The Worst Thing A Sales Manager Can Do To Salespeople
You're going to discover the worst thing that a sales manager can do to a salesperson.
It might not be what you have in mind right now, so, not to let you play the guessing game, read on to find out what it is.
And to those who find this blog, looking for tips to ace sales manager's interview, regional sales manager interview, or the like, make sure you double read this post.
It will be a huge help later.
Let me set a quick scenario so that we can understand my point better:
A new sales team was organized after a pharma sales company went through a restructuring exercise.
Rep A, who used to be in Team Alpha, now had shifted to Team Zeta, and A also had a team leader a.k.a sales manager, and product portfolio changes.
A few weeks passed.
During a field visit with Rep A, Manager Zeta noticed a few things.
After the last sales call for the day, Zeta sits A down for a discussion (feedback session):
"I notice that you like to put words into your customers' mouths. That's not a good thing to do. I used to have a team member who lost many sales due to such practice.
And I notice that your voice is too soft.
I saw the customer had to bend forward just to catch what you're saying. A lady team member of my former team likes to do this, and she got quite a scolding when she works with the Sales Director.
I also don't see your pre-call plan before we enter the premises.
You know that my previous team member was put under probation because he fails to produce this?
I don't want it to happen to you too, so please..."
Manager Zeta ended his feedback.
Now:
Of all that has been said by Zeta, there's only ONE thing considered as the worst thing he did.
Can you guess what it is?
COMPARING!
Yes:
That's the worst thing that he did.
Perhaps:
The sales manager meant well.
He wants the reps to perform at their level best.
But that's secondary.
The message that the reps are getting is:
"My previous team members are way better than you. I don't know how I end up with you. If only I had a choice..."
That probably sums up everything.
And it's the worst thing that the sales manager can do to salespersons.
In fact:
In a family, it's also the worst thing that Mom and Dad can do to their siblings.
"Why can't you stay at home and study like your brother (sister)?"...
..."Why can't you do medicine like your cousin?"...
..."I don't understand you. I put you in the same school as your brother and look at what you've done."
...and so on.
I know that many of us share the "siblings" experience.
Heck!
I still get them once in a while, but I've trained myself to handle them.
But Rep A?
I'm not sure if A had been trained on how to handle the emotion after hearing all those words.
What will be the emotional consequences for A?
Will A respect Zeta?
Will A feel worthy of being in Team Zeta?
I can say that:
Comparing one rep to another is the worst thing the sales manager can do to motivate the rep and boost morale.
Now that you know, how can we turn this around?
How can sales managers provide feedback and reps can benefit from it, without the emotional scar?
I used to name this blog:
"Selling and life from a medical rep perspective."
because there's a direct correlation between selling and how to conduct life.
And there's a reason why I used "salesperson."
There's a person behind every sale.
Take care of the person, and the sales are taken care of.
It's a "horse and cart" thingy:
You can't simply put one before the other.
Let's stop the worst thing that the sales manager tend to do on salespersons, and find a better way to move forward.
What could be one statement that comes out from a sales manager's mouth is enough to tell me that he or she sucks?
A statement like this is enough to tell me:
"The salesperson let the customer control him; not the other way around..."
Such a statement comes from a sales manager who has strong Old sell thinking inside.
I am amazed that many sales managers still think that way -- that a salesperson control sales closure and not the other way around.
I can relate to a particular sales manager who went into his own small business venture promoting alternative health products. He brought in many products which he THINKS can hit the bestseller's list and making him lots of money.
But you see, therein lies the whole problem:
He thought the market wants these products!
Sure enough, the market had spoken, and that guy was no longer in business.
We've got a slogan or motto or credo all over the place put up by companies to show how the customer is at the heart of what they do.
For example:
A local transport company here put 'Driven by customers' ...
... Another company's guiding principle is 'focus on patient needs to drive the decision.'
But sadly:
These (not all) were just words.
They look good on paper and have zero social proof.
