In many companies, the implementation of the sales plan occurs spontaneously: one month they are going great and deals are closed one after another, and in the next there is complete calm. It is good if, under such conditions, the average result is acceptable, but often the indicators over a long period are lower than expected.

The reason for such zigzags is usually due to the fact that managers make sales by chance.

Signs of zigzags when fulfilling a sales plan:

• It is not performed regularly;
• Managers make a plan for a month, but not for a month;
• No reporting on intermediate performance indicators;
• new and current clients are not separated;
• Managers cannot motivate customers to make a decision right now, rather than postponing it or abandoning the purchase altogether.

How to solve the zigzag problem:

• Separate reporting for new and current clients;
• Implement a system with intermediate performance indicators that affect revenue;
• Set plans for intermediate performance indicators separately for new and separately for current clients;
• Work through objections with managers so that they can motivate the client to make a decision right now.

Let's take a closer look at what tools encourage clients not to put off payment until later and not to postpone it to subsequent periods.

Motivating customers: tools to speed up purchases

Every manager of your company should always have an answer to the question: “Why should the client buy now?” If this is not the case, then they will not be able to motivate buyers to make a decision quickly.

To create motivation for the client, offer him a purchase on some bonus terms.

Tools for motivating clients:

Present. Think of something to give that will not bring you additional material costs, but will be valuable to the client. For example, a video recording of an online training, your book, a set of document templates.

Special offer at a reduced price. Give a discount that will be valid for a limited period of time.

Special conditions for the second purchase. Think about what conditions you can offer when contacting you again.

Create reasons to buy. Make proposals for holidays, anniversaries, and birthdays.

Additional functionality. Offer something at the same price when purchasing right now.

Early booking for the product. List the benefits if the buyer makes a decision in advance.

These promotions should be aimed at motivating a purchase or increasing the receipt.

Be sure to limit all listed promotional offers by validity period. This provides motivation for making the final purchasing decision.

Motivating Customers: Use a Lead Magnet

A lead magnet is a product, the benefits of purchasing which many times exceed the costs of its purchase in the eyes of the buyer. Simply put, you give something to the buyer for free, or clearly below the price to which he is accustomed. Last option much preferable. Using lead magnets is an effective way to motivate customers if you:

Choose the right product that could become a lead magnet. It should be high-margin and it is desirable that you would want to pick up and buy some additional unit of product;

Provide lead magnet promotion that brings targeted buyers to you.

You should be aiming for 2 types of results from using lead magnets:

1. The buyer came and bought something else in addition to the lead magnet.
2. The buyer came and eventually decided to purchase a more expensive analogue

Customer motivation: what to apply and in what business

In every business, customer motivation can be organized differently. The owner’s task is to come up with a motivation that will best suit his business. Let's look at a few examples.

IT sphere

The company provides an online platform for online stores. A free 7-day period of using the product is provided.

At the same time, the motivation to buy occurs from the very beginning of the test period. The main functions of the platform are immediately activated, which help the online store earn extra money. Transparent analysis of results is carried out.

Accordingly, if the user does not pay for further use of the platform after the 7-day free period, all features are immediately disabled.

Customers are motivated by visually providing value expressed in the amount of additional money earned.

Startup

If the business has just started and there are no sales statistics yet on which to build a motivation system, focus on the results of competitors or your own understanding.

Look at the article “” on our blog. This will help you quickly understand your goals and make decisions about motivating customers.

Construction sector

The company sells pipes to subcontractors on construction sites. Payment for the order is tied to the terms of payment to the subcontractor by its clients.

In this case, the client’s motivation can be built on providing additional bonuses to the subcontractor.

For example:

• Melting discount. Payment within 10 days is one price, and within 20 days - 5% more, etc.
• Additional service. Offer some kind of gift. Special delivery conditions for oversized cargo.

Use the following tips to choose the right buyer motivation tools:

It is better to create motivation through additional gifts rather than discounts. Thus, you will reduce your margin. A gift should not be a financial burden for you.

You should conduct any negotiations about changing the initial conditions, focusing on the bargaining variables. If you concede in something, you must definitely receive compensation in something else. For example, if you lose in price, then set your own conditions regarding payment terms or delivery.

A variety of options provides choice and creates good motivation.

The task of negotiations and various promotions is to replace price with value. This does not mean that the client will lose. This means that both parties will benefit.

