Quite a question!
Any business needs their sales staff to be self-motivated, driven and focussed on success but to what extent?
When I started in my life of sales the salaries were low, the commissions high and the rewards were there for all that wanted them. These days it all seems a little different. I see adverts weekly in the press offering sales positions with generous salaries, car allowances and high commissions.
I know that the UK Minimum Wage regulations impacted on the packages of salespeople but I can't help feeling that life is a little easier for the salespeople of today.
I started my sales career when I was eighteen years of age. Full of chat and proud of my Ford Escort. I had a suit from Burtons with a jazzy waistcoat to match. I started training on a Monday morning in 1992 and by the Wednesday I was told to get on the phones and start making appointments. My basic salary was £6,000 per year, commission of 30% of the profit and a hope of a company car after three months if all went well. There was little monitoring during the month but on the last working day we were either publicly applauded for hitting or exceeding target or derided for low sales. It was hard work with great rewards for the winners and humiliation for the losers with the possibility of being fired.
We had to work very hard, my first appointments were made between 0915 and 0930 and my final appointments were as late in the day as I could make them. Monday to Friday was dedicated to work and weekends were my downtime. It was not uncommon for me to leave home at 6am and return at 11pm and still have correspondence to catch up on.
I am pretty sure I would end up in a tribunal if I demanded a similar performance from the salespeople of today.
I know there are still many very driven salespeople out there but things have definitely changed. At one recent sales assessment we completed for a client the sales team made their first appointments of the day at between 10:00 and 10:30 depending on the travelling required. The last appointments were generally made for around 3:30pm and often earlier if the return journey was long. All this means that the business of today may well only get one third of the effort of twenty-two years ago - whilst paying salaries of perhaps four times the amount.
For many of the sales people I meet now the effort required to make good money is significantly less and that can only be a bad thing for businesses. What shocks me is the apparent offence at my suggestions of what I regard as a "full day's work". "If I need to leave home at 6am then I want overtime" "I am not paid enough salary to work those hours" "that appointment is not in my territory so I am not doing it" are just a few of the comments I have heard in the last few months. I have heard sales staff being critical of telesales staff for making appointments with customers that are "not convenient" or not acceptable because "Man City are playing....". My particular favourite is "my basic is only £45,000 a year and is not enough to do that" when suggesting sales meetings happen outside "core selling hours".
I am unsure if the market has changed or if people have. Is dedication, commitment and "hard graft" a thing of the past with sales staff? Whether it is banging on doors, writing letters and emails or getting on the telephones - all these tasks are the fundamental duties of a salesperson and yet when I mention them I am often met with a look of utter contempt. "I don't make my own appointments" "I am too busy to get on the phones" are worryingly familiar comments.
Now I know there are vast amounts of sales staff out there who are incredibly committed and work hard for their employers and are not afraid of the good old "hard graft" but do they work for you? Are they the norm? I am sure I sound like an old misery complaining about the good old days but really, why are employers so less less expectant of hard work from their salespeople these days? There seems to be a culture emerging in many businesses that sales staff are paid a salary for simply being employee's and if hard work is demanded then that of course costs more!! Hitting sales targets used to be necessary in order to keep your job - these days it attracts a bonus.
It seems to me that in an awful lot of businesses the salespeople have a sense of entitlement to large salaries for not performing and then get very annoyed when this is suggested!
When I am called into a business with under performing sales staff one of my first objectives is always to get some old principles introduced. A working day structured around using the core hours of 0930 - 1700 for face-to-face meetings with proposals, quotations and correspondence being completed outside the core hours. The old values of hard work for big rewards really can still be instilled in sales staff but it is a much harder task to introduce this to an existing sales team rather than making it clear at the point of recruitment.
There are also a number of disciplines that I consider to be essential within any sales team. Appearance should be expected. Nothing that catches the eye whatsoever. A standard, well fitted suit, white or blue shirt, conservative tie and clean shoes. This attire will be expected by a client and will present a professional appearance. I have never allowed salespeople of mine to personalise their own appearance, regardless of the latest fashions or trends. I have lost count of the salespeople I have sent home to shave or clean their shoes, whom I have lent a tie to replace the "Where's Wally?" tie or insisted that the huge tie-knot is retied into a standard Windsor Knot.
This may all seem petty and certainly does annoy salespeople but there are a number of elements to be considered; They are being paid by you to represent your business and therefore you have a right to decide how, within reason, they dress. It also demonstrates respect for your business, if a salesperson cannot be bothered to adhere to your dress requirements they are very unlikely to be bothered about any more procedures you have in place in the sales process. Salespeople should be paid a salary to reflect their skills, position, experience and to provide some degree of financial security any worker is entitled to. But this salary should clearly be defined as being paid to be a salesperson with commission being paid for achievements. Therefore, hard work, dedication, additional hours when required, wearing suitable work attire and always working in the interests of the business will be the norm and do not become things that attract additional pay or benefits.
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