If this ever happens:
Believe me that it's the people inside the company that causes this to happen, especially sales managers who suck...big time!
And now you know how to identify them.
I remember sitting in a product session during the company meeting.
The brand manager was asked about why the product bonus and other offers were not as good as the competitors' product:
"Why are we so pathetic?" asked one rep.
Everyone could sense the tension in his voice. I guessed he earned the right to ask such a question since he's covering one of the high revenue areas.
"Yes, we are that pathetic," replied the brand manager.
And that's all was said about the question, ever.
Now:
Imagine putting yourself in that situation, and you were the person who asked the exact, same question.
If you got the same reply, how would you react?
Would you settle for that reply?
Would you pursue the matter further?
This is what I meant by getting the wrong advice.
In the above case:
The matter was even worst because the advice or rather, the response, came from the right person.
Who else should answer marketing related question than the brand manager?
If there were the more appropriate person, and if the brand manager was responsible, she would have called that person in to answer it. Letting the reps go with the wrong answer is like letting them out to the field on a wild goose chase.
They'll get nowhere!
But that's not all:
They'll perceive the company as keeping incompetence for no apparent reason.
Think about it:
If the question directly related to her expertise was given such an answer, what else she had done that might have been made better if more competent people were in the exact position?
March marked the beginning for some sales reps who just earned their pay rise from last year's outstanding performance.
But not all reps got a pay rise.
I talked to one of them recently:
"It's funny that the company overlooks so many issues that contribute to increment. If other factors were considered, it might have unfolded a different story," he began.
"Yeah, it might have. But the appraisal and recommendation were done by the immediate boss. Maybe he's the culprit," I provoked.
"That's also one of the things. No matter how good we are, if the boss did not like us, then our chance of getting increment is out of the picture," he ended his words with a slight sigh.
"The way I see it, this company tends to reward under-perform people. Just look at Event A, and B and C. See how they were rewarded?" I retorted [ all events were not detailed due to privacy reason...ha ha ha].
"Yeah, you're absolutely right!" said my friend.
"Company does reward under-performers," and he ended with a big laugh.
"So, if you don't get a pay rise, that's mean you're not rewarded. If you're not rewarded, you're actually performing because of company rewards underperformers. How's that?" I asked him with a massive smile on my face.
There was a short moment of silence before both of us burst with laughter!
I might have given the best advice my friend had ever heard.
And he laughed.
If given the option between listening to the wrong advice from the right people, or listening to the incorrect information from the right people, which one would you go for?
Can it make you feel good, having to listen to the advice?
My friend laughs at my advice:
Could he feel wrong about my opinion?
How about you:
Will bad advice make you laugh?
General Manager often sits at the top of a typical company hierarchy and often has the final say in many decisions.
To make a decision, GM, as they often called, get input from the leadership team and make the call based on that plus other factors.
If they are new, or perhaps, not local, trusting the advisers is crucial.
But what if they have been listening to the wrong advice?
I just want to jot down some notes from my point of view regarding this.
A caveat before we start:
I am not a General Manager.
I don't know if I can be or if I'll ever be.
That's not the focus of my note here.
I'm looking at the dire consequences of GM listening to the wrong advice.
I used to hear experts say:
An organization is as strong as its weakest link.
I don't get the meaning of this at first.
But now, after I've been in and out of a few organizations, I can read between the lines a bit better.
If you didn't get it too, it's OK.
It won't affect your understanding of this article.
All you have to remember is:
An organization stays active as long as there's no broken link in the chain of command.
Even a slight miscommunication can wreak havoc to the whole organization in record time.
And the Chinese, who appears to have so much wisdom to share with the world said:
"The fish rots from the head."
I tend to agree with this notion because whenever I follow my Aunt to buy fish, she always looks at the eyes first to make sure it's not fiery red, which mark the fish quality.
If that's not enough, she'll look at the gills just to double confirm. Both eyes and gills are situated at the fish's head.
Do you believe that a whole education module can be based on wrongly, as well as correctly, given advice?