If you can correctly formulate and convey the value of your product, it will be easier to sell. Because the cost of your product compared to the value it provides will be much less. This means the buyer will always be satisfied, which will have a positive impact on

Upcoming price increase. Emphasize to the client that the next batch will be more expensive.

We showed how you can achieve constant and regular implementation of the plan by motivating clients. Use these tools and close all deals faster.

Customer motivation: case study

We were contacted by a company that sold trampolines. The main problem was that there were so many sales in one month that managers found it difficult to cope with customer service. And the next month there was total silence and not a single deal.

When we started looking for the problem, we found that sellers could not come up with a motivation to get the buyer to make a decision quickly. They did not have an answer to the question of why they should buy now and not next month. Therefore, one month they closed deals, and the next month payments were made.

"They do not want to work. I am everything to them, and they stab me in the back,” are the classic words of the company owner.

And we in marketing consulting have long realized that it is impossible to achieve high results by working only with clients.

In this article we will talk in detail about the motivation of sales managers.

I'm not him. They are not us

The owner always compares the manager to himself. This is the very first and biggest mistake when creating motivation for staff.

And before we move on to ready-made solutions, I want to expand on this issue more fully.

After all, it is the foundation of a positive result. Not everyone needs money. Dot. In our article we raised this issue.

But the owners can't wrap their heads around this idea. You believe that there is only one meaning to work - money. This is the big difference between an owner and a manager.

Entrepreneur and employee - different people. And this concerns not only money. Values, ideas, plans - all this is also different.

Employees also differ from each other. They are all at work for different reasons. And again, the issue is not only about money.

Long-term motivation

For you, this means that the usual approach “Salary +%”, in a classical implementation, will not work so effectively in relation to a complex implementation.

Therefore, even though in this article we will measure everything in money, you should also understand that the usual free cookies in the office for employees also affect the motivation of sales managers. It's subtle, but it's important.

Cookies!

This type of motivation is called “long-term motivation.” It also includes such elements as official employment, insurance, social assistance, workplace and other obvious elements of the work.

It is not necessary that all this be at its best; at a minimum, it should be within the normal/comfortable range.

Non-material motivation

To long-term motivation, for the sake of completeness, we need to add “non-material motivation,” also known as “short-term motivation.”

This brings us back to the topic of the importance and primacy of money. In addition to the amount for bank card, people want to receive respect, status, power, leisure and other benefits for their efforts.

So, as you read further examples of incentive schemes, periodically think about how you can replace money with intangible bonuses.

Such bonuses include: an extra day off, the softest chair in the office, or a trip to a restaurant with the family. You will find more such examples in the article.

Sales plan

Like ordinary person, there are topics that make me nervous. One of these topics is the sales plan, or rather the phrase - “It is impossible for us to set a sales plan. Everything with us is very specific.” Stop! You should see my face now...

A sales plan can and should be set in all businesses. Firstly, you, as the owner, must understand where you are going.

And if you don’t understand where you’re going, then your employees especially don’t know it. Secondly, without a sales plan you will NEVER create a normal motivational scheme.

We created brilliant motivational schemes, but without a sales plan they collapsed like ships on rocks and glaciers.

Therefore, if you do not have a plan and you are not going to set one, then you can close this article. Since even the chips that you take from here will not correct the situation, and we will be to blame for giving you such a bad scheme.

We divide and saw

Let’s finish with general words and move on to the motivational scheme of sales managers.

It is like the human body: not simple and consists of several parts. Each part performs its own function, without which it is impossible to achieve the desired result.

Below I will tell you the motivation of each employee individually. You can find out how to motivate them in a group/department in our article.

Fixed part

I personally tried several times in my company to introduce work for a percentage only.

All these thoughts appeared against the backdrop of other businesses that had already implemented this and boasted about the results. But my personal opinion is that an employee should have a salary. This is important for you and for him.

Let's be honest. Not everything depends on your active sales manager. Your pricing, your product, your marketing, your management and much more depends on you.

The manager influences this, but cannot radically change the situation. This means that demanding work from him for % is unreasonable.

Therefore, we must make a fixed part that a person will definitely receive, even if he doesn’t sell anything.

This is his guarantee that even if he does everything as you say, he will receive the money.

Otherwise, if everyone is for himself, he will do what he considers right and profitable for him. The result is a lack of control and chaos in the company.

