Analyze your sales career
Did you ever question your choice of a career in sales? We are a nation of salespeople; however, far too many in the field "default" their way into the profession and develop a comfort zone which creates mediocrity. Employers encourage this mediocrity by paying a "livable" base salary and a commission structure that is supposed to motivate their team to sell more.
I am in the process of hiring 2 new sales associates, so I'm attending networking events to size up the current level of talent. I recently met a young salesman at an event who was unemployed, or by his description, "between" sales jobs. After a lengthy conversation, I discovered that he had been out of work for 18 months and was reaching the end of his rope.
His former position paid him an $85,000 base and a commission of 15% on everything he sold so, by his account, he made approximately $110,000 for a year's worth of selling. This created a huge problem for him as it became an expectation for his next position and potential employers balked at this high base as he was untested, so their investment might be at risk. I couldn't resist offering a piece of advice to make his candidacy more appealing to future employers. "Drop the request for a high base salary and to offer to work for 100% commission" to prove he could do the job as he has been unemployed for 18 months!
The look of horror on his face was frightening as he blurted out, "No way, I'm entitled to my base for the effort I give each day." He went on to say that he was comfortable with the high base and the security that it gave him. He would rather continue to wait, no matter how long it takes, until he found a company who would pay him the base that he is used to receiving for his work.
Entitled, comfortable and security are words that a salesperson should never utter or experience as these are words that justify complacency, mediocrity and low performance.
If it were up to me, no salesperson would ever receive a livable base salary after 6 months of employment, however, they would be paid a high commission that would allow the business owner and the salesperson to each make buckets of money. This commission structure would drive the right salesperson to spend the maximum amount of time each day hunting for new sources of business and not living in the hope that they will find "roadkill."
It is time for each salesperson to do a quick review of their job performance and ask some difficult questions:
1. Do my results prove I'm an asset to my company's bottom line or am I a liability?
2. How much of my business week is spent on "justifiable" busy work versus aggressive prospecting?
3. Do I consistently execute my Top 10 behaviors to increase my worth to the company?
4. Have I lost my competitive edge and become complacent?
5. Is there someone out there, currently unemployed, who could perform my sales function better than me?
One of my favorite quotes from a poster offered by a motivational company is, "Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning a lion wakes up and it knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle ... when the sun comes up, you'd better be running."
Selling is an honorable profession that should be entered by design, rather than default. To all the mediocre salespeople who are underperforming in your current position, I offer the following advice: When the sun comes up, you'd better be running as there is an unemployed high performer who is looking to take your place. Go conquer your worlds!
• Bill Bartlett owns Corporate Strategies, A Sandler Training Center. bbartlett@sandler.com. Text "salestip" to 35893 to receive Bill's biweekly newsletter.