Short presentation arguing that 'need for achievement'—an intrinsic drive to pursue excellence and continually raise standards—is a key, largely non-teachable predictor of sustained sales success. The speaker notes that financially-motivated signals (money) function as performance metrics for such individuals rather than their primary goal.
In terms of the characteristics that we look for that lead to success in sales, that our research, and what 90 years almost now of academic research has shown. One of the key non teachable pieces that we'll talk about, I'm sure, is need for achievement. The person who wants to do well just for the sake of doing well, who's constantly focused on setting the bar high, jumping over that, setting it higher again the next time, constantly pursuing excellence just for the sake of excellence. When you have someone who's motivated by need for achievement, that's the person who will continue to excel. They'll continue to produce. Money is still important to that person, to be sure. But psychologically, they look at money the same way that, say, a great athlete looks at points on the scoreboard. It's how they show how well they've done, rather than their goal in and of itself.