Remuneration should be based on the market average. A salary that is too high will attract lazy people and will not give them the opportunity to open up. A salary that is too low will repel the candidate and will show (at first glance) that you are a very smart company.

Important. When looking for a job, managers, after studying the final salary, go to study your salary. Not a percentage, not a motivation system, not bonuses, but a salary. Keep this in mind when hiring employees.

Floating part

The most interesting part of the salary. After all, if we pay the fixed part for performing basic duties, then we pay the floating part for the result obtained. What a pleasant word - the result... It’s just a balm for the soul. But let's get back to business.

The floating part is called for a reason. It's not just a percentage, as many people think.

It consists of different points, each of which has its own counting scheme. Ideally, use all the ingredients, but separate the flies from the cutlets so that the employee understands what he is responsible for.

KPI (key performance indicators)

In companies where salaries are too high (according to the market), we take part of the money for KPIs. These are indicators that for a business are intermediate between a manager and money.

That is, it is not the money itself, but the actions that lead to this money.

In a wholesale company targeting inbound calls, this is the conversion from lead to purchase.

IN active department service industry sales this could be the number of outgoing calls. Everything is individual. But here is a list of typical and most popular criteria:

1. Conversion from lead to client;
2. Number of outgoing calls to new clients;
3. Number of meetings with new clients;
4. Number of calls to old clients;
5. Amount of accounts receivable;
6. Number of sent.

All these points can be measured. This is a key factor when setting KPIs. Everything that is not measured goes into the “Bonuses” section, but we will talk about it later.

Now about the performance indicators for which you must allocate a specific amount.

As a rule, there should be no more than 5 such indicators (preferably 3), and they are set for every day or week.

That is, it becomes a kind of indicator of the employee’s effectiveness over this period.

You can pay according to the principle of did/didn’t (received/didn’t receive money), or you can pay in direct proportion to how much you did.

Case from practice. In working with the auto center, we set the KPI to . The call center called customers and asked how satisfied they were with the employee’s work. The more positive feedback he received, the more he earned.

Progressive percentage

For us and sellers, receiving a percentage of sales is the norm. Moreover, most of the money depends on this.

So it was, is and... This approach is correct and is mandatory when working as a salesperson. But it can also be improved, made ideal.

Now we will need your sales plan. Because now we will pay the employee not just a fixed percentage of sales, but it will be progressive.

It will vary depending on what stage of the plan the employee is at.

Let’s imagine a situation where you have a plan of 5 million rubles per employee.

The plan is good, which means it is not so easy to implement it, especially when on average an employee completes it 80%, and then gives up because he considers further actions difficult and, most importantly, not rational in terms of money.

Therefore, we make a knight's move and divide our sales plan into 5% steps. And for each level we set the corresponding income:

1. up to 70% – 5,000 rub. (2%)
2. 70-75% – 6,000 rub. (2.2%)
3. 75-80% – 7,000 rub. (2.5%)
4. 80-85% – 8,000 rub. (2.8%)
5. 85-90% – 10,000 rub. (3.2%)
6. 90-95% – 14,000 rub. (4%)
7. 95-100% – 18,000 rub. (4.5%)
8. 100+% – 24,000 rub. (6%)

As a result, we get a motivated employee who clearly understands how much he will get if he makes a little more effort.

Thus, we show him that the game is worth the trouble and break through his financial ceiling, because greed takes over (in a good way).

Note. Following the example above, you can pay an employee a percentage of sales, or you can pay a fixed amount from month to month to remove spikes and settle the average monthly amount.

Fixed percentage

Now we are not talking about the standard percentage for general sale, but about remuneration for the sale of “special” goods.

Each company has different “special” products. Therefore, you need to select them yourself. But so that you can better understand what I'm talking about, here is a list of the most popular:

• Discounted goods;
• Products of a certain brand;
• Upsell products;
• Promotional goods.

You define product groups and tell your employees that they will receive an increased percentage of these sales.

We do this in order to focus the attention of employees on something specific. As a rule, a product with a fixed percentage changes once a month or season, as the company's priorities also change.

WE ARE ALREADY MORE THAN 29,000 people.
TURN ON

Bonuses

In addition to direct actions that affect sales, there are many secondary, but no less important. For example, submitting reports.

On the one hand, this is the employee’s responsibility, but in reality it is an additional option, which many employees speak poorly of because they are not used to doing this.

Therefore, we include in bonuses actions that are important to us and that benefit both the business and the employee.

