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What is the worst sales management method that you've seen?
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2 Answers
The sales manager who insists on being involved in every decision including closing every sale. I've seen this on several occasions and each time it left the sales team feeling they're nothing more than messengers. Customers very quickly begin to view the salesperson in the same light and they would then begin to play the salesperson off against the sales manager to get a better deal. Each time I've seen sales managers operate like this the only solution has been to remove them from their job as trying to retrain them is simply not a good option.
Arthur,
A long time ago, I was a Director of Sales in a publicly traded company. Though we more than doubled sales in our particular region, the "leadership" 2-3 levels over my head handed down 7 different compensation plans for my team in less than 12 months.
The problem was that they didn't think our inside sales team should have the potential to make more money than outside reps, And they didn't expect that we would more than double our revenue in such a short time. The base salaries for my team were 30%-50% of the outside sales reps' base salaries, but the revenue achieved took the performance-based component to a level that was close-to or over the total comp for the outside reps.
If you did the math, the profit margins for the company were higher for the inside sales team because we didn't have the expensive overhead involved in flying, driving, etc. Additionally, the inside team could handle more clients per rep because they didn't have to meet "face-to-face", thereby increasing the revenue potential even more.
I won't say what I suggested as other "uses" and potential locations for their last comp plan, but watching that whole scenario unfold was one of the most weak-minded experiences in sales management that I've ever seen.
The well-balanced compensation plan is critical to running an effective sales organization - it can actually make or break the credibility of the leadership team. If a leadership team feels the need to muck with a plan more than even once a year, they need to forget their ego and find a compensation consultant to help create an effective plan. A poorly planned or ineffective comp plan leaves "the troops" feeling like they wouldn't follow someone across the street, let alone onto the sales battlefield.
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