It’s All About The Commission!!!
I briefly worked in a telemarketing company a long time ago selling a well known mobile phone network’s products. Though there was a vital salary it was honestly obvious that the entire venture was butt driven and if you didn’t achieve vital targets then your longevity in the job was not assured. Furthermore the incentives to sell way above targets were very attractive and the sales managers spent their entire time incentivising the workforce of phone operators to sell more, call more, get more – they were driven by targets themselves.
There was one issue with this business. Those that tended to stay the longest in the job and do well…were sometimes economical with the truth. That is to say, they were hungry for business – they knew when the person on the other end of the phone was interested and in some cases they would over sell or make promises that were not in their remit to deliver. In my small time there, I heard some real whoppers.
Obviously, this isn’t a fantastic long-term approach to doing business. When customers who were mis-sold products complained they had to go through a lengthy and time consuming process of compensation which didn’t do the company very excellent. I get it though – this company was a small term business. Simple to re-locate, revamp, remarket and go into other areas of business. They could meet the expense of to go around doing the same business – the danger was for the mobile phone network. Their brand was systematically getting tarnished by third part companies like this.
Now, don’t get me incorrect. I like the thought of incentives and bonuses. It is nice to be recognised for bringing in more than you are required to do. Yet, it seems to me that we aren’t even over the last financial cataclysm in the banking sector, which might I add was driven by bonuses and commissions, and still we haven’t learned any lessons.
My colleague Anthony Iannarino is perfectly right to say that targets should be about personal development rather than a blanket statement of intent from the board room. I have always believed, perhaps a small altruistically, that the company is the sum of its parts, meaning that the quality of the company is reflected in the people that are working for it. In a time where people are bringing up the rear jobs, there are plenty of people who would kill for the opportunity to work and say to a company. They don’t need incentives to give their all – they want the opportunity to say, to make a difference and to fulfil ambitions for reasons more than just financial. By making a job purely just about commissions and incentives businesses are setting their stall out to attract the incorrect types of people.
We often say in sales that competing on price alone is a perilous business. There has to be more value. Why then is it all right to have that mind-set with those that work for you? Why has it got to be all about the commission?