I got a perfect example of this:
Just look at what Robert Kiyosaki did.
He designed the whole series of financial education based on advice given by his "dads," the poor one and the rich one.
You better believe it!
Wrong advice seems to have its place here.
To be frank:
I am not interested in the person or persons giving the wrong advice.
To me:
It matters less than the person on the receiving end, and in this case, the GM.
You see:
Giving advice, right or wrong, is the job of advisers. That's what they're paid for. They will do everything in their power to make sure they got paid month after month.
Well, someone got to pay for the BMW, the 3 stores house in that posh area, top of its class tuition for the young ones, that branded attire around their well-sculpted, gym-trained body, and so on.
The justification is:
It's just human nature to make a mistake.
Receiving the wrong message, on the other hand, is a totally different story:
When people in power seek advice from their trusted advisers, like in the story of Braveheart, when King Richard came back to his palace, after hearing defeat after defeat of his army, and find his son was following the advice of a partner, Richard just throw the son's partner out of the castle tower's window!
Straight down a few hundreds foot.
The thing is:
Can the GM stand firmly on the ground if they were asked in front of higher authority?
Would they be able to say:
"Yes, I believe that this is the best course of action after I took into consideration this, this and this..."?
Let's pretend that I am a GM:
Under my management, I got a few projects going which will have a huge impact on the company's bottom line. Most of these projects involve working closely with Government authorities.
As time goes, the project under my care got knocked down, one after another. The new product failed to be listed with authority, after more than five trials, the existing contract was unable to get renewal and cost the company close to 56 million a year.
The sad thing was:
The company did not match the competitor's price which was just 3 bucks lower.
If that's not pathetic, wait until you hear this:
Another company's product was also near contract expiry.
But this particular product, unlike the "lost by 3 bucks product", was the company's cash cow. It's the moneymaker, the rice pot as you will, for the company. As GM, I would not bow to any resistance this time. I got to win this, by hook or crook.
So what I did was, I matched the competitor's price.
It's a "do or die" situation.
I must win!
And lo and behold: I win.
All I got to do was to bring down our price from the current 400 bucks to, hold your breath, 67 dollars!
Smart ey?
What is 3 bucks lower compared to 300 plus lower, right?!
Yeah, right!
It's apparent that I was advised by someone on this issue. I could have taken full responsibility for the decision, but I might find the skip goat for this one. I still couldn't find a beautiful story to tell the organization about my action.
But who would dare to care, right?
I'm the GM.
Who could have higher authority than me in this organization?
I believe I got more people who agree that against me here.
Nothing could go wrong.
Oh! I was reminded of the story about King Richard son's partner:
If my boss, the regional people, is anything like King Richard, how many knockdowns I was allowed to have before they came knocking at my door and throw me off the window?
Good question, don't you think?
But if that really happens, I would say instead my partner gets thrown out of the window.
In my case, it's my advisers.
No matter who they decide to throw out, as long as I remain in one piece. That should be good enough.
Sick soldiers, I mean salespeople, who face the customers day in and out, narrating stories which aren't theirs and had to stand behind them.
Well, that's what they're paid for.
There are plenty of rooms down there and only one up here.
I believe we can free some spaces if we need to.
Poor souls.
It's so easy to imagine myself as a GM and listening to the wrong advice.
I know that someone is going to take the fall and it's not going to be me.
Like I said:
People can make a career out of giving wrong advice.
But perhaps:
These people were shortsighted because making a career from giving good advice is way, way much better than going in the opposite direction.
Honestly:
I've had enough with Kiyosaki, and his "rich dad said this," "poor dad said that." Let there be one Kiyosaki who make his fame out of giving wrong advice. Let us all aimed for sound information, regardless if we make a career out of it or not, or whether the GM tune in to it or not.
Pity the GM who listen to bad advice, and live to see the havoc it wreaks.
First and foremost:
Not two pharmaceutical companies have the same tactics.