To make it clearer, I will give several typical ones that we most often use in motivation systems for managers at our clients:

1. Maintaining ;
2. Accounting for your actions in the program;
3. Work on ;
4. Order in the workplace;
5. Reporting.

You may have other points. You set them based on what is important to the business and to you as a manager.

Each bonus is paid separately. Usually an employee loses it when he breaks the rules 2-3 times. If you are a fan of hardcore, you can deprive the bonus right away.

Interesting. The nice thing about bonuses is that they are not perceived as a penalty, but as an opportunity to earn more money. If it is lost, the employee blames only himself, since he himself missed the opportunity.

Super bonus

In order for the result to not stop after completing 100 percent of the plan, you need to stimulate the manager to continue working hard.

For this we use a super bonus. The payment scheme can be implemented as follows:

1. We pay the employee an additional 1,000 rubles for each +5% in the plan.
2. Upon reaching 110-130% and 130-150%, his percentage of profit increases

In this case, the employee will be motivated to move even every 5 percent and will want to go through the percentage step (110-130 and 130-150) as soon as possible, because there is super-speed.

Just don’t be greedy, super-speed means a very high percentage. To make it easier to screw him over, think about how much money a person will bring you if he exceeds the plan, and then the value of his action instantly increases.

Such a super-bonus, like a floating percentage, helps individuals prove themselves.

And against their background, others also begin to try better, because they do not want to be the worst in the team. What do they do with the worst ones? Right! They are fired.

By the way, you can set a rule that the worst employee in six months will be fired. Not a bad stimulation for those lagging behind, I tell you.

Reduction in bonuses

I'm not a fan of fines. I'm sure you don't like them either. It's like taking a gift from a birthday boy. Nasty feelings.

But sometimes you can’t go anywhere without them. Therefore, so that your managers understand that they will receive a fine for committing this crime, you need to make a bonus deduction sheet.

This does not directly relate to the motivation scheme for managers, but as long as employees do not know that in addition to the carrot there is also a stick, they will neglect some actions that are very important to you.

We combine motivation and penalties - we get a crazy cocktail of top managers focused on results.

Each owner draws up his own list of bonuses, usually it fits on an A4 sheet, although initially everyone says that he will now write War and Peace.

There are not many truly important points. Here are the typical solutions:

1. A deal was not created in CRM when selling;
2. The report was not submitted at the end of the working day;
3. No compliance corporate style clothes;
4. A mess in the workplace;
5. Naming a phrase from the stop list of words;
6. Being late for work;
7. The reason for the delay in completing the task before the end of the deadline is not written;
8. The assigned task from management was not completed on time.

As usual, you will have your own list. Each point will have its own fine amount. If there are overlapping points with “Bonuses,” then if the bonus is lost, the employee will still be fined.

Otherwise, we have seen cases where an employee significantly lost a bonus and continued to do nothing.

Briefly about the main thing

In order for the management motivation system to work, it is necessary to take a comprehensive approach.

The formula for success is as follows: use all the points from our approach (adapted to suit yourself) + long-term motivation + non-material motivation.

We take from this only the most important things so that the manager does not get confused in the scheme.

Any scheme requires verification and adaptation to your area. I don't like to say it, but every business is specific and has its own characteristics.

In general, creating a motivational scheme is not difficult when you have our example of calculating the motivation of a sales manager.

It's difficult to make it work. Therefore, be patient and prepare for the fact that employees need to instill the habit of counting their earnings.

This issue is resolved through salary boards/tables (online and offline).

P.S. We know how difficult it is to create motivation for sales managers for the first time, so if you have questions, ask them in the comments, we will help with advice for free.

Unmotivated client: from problem to task

Unmotivated client... Who is he?

Unmotivated clients can be different. And the degree of their “unmotivation” can also be different.

The deepest level of an unmotivated client: there is no “want” to come to the therapist. Not the author’s coming to therapy, but at the request, sometimes even at the request of someone else.

One - a parent, a spouse - believes that the other - a child, a partner - has problems. He thinks so because he, the first, has found it difficult, or even impossible, in a relationship with the second, whom he would like to “refer to a therapist.” The supposed client is brought in as a broken object or mechanism that the client wishes to fix with a tool called a “therapist.”

It is important not to fall for this hook, not to initially support this inadequate situation: where one wants to do something regarding the second, and a third must carry out this action. The helping, central, supporting question for the therapist in this situation becomes: who is the client? It is important to find the answer as a result effective interaction at the first meeting.

