motivation and how the financial incentives relate to sales professional motivation. This study utilizes a qualitative approach, where the empirical data was gathered by six semi-structured interviews. By analyzing the findings, the researchers have concluded that financial incentive can both work as a motivator and a demotivator. Financial incentives can increase stress and pressure for the sales professional especially for individuals new to the profession. The study has found that this is something that the individual have to cope with since the organization is not providing support for this. If the sales professionals can cope with the stress, it will work as a motivator. Lastly, the study presents practical and managerial implications for sales organizations. They need to be aware of the business environment to ensure that financial incentive achieves the desired effect.