They differ, but in concept, the main thing these tactics must achieve is the same - kicking you out of the pharma company. I'm going to share, from my latest observation, the tactics that were employed and if you notice any similarities then rest assured that your days in the company are numbered.
Until then, enjoy this post:
1. Thorough checking of your call planning and call reporting.
If your pharma company had a reporting system in place, for example, Mobile Intelligence, Veeva, etc. it will make the sales manager job easier. Then:
2. Sales Manager calls up your customers.
He or she might make random calls to the customers whom you've keyed into your reporting system, and asked whether you have seen them at that particular day and time (notice I mentioned "day" and "time"). If any of those were invalid, that's it. You're done!!! (ha ha ha)
3. Call you in and put you under the PIP (performance improvement program).
In general, you'll be given a certain amount of time to improve on a set of key performance index (KPI), say, 3 months, after which you'll be evaluated. But bear in mind though, in this period, the company sales manager intention (most of the time anyway) is not to see you improve but to see you make another blunder before they catch you again and...
4. Send you into a Domestic Inquiry (DI).
Now, a domestic inquiry is usually made internally. The company might be calling upon an independent third party but believe me, the term "independent" can be loosely defined (wink!) here. Can you see yourself entering a room before three or four persons, and get a barrage of questions to answer?
I know. It sounds like torture. It really is.
I can't understand how top management thinks that this is a way to solve a problem. Small people like me can see that DI just adds to the problem, but well, I guess it's understood that the higher the ranking, the lesser the thinking.
5. Suspend you until the day of inquiry.
This is a way to slowly kills you. If you haven't get it at this point, you might as well pin yourself to the wall and wait for them to call you in. It is really a colossal waste of resources (time and energy) on your side.
Don't worry about the company:
If they don't want you, that means they're sinking already.
How do I know?
Well, let us just say this blog is read by smart salespersons, like you. The jackasses would just pass it by.
My final words before I end this is:
Get out ASAP when you notice any move your sales manager makes towards implementing these tactics. The tactics are as clear as daylight, and if you missed it, well, may God have mercy on you, my friend, because the managers and the company don't!
Rep A, who used to be in Team Alpha, now had shifted to Team Zeta, and A also had a team leader a.k.a sales manager, and product portfolio changes.
A few weeks passed.
During a field visit with Rep A, Manager Zeta noticed a few things.
After the last sales call for the day, Zeta sits A down for a discussion (feedback session):
"I notice that you like to put words into your customers' mouths. That's not a good thing to do. I used to have a team member who lost many sales due to such practice.
And I notice that your voice is too soft.
I saw the customer had to bend forward just to catch what you're saying. A lady team member of my former team likes to do this, and she got quite a scolding when she works with the Sales Director.
I also don't see your pre-call plan before we enter the premises.
You know that my previous team member was put under probation because he fails to produce this?
I don't want it to happen to you too, so please..."
Manager Zeta ended his feedback.
Now:
Of all that has been said by Zeta, there's only ONE thing considered as the worst thing he did.
Can you guess what it is?
COMPARING!
Yes:
That's the worst thing that he did.
Perhaps:
The sales manager meant well.
He wants the reps to perform at their level best.
But that's secondary.
The message that the reps are getting is:
"My previous team members are way better than you. I don't know how I end up with you. If only I had a choice..."
That probably sums up everything.
And it's the worst thing that the sales manager can do to salespersons.
In fact:
In a family, it's also the worst thing that Mom and Dad can do to their siblings.
"Why can't you stay at home and study like your brother (sister)?"...
..."Why can't you do medicine like your cousin?"...
..."I don't understand you. I put you in the same school as your brother and look at what you've done."
...and so on.
I know that many of us share the "siblings" experience.
Heck!
I still get them once in a while, but I've trained myself to handle them.
But Rep A?
I'm not sure if A had been trained on how to handle the emotion after hearing all those words.
What will be the emotional consequences for A?
Will A respect Zeta?
Will A feel worthy of being in Team Zeta?