The result might look like this:

• the client becomes the one who brought the “unmotivated” client;
• an “unmotivated” client, as a result of the first meeting, finds his personal meaning in contacting a therapist;
• a couple can become a client, which is quite rare when one brings the other;
• the psychologist helps the couple realize their difficulties and understand, first of all, to the customer that such a formulation of the question is unrealistic; the client is absent.

If after the first meeting it turns out that there is no client, then this is also a result. Clarity of the situation is much better than mutual confusion. No client - no therapy.

A client whom we can call “unmotivated” may come under pressure from the care, persuasion, and persuasion of other people. On the one hand, he came on his own, with his own feet; on the other hand, it brought the energy of conflict. Sometimes, he is the one who comes to prove to everyone, including those who sent him for therapy, the futility of turning to a specialist.

Every therapist has “markers” that warn him of difficulties with motivation in a client. I offer you some observations of what may be alarming even at the first contact with a client in the context of clarifying his motivation for therapy. From my therapeutic and supervisory experience, I would suggest paying attention to the following situations:

• third parties are trying to record them;
• in explanations of why you came, the word “needed” can be significant, even something like this: “I really, really need therapy”;
• there are links to someone: they told me to sign up, they advised me;
• calling for an appointment around and after 21.00 – shows the client’s reactivity as opposed to conscious motivation;
• “I need it urgently”;
• The client already over the phone begins to show a “commercial” approach: “if I’m going to visit you for a long time, is it possible to reduce the cost of the consultation?”

So, an unmotivated client can be called one who did not come of his own free will; without sufficient awareness; does not know what can be obtained as a result of therapy; has an ambivalent attitude.

The duo is an aspiring therapist and an unmotivated client.

An unmotivated client is more likely to be paired with a novice therapist.

And this is because it is more difficult for an unmotivated client to reach experienced therapists: he must make an appointment and, perhaps, wait for his turn; therapy is expensive, and the unmotivated client feels sorry for the money - he doesn’t understand why he should shell out so much money.

In addition, experienced therapists who already have their own established practice have the opportunity to choose with whom to work. They sense difficult, unmotivated clients by “smell” and are in no hurry to respond to their dubious desire to receive therapy. Experienced colleagues suggest that such clients contact the state free center or colleagues who charge less per hour.

“You haven’t suffered enough for me to help you,” - this is what A.E. Alekseychik sometimes said at his seminars to a group member who was not ready at that moment for serious work. If you’re not ready, mature, get sick more, so that you want to get better. No doubt this makes sense.

But for a new therapist the situation is completely different. There are few clients. Each one is sometimes worth its weight in gold, because training programs have certain requirements. According to the terms of the program, a beginning colleague must pass a certain amount of supervision, describe completed cases. Colleagues without experience are interested in any practice.

At the beginning of practice, everyone is in a similar situation, so I am understanding, but not sympathetic, towards colleagues who more often deal with unmotivated clients, in contrast to their experienced colleagues.

Moreover, I believe that there is a certain justice and great benefit in the fact that novice colleagues have such good and strict teachers - unmotivated clients. They help to truly master the essence of therapy at its very first stages.

In my opinion, working with an unmotivated client should be as smooth, thorough, conscious and beautiful as performing, for example, qigong exercises.

Ignorance and “unmotivated” client – ​​relationship

Indeed, it is difficult to have your own will, your own desire in territory that is unfamiliar to you. A client coming to therapy for the first time may feel confused.

Therefore, it is important to orient the client, to help him understand what can happen in therapy, what opportunities the therapeutic space contains.

For a novice psychologist, it can also be helpful to present to the client what might happen in therapy.

At the beginning of my therapeutic practice I had some text, which, of course, changed depending on who was in front of me. Then I worked at the Center for Psychological and Pedagogical Assistance to Families and Children. And in front of me there could be both a girl and old man, and a teenager with or without parents, etc. For all my clients, coming to a consultation was without financial conditions, because... the above-mentioned Center was a government agency subordinate to the Department social protection. Many who came were recommended to see a psychologist by teachers, doctors, social workers, employees law enforcement or just acquaintances. When visiting clients told me that they had no idea or had a vague idea of ​​what was happening in the psychologist’s office, I said something like this: “They come to a psychologist when there is some kind of “stuck” in something. You can get stuck in a feeling, in a situation, in a difficult relationship, in a conflict with someone.”

