5 Great Sales Demotivators: Decrease sales by following these practices
Posted by Geoff Alexander on Mon, Mar 16, 2009 @ 01:09 AM
Regular readers of this blog know that I like to publish upbeat, real-world sales tips that telesales reps can use today to increase sales. I also discuss business ethics from time to time. Today I'm going to step back and discuss some terrible decisions made by Sales Management that ended up severely demotivating their inside sales forces, with a concomitant loss in sales revenue. I cover this topic in my Telesales Management and Coaching course, but consider these issues important enough to bring them up on the blog for those who haven't taken the class. If you're a telesales rep, I hope you'll never encounter them. If you're a manager, I'm sure you'll get a chuckle out of these, because managers that read this blog would never do this stuff! These situations all really happened. Read on:
Demotivator 1: Hire your significant other (SO) to run the sales team. Here, the individual that led the overall sales team hired the SO to manage the inside sales team. The SO had never managed and had never sold, and immediately clashed with the top-producing sales rep. The clash became worse, and issues brought up by the sales rep were not addressed at the top level. The top-producing rep left the company, and hired a lawyer. The legal issue was resolved financially in the rep's favor.
Demotivator 2: Let's borrow the reps' commission checks for a couple of months. Several companies decided that instead of continuing to pay commissions on a monthly basis, they'd pay them every quarter instead. As we all know, sales reps go crazy during the last week of every month, trying to get in business so they'll see it reflected on their next month's check. That's a motivator, and it happens 3 times per quarter. In extending the time it takes a rep to get a commission check, the reps only go crazy trying to drive the business for one week every three months. They also realize that the company is drawing 60 days interest on their commissions. This was a recipe for disaster, as it totally eroded any trust the sales reps had in upper-level management.
Demotivator 3: Hire the company gossip to run the sales team. This individual was promoted from the position of sales rep to run the entire team. The sales executive that made the decision was relatively new to the company, and didn't realize that the individual he promoted made a second career of talking behind peoples' backs, but the executive assistants knew it. The new manager was promoted based on longevity in the company, not on sales figures, as the person was not a top-producing rep. With the promoted individual now in charge of the sales team, the culture of gossip was now in full force. Top sales producers were now reporting to an individual they did not respect, as they knew every element of their personal lives would continue to be broadcast around the company, except now there would be no remediation at the corporate level. Memo to slaes execs: always interview the rank and file before promoting from within.
Demotivator 4: You get paid when we get paid. Here's another excellent way to make salespeople wait for their commission checks: don't pay them until the customer pays. Sales and Accounts Receivable are two separate functions in most companies, but this particular company forced their sales reps to become collections agents in order to get paid. Delay of payment wasn't the only demotivator for the telesales reps either. They realized that they were essentially being held hostage by the company, because if they quit, they'd lose all unpaid (although accrued) commissions. The reps brought up the unfairness of the practice, but management ignored them. This created an unfavorable situation in which rep attrition was extraordinarily high, as newly hired reps left to work for other companies as soon as they realized they took on the job of being collections agent when they thought they were signing on to be salespeople.
Demotivator 5: Fund my pet charity. Or else. Upper management loved to collect wall plaques from a well-known national charity. To earn the plaque, 100% of employees would have to donate to the charity. The company had accomplished this several years in a row. If a sales rep refused to give money to this charity for any reason, he or she was called into a one-on-one session, and accused of being miserly, greedy, hard-hearted, not a team player, you name it. Reps were brow-beaten into giving, but deeply resented it. When the national director of the charity was charged with misuse of funds, it made headlines in every major newspaper in the country, and the sales reps for this particular considered upper management to be buffoons. Tip for Management: if you have a pet charity, let the company make a donation rather than "encouraging" your employees to donate. They are salespeople, not fundraisers.
OK, so there you have 5 beauties. They all really did occur, because I knew people involved in all of them. It's really all about business ethics, a subject which doesn't get discussed as much as it should. Two of the companies mentioned above are out of business. Taking the high road and treating your sales employees fairly is a key to retention, and makes a statement about the value of your brand that is far more important than any framed sales mottos can. Set and maintain a policy of strong business ethics, and add them to your Best Practices in Management playbook.