I can say that:
Comparing one rep to another is the worst thing the sales manager can do to motivate the rep and boost morale.
Now that you know, how can we turn this around?
How can sales managers provide feedback and reps can benefit from it, without the emotional scar?
I used to name this blog:
"Selling and life from a medical rep perspective."
because there's a direct correlation between selling and how to conduct life.
And there's a reason why I used "salesperson."
There's a person behind every sale.
Take care of the person, and the sales are taken care of.
It's a "horse and cart" thingy:
You can't simply put one before the other.
Let's stop the worst thing that the sales manager tend to do on salespersons, and find a better way to move forward.
One Statement That Tells Me A Sales Manager Sucks
What could be one statement that comes out from a sales manager's mouth is enough to tell me that he or she sucks?
A statement like this is enough to tell me:
"The salesperson let the customer control him; not the other way around..."
Such a statement comes from a sales manager who has strong Old sell thinking inside.
I am amazed that many sales managers still think that way -- that a salesperson control sales closure and not the other way around.
I can relate to a particular sales manager who went into his own small business venture promoting alternative health products. He brought in many products which he THINKS can hit the bestseller's list and making him lots of money.
But you see, therein lies the whole problem:
He thought the market wants these products!
Sure enough, the market had spoken, and that guy was no longer in business.
We've got a slogan or motto or credo all over the place put up by companies to show how the customer is at the heart of what they do.
For example:
A local transport company here put 'Driven by customers' ...
... Another company's guiding principle is 'focus on patient needs to drive the decision.'
But sadly:
These (not all) were just words.
They look good on paper and have zero social proof.
If this ever happens:
Believe me that it's the people inside the company that causes this to happen, especially sales managers who suck...big time!
And now you know how to identify them.
Getting The Wrong Advice
I remember sitting in a product session during the company meeting.
The brand manager was asked about why the product bonus and other offers were not as good as the competitors' product:
"Why are we so pathetic?" asked one rep.
Everyone could sense the tension in his voice. I guessed he earned the right to ask such a question since he's covering one of the high revenue areas.
"Yes, we are that pathetic," replied the brand manager.
And that's all was said about the question, ever.
Now:
Imagine putting yourself in that situation, and you were the person who asked the exact, same question.
If you got the same reply, how would you react?
Would you settle for that reply?
Would you pursue the matter further?
This is what I meant by getting the wrong advice.
In the above case:
The matter was even worst because the advice or rather, the response, came from the right person.
Who else should answer marketing related question than the brand manager?
If there were the more appropriate person, and if the brand manager was responsible, she would have called that person in to answer it. Letting the reps go with the wrong answer is like letting them out to the field on a wild goose chase.
They'll get nowhere!
But that's not all:
They'll perceive the company as keeping incompetence for no apparent reason.
Think about it:
If the question directly related to her expertise was given such an answer, what else she had done that might have been made better if more competent people were in the exact position?
March marked the beginning for some sales reps who just earned their pay rise from last year's outstanding performance.
But not all reps got a pay rise.
I talked to one of them recently:
"It's funny that the company overlooks so many issues that contribute to increment. If other factors were considered, it might have unfolded a different story," he began.
"Yeah, it might have. But the appraisal and recommendation were done by the immediate boss. Maybe he's the culprit," I provoked.
"That's also one of the things. No matter how good we are, if the boss did not like us, then our chance of getting increment is out of the picture," he ended his words with a slight sigh.
"The way I see it, this company tends to reward under-perform people. Just look at Event A, and B and C. See how they were rewarded?" I retorted [ all events were not detailed due to privacy reason...ha ha ha].
"Yeah, you're absolutely right!" said my friend.
"Company does reward under-performers," and he ended with a big laugh.
"So, if you don't get a pay rise, that's mean you're not rewarded. If you're not rewarded, you're actually performing because of company rewards underperformers. How's that?" I asked him with a massive smile on my face.
There was a short moment of silence before both of us burst with laughter!