As I said this, I looked at my interlocutor, catching a response to my words.

If there was a child in front of me, I continued something like this: “Can you imagine how you can get stuck in a hole in the fence. You can also get stuck in some feeling. For example, we can agree that it is scary at night. And I’m also scared to walk down the street at night, when it’s dark and deserted. But when the situation is ordinary, for example, a familiar room, day, and someone is often scared, then you must admit that there is some strangeness in this - a certain “stuck” in a feeling of fear. Or, when attacked, it is natural that a person defends himself, maybe runs away - this corresponds to the situation. And when someone accidentally hits someone, and the person who was hit grabs a stick, then this somehow doesn’t fit with the situation. It looks like the striker is always ready to be aggressive.”

If there was a girl or woman in front of me, I could illustrate being “stuck” in a feeling this way: “Imagine a girl being told that she doesn’t look very good. And she gets offended. Her resentment is understandable. And when they say that she looks good, she is offended even then, believing, for example, that she is being bullied. The situations are different, but the feeling is the same - resentment.”

“You can get stuck in some difficult relationships: with parents, classmates, at work with your boss,” I said, and from the client’s reactions to certain words I already had an idea of ​​the nature of his difficulties. Noticing that the position of someone who came for help was difficult for the client, she said: “People who are smarter, richer, or wiser than the therapist can come to a psychologist, but, nevertheless, any person can have a situation, a context, an aspect where it is difficult for him to cope alone.”

It is important for a novice therapist to have his own words that orient the client in the therapy space. An experienced colleague, in my opinion, should also have a brief and clear verbal idea of ​​his activities, his direction in therapy, the essence of his professional credo. But clients very rarely ask an experienced colleague about this and more often react negatively to the therapist’s proposals to talk about something similar.

Diagnosis of client motivation at the first meeting

At the first meeting, while clarifying the context of the client's coming to the specialist, the therapist continues to focus on the question of the client's motivation. It is important at the beginning of communication with the client to have a clear idea of ​​what “motivated” him to come to the consultation. Questions will help you understand the impulse, the motive for coming: “What brought you? In connection with what did you come?” The answers may be approximately in the following directions:

• the client can refer to other persons (I was told that they would help here; I was advised; I was sent);
• the client, in his answer to these questions, can focus on his condition (fatigue, confusion), feeling (“no more strength to endure,” excitement, etc.);
• the client names some event, circumstance (a quarrel occurred, a secret was revealed, etc.);
• the client is focused on the future (“I want changes, changes”);
• the client is research-oriented (“I want to understand myself”).

Additional questions may be important and clarifying: “Why did you come now? The problem arose...years ago, but they came now, today. Why?"

The client’s motivation is shown by the nature of the client’s expectations from meetings with a specialist, from the therapist himself: how conscious and realistic the expectations are.

It helps to refer to therapy experience that the client has had before. So, at the first meeting, the client said that she had undergone 10 consultations with my colleague at the Center. Then I worked in government agency"Center for Psychological and Pedagogical Assistance to Family and Children." When asked why she didn’t turn to that psychologist again, she answered: “It seems that when I was at the consultation, I liked everything, I went with hope, but nothing happened.” In my opinion, this client wanted changes in her life, but expected them to come in some way separate from her. You can walk around, talk to a specialist, and then explain the lack of change to his lack of competence. Then, after some time, come to the next one, “probably also incompetent: after all, the difficulties are insurmountable, and I do everything to cope with them,” - perhaps, such words could voice the motivation of that client. For me, this meant that even in the “first steps” with her, special care is required: when clarifying her expectations, desires, when working on the formation of therapeutic goals. “Do not rush to help,” which may not be needed at all, but in this context will only do harm: it will help the “lost” client to get lost and get even more lost.

If, as a result of our efforts at this first stage, the client only realizes the true situation with his desire, then this is a big deal - for him, for the therapist, for his possible therapy in the future. It is important not to support the client’s sometimes unconscious game, to help him stop being mistaken about his desires. At the same time, maintain a respectful attitude towards those who came to us. Awareness of universal human ambivalence helps: we all sometimes find ourselves in circumstances where both the desire for change and the desire for stability, supported by the fear of these very changes, are very close.

