Should we base our professional motivation solely on money?

In a professional context, when a person recognizes to be motivated by money, it often generates a feeling of dishonesty or unscrupulousness. This is because we tend to seek a higher purpose in our professional career: to carry out our vocation, to make a difference or to believe in what we do.

All of this is especially relevant when it comes to sales positions.

Ah, money! The classic debate in professional motivation.

At Outbound People we believe that it’s important to recognize some common misperceptions about work: as a mean of earning a living, to survive, an obligation, a sacrifice, an “I have to” feeling. These ways of referring to occupation do nothing but limit ourselves and restrict our own potential.

Instead, we believe that it’s preferable to understand work as a great opportunity to express our essence through an activity that benefits third parties.

All this can be achieved, without going any further, by being yourself and providing authenticity in what is done. We should then find what really motivates us and look for a project with which we feel identified.

After all, what matters is not what is done, but our attitude when facing any kind of situation. Likewise, if we do things “because they have to be done”, we will always stay in the shadow of those who really feel like doing them.

Let’s set a practical example

Who do you think will be more successful when opening a restaurant with similar prices?

  1. A person extremely focused on money who tries to reduce expenses as much as possible (buying cheap and low-quality ingredients)
  2. A person who doesn’t care so much about saving, but who really puts all his soul into making every food.

We can ask the same thing about a sales profile: to be more successful, and therefore possibly earn more money, is it better to focus only on the numbers or to genuinely get involved to discover the needs of each client?

The bottom line

In conclusion, if we base our professional motivation solely on money, we are forgetting something or someone (ourselves).

Thus, economic remuneration should be the logical consequence to compensate and incentivize two main factors: honest involvement in your work and the “personal brand” of each individual.

The SDR role isn’t a forever job. Check out in which directions SDRs can develop their careers.

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