I might have given the best advice my friend had ever heard.
And he laughed.
If given the option between listening to the wrong advice from the right people, or listening to the incorrect information from the right people, which one would you go for?
Can it make you feel good, having to listen to the advice?
My friend laughs at my advice:
Could he feel wrong about my opinion?
How about you:
Will bad advice make you laugh?
What If The General Manager Had Been Listening To The Wrong Advice?
General Manager often sits at the top of a typical company hierarchy and often has the final say in many decisions.
To make a decision, GM, as they often called, get input from the leadership team and make the call based on that plus other factors.
If they are new, or perhaps, not local, trusting the advisers is crucial.
But what if they have been listening to the wrong advice?
I just want to jot down some notes from my point of view regarding this.
A caveat before we start:
I am not a General Manager.
I don't know if I can be or if I'll ever be.
That's not the focus of my note here.
I'm looking at the dire consequences of GM listening to the wrong advice.
I used to hear experts say:
An organization is as strong as its weakest link.
I don't get the meaning of this at first.
But now, after I've been in and out of a few organizations, I can read between the lines a bit better.
If you didn't get it too, it's OK.
It won't affect your understanding of this article.
All you have to remember is:
An organization stays active as long as there's no broken link in the chain of command.
Even a slight miscommunication can wreak havoc to the whole organization in record time.
And the Chinese, who appears to have so much wisdom to share with the world said:
"The fish rots from the head."
I tend to agree with this notion because whenever I follow my Aunt to buy fish, she always looks at the eyes first to make sure it's not fiery red, which mark the fish quality.
If that's not enough, she'll look at the gills just to double confirm. Both eyes and gills are situated at the fish's head.
Do you believe that a whole education module can be based on wrongly, as well as correctly, given advice?
I got a perfect example of this:
Just look at what Robert Kiyosaki did.
He designed the whole series of financial education based on advice given by his "dads," the poor one and the rich one.
You better believe it!
Wrong advice seems to have its place here.
To be frank:
I am not interested in the person or persons giving the wrong advice.
To me:
It matters less than the person on the receiving end, and in this case, the GM.
You see:
Giving advice, right or wrong, is the job of advisers. That's what they're paid for. They will do everything in their power to make sure they got paid month after month.
Well, someone got to pay for the BMW, the 3 stores house in that posh area, top of its class tuition for the young ones, that branded attire around their well-sculpted, gym-trained body, and so on.
The justification is:
It's just human nature to make a mistake.
Receiving the wrong message, on the other hand, is a totally different story:
When people in power seek advice from their trusted advisers, like in the story of Braveheart, when King Richard came back to his palace, after hearing defeat after defeat of his army, and find his son was following the advice of a partner, Richard just throw the son's partner out of the castle tower's window!
Straight down a few hundreds foot.
The thing is:
Can the GM stand firmly on the ground if they were asked in front of higher authority?
Would they be able to say:
"Yes, I believe that this is the best course of action after I took into consideration this, this and this..."?
Let's pretend that I am a GM:
Under my management, I got a few projects going which will have a huge impact on the company's bottom line. Most of these projects involve working closely with Government authorities.
As time goes, the project under my care got knocked down, one after another. The new product failed to be listed with authority, after more than five trials, the existing contract was unable to get renewal and cost the company close to 56 million a year.
The sad thing was:
The company did not match the competitor's price which was just 3 bucks lower.
If that's not pathetic, wait until you hear this:
Another company's product was also near contract expiry.
But this particular product, unlike the "lost by 3 bucks product", was the company's cash cow. It's the moneymaker, the rice pot as you will, for the company. As GM, I would not bow to any resistance this time. I got to win this, by hook or crook.
So what I did was, I matched the competitor's price.
It's a "do or die" situation.
I must win!
And lo and behold: I win.
All I got to do was to bring down our price from the current 400 bucks to, hold your breath, 67 dollars!
Smart ey?
What is 3 bucks lower compared to 300 plus lower, right?!