So, a series of questions help to better understand the client's motivation. At the first meeting, these are questions about the client’s expectations, about the context of his coming to the therapist. Such questions may include these:

• Why did you come to see a psychologist?
• What brought you here?
• Why now?
• What was your therapy experience like? With whom? On what issues? What are the results?
• How did you get to me?

The therapist's feelings, which sometimes provoke unproductive behavior, next to an unmotivated client

A help-oriented therapist may be unprepared to meet a client who comes to the office but does not show a clear desire to clarify his situation or change. Next to an unmotivated client, a therapist who has underestimated the real situation may experience feelings:

• rejection;
• anger;
• irritation;
• grievances;
• confusion;
• and others.

The consequence of these feelings of the therapist may be his unproductive behavior:

• the therapist is confused and lost;
• “rolling up his sleeves”, showing more activity than he should, spontaneously taking on greater responsibility;
• curries favor with the client, panders, trying to hide his rejection of the client’s behavior;
• defending himself, blaming the client; requires him to behave “prudently”;
• and other.

Alas, this happens. Of course, supervision experience is needed to change the situations described here. It is important for the therapist to notice his feelings, identify them, and stop unproductive reactions. To perceive these difficult feelings as assistants, telling us something about the client, something about ourselves. Take advantage of their messages. If possible, use the potential of conscious feelings in therapy.

How to be adequate to those who come?

To be adequate to the person who comes means to see the client as real, and not as “correct” and convenient for work. Receptivity, attentiveness, observation in dialogue help us “not to run ahead of the locomotive” in an unknown direction, but to be present with those who came to us, to move in the direction the client needs, at a pace chosen by him, organic and natural to him.

The client is who he is. Has the right to be difficult and unmotivated. Respectful slowness will help us not to waste our energy and not to cause harm to the client with our activity. Excessive activity of the therapist out of a “desire to do good” can take the therapist and the client in different directions: the difference in therapeutic goals is one of the frequent reasons why clients interrupt the therapeutic process.

Being aware of your own motivation for work is, of course, always important, but it is probably especially important when the client is unmotivated or not motivated enough. In my opinion, the therapist also has the right, which is also the responsibility, to honestly admit his own position. It may seem strange to some, but sometimes my answers to the following questions help me with unmotivated clients:

• want to help? what?
• can I help? what?

In some case, can I answer “I don’t want” to the first question? For example, I had such a response when a girl’s mother asked me to come to their home to meet her daughter, who did not leave the house, suffering from panic attacks. And when she did have to go somewhere, they called a taxi, and the girl definitely had to drink a bottle of beer. “Therefore, either you come to us, or she comes to you, but with beer,” says mom. Still, when I worry about “I don’t want to,” then I have the realization that I “can’t” help this client. In such situations, our meeting often does not take place.

I remember that the “I want to help” arose when a woman was sitting in front of me, who had lost her eldest son six months ago. “I don’t know,” she said, “why they signed me up with you, because you won’t help me in any way. How can we help here? She agreed to come to five meetings just so that her second son “wouldn’t swear.” I could and wanted to be with her in her grief for as long as she decided, even if only because “her son wouldn’t swear.”

When meeting with unmotivated clients, our steps when working are usual, but we do them under the prism of the main question, how motivated the client is: we clarify the client’s expectations, the context of his coming to us; we create a common space, work with interference “here-and-now”; leisurely, based on essential elements, together with the client we collect a contract, etc.

And it is very important that in this process we have something in common with the client. So, when I worked in a state center, management ordered me to hold 10 meetings with a suspended teenager, who was ordered to have these 10 meetings by the Juvenile Court.

He was dissatisfied and showed his dissatisfaction from the first minute. I, too, was not happy with this situation, which I took advantage of, starting like this: “I see that you really don’t want to be here. It’s unpleasant for you that you can only leave the office in an hour. And then nine more times in the same time You will have to come here, and You have no other options. But look at me: You believe that I am in the same situation. I was also obliged, like You, I also have no choice, to be here, or to be in what somewhere else at this time." His hostility towards me gave way to interest and attention. What I said did not occur to him. After these words, he saw me more as a fellow sufferer than as an unpleasant inconvenience. And only after that I suggested, since this had already happened, that we try to spend this time together usefully and not torment each other. As a result, our meetings turned out to be useful for both him and me. He talked a lot about his interests, about his relationships with his mother, sister, and girlfriend. He received support from a completely new contact for him. There is a chance that he will turn to a psychologist in the future, but on his own, because... The work experience that time turned out to be positive for him. I learned a lot from him about life, which I had no idea about, and I was grateful for science.

