Hire and Rental News - May 2012

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MAY 2012 | HIREANDRENTAL NEWS | 33
INDUSTRY IN FOCUS
it’s not that simple. The sales team will
recognise ineffective strategy and will lose
faith in the managers who developed it. If
the players on a sports team lose faith in
the coaching, the path to winning will be
difficult, if not impossible; the same is true
with sales teams. Don’t let lacklustre or non-
existent strategy cause this lack of faith.
To compound the error, companies often try
special promotions to save sagging sales on
products that are ill-conceived or supported
by poor strategy. Special promotions can
be very effective, but managers should
never call for a pointless charge of the
light brigade. Sending the sales team on a
promotion in support of a poor product or
service is a severe tactical error. A successful
sales effort hinges on good strategy, and
companies that fail in this regard severely
handicap their sales teams.
Affliction 4: Capping or reducing income
Powerful companies have managers who
do not get envious when large pay checks
go to the sales force. Managers who are
resentful of this often respond to rising
sales income by reducing commissions,
capping earnings, reducing territories, or
removing products. These are all practices
to be avoided, as they destroy morale,
which hurts sales. When it is absolutely
necessary to cap or reduce reps’ earnings,
it must be done carefully. If it’s done
carelessly, management will send the
message that future earnings for the sales
team have been limited. Powerful sales
people want to leverage today’s efforts into
greater sales and income for tomorrow. If
their commissions are reduced, earnings
capped, or territory removed, they will feel
like that ability has been taken away, and
the high performers will quickly look for
employment elsewhere.
Affliction 5: Favouritism
We all have favourites in life and that’s
normal, but playing favourites with
individuals on a sales team is very
destructive. Sales people want to work for
companies that keep the playing field level
for all. If select sales people are given extra
incentives, special attention, benefits, or
favours not afforded others, management
is sending a clear message there is a
privileged class within the team. This is one
of the best ways to lessen team spirit, as
reps will spend their time trying to move
into that special class and not trying to
close sales. Managers can’t buy the loyalty
of a team by strengthening a small political
power base within a company. Playing
favourites within a sales team causes
problems for all team members (even the
favoured ones), but keeping the playing
field level will pay big dividends.
Wasting time, poor sales meetings, poor
strategy, capping income, and playing
favourites are, with few exceptions,
situations to be avoided. They are
destructive to morale and they lead to poor
performance. Effective managers will be
careful to avoid these situations, and astute
salespeople will bring these practices to the
attention of management for correction.
John R Treace has over 30 years experience
as a sales executive in the medical products
industry. He spent over 10 years specialising
in the restructuring of sales departments
of companies that were either bankrupt or
failing. Investor groups and venture capital
firms hired him to manage turnarounds of
pre-IPO companies. In 2010 he founded JR
Treace & Associates, a sales management
consulting business. He is a member of
the National Speakers Association (US)
and earned a BS in Psychology from the
University of Memphis. Treace is the author
of the new book, Nuts & Bolts of Sales
Management: How to Build a High-Velocity
Sales Organisation . For more information
visit: www.treaceconsulting.com HR