Yeah, right!
It's apparent that I was advised by someone on this issue. I could have taken full responsibility for the decision, but I might find the skip goat for this one. I still couldn't find a beautiful story to tell the organization about my action.
But who would dare to care, right?
I'm the GM.
Who could have higher authority than me in this organization?
I believe I got more people who agree that against me here.
Nothing could go wrong.
Oh! I was reminded of the story about King Richard son's partner:
If my boss, the regional people, is anything like King Richard, how many knockdowns I was allowed to have before they came knocking at my door and throw me off the window?
Good question, don't you think?
But if that really happens, I would say instead my partner gets thrown out of the window.
In my case, it's my advisers.
No matter who they decide to throw out, as long as I remain in one piece. That should be good enough.
Sick soldiers, I mean salespeople, who face the customers day in and out, narrating stories which aren't theirs and had to stand behind them.
Well, that's what they're paid for.
There are plenty of rooms down there and only one up here.
I believe we can free some spaces if we need to.
Poor souls.
It's so easy to imagine myself as a GM and listening to the wrong advice.
I know that someone is going to take the fall and it's not going to be me.
Like I said:
People can make a career out of giving wrong advice.
But perhaps:
These people were shortsighted because making a career from giving good advice is way, way much better than going in the opposite direction.
Honestly:
I've had enough with Kiyosaki, and his "rich dad said this," "poor dad said that." Let there be one Kiyosaki who make his fame out of giving wrong advice. Let us all aimed for sound information, regardless if we make a career out of it or not, or whether the GM tune in to it or not.
Pity the GM who listen to bad advice, and live to see the havoc it wreaks.
5 Pharmaceutical Sales Management Tactics To Kick You Out Of The Company
First and foremost:
Not two pharmaceutical companies have the same tactics.
They differ, but in concept, the main thing these tactics must achieve is the same - kicking you out of the pharma company. I'm going to share, from my latest observation, the tactics that were employed and if you notice any similarities then rest assured that your days in the company are numbered.
Until then, enjoy this post:
1. Thorough checking of your call planning and call reporting.
If your pharma company had a reporting system in place, for example, Mobile Intelligence, Veeva, etc. it will make the sales manager job easier. Then:
2. Sales Manager calls up your customers.
He or she might make random calls to the customers whom you've keyed into your reporting system, and asked whether you have seen them at that particular day and time (notice I mentioned "day" and "time"). If any of those were invalid, that's it. You're done!!! (ha ha ha)
3. Call you in and put you under the PIP (performance improvement program).
In general, you'll be given a certain amount of time to improve on a set of key performance index (KPI), say, 3 months, after which you'll be evaluated. But bear in mind though, in this period, the company sales manager intention (most of the time anyway) is not to see you improve but to see you make another blunder before they catch you again and...
4. Send you into a Domestic Inquiry (DI).
Now, a domestic inquiry is usually made internally. The company might be calling upon an independent third party but believe me, the term "independent" can be loosely defined (wink!) here. Can you see yourself entering a room before three or four persons, and get a barrage of questions to answer?
I know. It sounds like torture. It really is.
I can't understand how top management thinks that this is a way to solve a problem. Small people like me can see that DI just adds to the problem, but well, I guess it's understood that the higher the ranking, the lesser the thinking.
5. Suspend you until the day of inquiry.
This is a way to slowly kills you. If you haven't get it at this point, you might as well pin yourself to the wall and wait for them to call you in. It is really a colossal waste of resources (time and energy) on your side.
Don't worry about the company:
If they don't want you, that means they're sinking already.
How do I know?
Well, let us just say this blog is read by smart salespersons, like you. The jackasses would just pass it by.
My final words before I end this is:
Get out ASAP when you notice any move your sales manager makes towards implementing these tactics. The tactics are as clear as daylight, and if you missed it, well, may God have mercy on you, my friend, because the managers and the company don't!
What's the best thing your sales manager ever do to you?
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