So, to be adequate to those who come to us means:

• see a real client;
• accept him as he is;
• realize your own position;
• determine priorities in work under the prism of the question of how motivated the client is;
• agree with the client about something, find something in common with him.

We usually ask questions about the client's level of motivation for therapy at the beginning of the process. Later, when, for example, the client is late, misses meetings, we mean the manifestation of a phenomenon that we conventionally call resistance. The client's ambivalence towards both us and the therapeutic process, manifested in his feelings and behavior, can be explained through a deeper understanding of his character and worldview. The concepts of “motivation”, “resistance”, “character” are conventional words, guidelines. They are also the directions through which we can fulfill our task - to meet with the client.

In my opinion, it is important to focus on the topic of “unmotivated client”, to pay attention to the motivation of the person who came to us, in order to avoid inattention to the “small” even during the first, initial contacts, which can later become a hindrance, a burden or an obstacle in the therapeutic relationship. Clarity of understanding facilitates humility when the client leaves and patience when the client remains in therapy. Meetings with unmotivated clients test the strength and thoroughness of our faith in therapy, in ourselves as a therapist; motivate us to professional growth and development. For this we can be grateful to our difficult, unmotivated clients.

Psychological counseling (according to B.G. Karvasarsky) -professional assistance to the patient in search of a solution problem situations, where patients can be healthy or sick people presenting with problems of existential crisis, interpersonal conflicts, family difficulties or professional

When a person seeks psychological help, he usually hopes that positive changes are possible in his life. However, sometimes people come to a consultant against their will and reject the client role imposed by others. Some people turn to a consultant with the sole intention of proving that no one can help them. These clients lack motivation during the counseling process. If a person believes that he does not need help, he should not hide this from the consultant. This situation is an obvious source of stress for a consultant of any theoretical orientation. It doesn't matter in which institution this happens. The consultant is forced to “treat” and “adapt” a person against his will. The hopes of the people who referred the client fall heavily on the consultant's shoulders. It is as if the consultant is being told: “You must be able to help; you are given the opportunity to prove this.” Most consultants feel a responsibility to "re-educate" clients.

If the client lacks motivation, we usually find that the referrer solves their problems in this way and treats the consultant as a punitive force. The percentage of involuntary counseling in schools is especially high.

If an “unmotivated” client is nevertheless forced for some reason to visit a consultant, he usually expresses his reluctance to maintain advisory contact in different ways:

· misses meetings

· late

· indifferent to everything that happens during counseling

Refuses to accept responsibility for the counseling process

· Clients especially often express their resistance through silence. Usually this silence is very “loud” for the consultant. Sometimes a client sadly twists a button and shows with all his appearance that he is just sitting in his office. Hostility can also be expressed directly. For example, the client says: “Coming and spending time with you is not my idea.” It would seem that the simplest solution that arises is to refuse to work with people who do not have sufficient motivation to improve and change their lives. However, this is not always possible. In addition to private practice, a consultant usually works in some organization (school, clinic, counseling center). Through his work, he not only satisfies individual goals, but also serves to realize the goals of the institution. The consultant is forced to provide assistance to persons who did not seek it themselves, but were referred by a teacher, doctor, or brought by their parents. The responsibility to help an unwilling person is stressful and often contradicts the counselor’s worldview. In such cases, Kennedy (1977) suggests using reality therapy(founder - W. Glasser), i.e., if it is impossible to change circumstances, you should abandon your attitudes. When applied to “unmotivated” clients, this principle means that they should be helped with at least something. Real, even small help can actually be very effective. Having met with an “unmotivated” client, the consultant must accept him as he is, that is, as a person not interested in counseling. This is the path to a successful consultative relationship. If the consultant tries to overpower the client, force him to cooperate, then he does not understand him. Reluctance should be treated as seriously as any other attitude: it must be treated with understanding, but at the same time show that the consultant is not interested in forcibly working for the benefit of the client. You can thoroughly and seriously explain to the client the essence and possibilities of counseling. If you do not strive to help the client at any cost and especially against his will, perhaps the client’s motivation will begin to change and the prerequisites will be found for the emergence of a productive advisory contact. The consultant must calmly and without unnecessary self-blame assume that an “unmotivated” client will remain only a formal client or stop visiting altogether.