Why hiring or keeping the 600lb sales gorilla is a mistake

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Why hiring or keeping the 600lb sales gorilla is a mistake

December 2, 2010 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Communication, Culture, Ethics & Values, Performance Management, Recruitment, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Teamwork

For many years the legend of the 600lb sales gorilla or Alpha sales superstar has been strutting the hallways and boardrooms of businesses. Often revered for achieving top of the league ladder sales results, yet feared by many for their aggressive, manipulative, ego centric, demanding, intimidating antics, countless CEO’s and sales managers have allowed these sales prima donnas to remain in their sales teams but at what cost to their sales team and their business?

Too scared to confront them about their behaviours or sales tactics for fear of losing their sales contribution, many sales managers and their sales team have simply suffered in the presence of these sales bullies. In my many years of working with sales teams and sales managers I have met my fair share of sales gorillas and their distressed managers and sales teams. Here’s what I have observed:

They have the ear of the Managing Director/CEO who thinks they can do no wrong.
They won’t let the business anywhere near their customers.
They tell tall tales about their legendary sales conquests.
They refuse to be coached, counseled or trained.
They are very demanding, always complaining about the lack of resources and taking up the time of countless people to do their bidding, leaving the other sales people to fend for themselves.
They often exhibit bad behavior, and may be heard swearing or making inappropriate comments to their colleagues or other staff who are often too fearful to report them (see point 1).
They can engage in questionable sales tactics, yet claim that they are pristine and operate with the utmost of integrity.
They claim to know a lot of people and be very well connected.
They use actual or implied intimidation to get their way with internal team members.
They use charm and manipulation to get their way with key stakeholders.
They act with righteous indignation if you question anything about them.
They don’t think they need to comply with company policies so often refuse to complete paperwork or keep up to date CRM’s if they think it’s a ‘waste of time’.

You only have to watch the movie ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ to see your fair share of sales gorillas. This type of sales culture was revered by a number of industry sectors in the 70’s and 80’s, including real estate, car sales, stock broking, etc. Watching it makes me feel ill, but many sales teams got off on this and even use ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ as a model of how they should sell in some quarters today.

Yet most people watching ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ or meeting their very own sales gorilla feel repulsed by them. Often very wary of them, others wonder why they have to tolerate them and why management won’t act. Truth is these sales gorillas have never been pulled into line. Their outstanding sales results have somehow bought them immunity from behaving in a civil manner. The smell of money they can bring in has condoned behaviour that has often outweighed the need to act ethically and uphold team values and respectful behavior. Their bad behavior has been allowed to manifest without restrictions, ‘oh let him get away with it. Look at the results he pulls in’. These sales gorillas are the direct result of poor quality leadership, lack of clear standards and bad decision making.

What most businesses do not know is that these sales gorillas, for all their so called sales success, actually fall well behind the real sales superstars in terms of achieving high level and sustainable sales results who, by contrast, are open minded, curious, collaborative, team oriented, open to learning and aim for partnerships on every level. And these real sales superstars are humble too which is a direct contradiction to the behavior of the sales gorillas.

So are you currently letting fear hold you and your team hostage by allowing your sales gorilla to persist?
What would happen if you got rid of the sales gorilla?
How would the rest of your team respond when they left?
What would happen to sales and the clients?

In my experience when the sales gorilla finally departs, there is an initial sense of shock which quickly gives way to relief and the opportunity for the sales team to really pull together and prosper. The biggest fear of losing the sales gorilla’s sales power and their clients doesn’t eventuate in the vast majority of cases. In fact it is often revealed that the clients are happy the sales gorilla has left and look forward to a more open and prosperous relationship with the company concerned and sales grow even more.

I am not suggesting that most leaders intentionally hired these sales gorillas or intended for them to manifest however, without clear codes of conduct or values and a proper understanding of what you want by way of ‘good sales performance’ you cannot hire or develop the right sales people to do the right things in the right sales culture.

In his book ‘The No Asshole Rule’, Leigh Buchanan writes about bosses behaving badly. Its thesis – don’t hire jerks, has become public policy in many companies around the world. I would suggest we think clearly about what we want manifested in our sales teams and take a leaf out of Leigh’s book and make sure we employ ‘The No Asshole Rule’ and don’t hire sales jerks.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

October 27, 2010 in Ethics & Values, Procurement, Sales Skills, Value Creation

I recently had the pleasure of attending and speaking at the 6th CIPS Australasia Annual Conference for the procurement profession. It was my third invitation to speak at a CIPSA event in my capacity as a professional representing the sales profession. The theme for this conference was ‘Managing Volatility’. A key message I gleaned from the conference was Value Management rather than the narrow band width of Cost Management.

Don’t get me wrong, the Procurement Profession is still interested in cost, however, there was a distinct awareness about ‘cheap being a false economy’. While it was important that it look to secure supply, and at the same time reduce total supply cost, it was not after ‘cheap’.

At the ‘Pricing Insight’ session, one of the many sessions I attended over the two days, the famous Warren Buffett quote: “Price is what you pay … Value is what you get.” defined the issue.

Many of the procurement professionals in the ‘Pricing Insight’ session commented on the stupid pricing games played by sales people and their companies. They still found that too many sales people were product fixated rather than business oriented, and defaulted to unnecessary price wars at the expense of developing real value propositions. When something was offered up as very cheap, the procurement professionals were concerned about the guarantee of supply and quality of the offering. They did not want to buy ‘cheap’.

Contrary to the popular myth that all procurement people want to negotiate down to the lowest price, the procurement profession is far more sophisticated than most sales people give them credit for. The sales profession is doing itself a disservice if it pitches the ‘Us versus Them’ scenario when it comes to dealing with procurement.

The procurement profession is learning its lessons too. We cannot deny that there has been a climate in the past of procurement focusing on cost management only, and maybe some lingering effects still exist in some industries. However, they are learning that supply and demand are inextricably linked and not managing these issues well can cause greater costs and harm to their organisations and industries.

Take for example the European auto manufacturing industry. Prof Dr Nicolas Reinecke, a world expert on Procurement, cited how recently the major European car manufacturers had to bail out the world’s largest manufacturer of bumper bars to the tune of $100M because a climate of reducing prices by 1-2% every year finally sent the business into bankruptcy. What that auto industry had to learn was that they nearly killed off the only major quality supplier by being short sighted and self centred, as their own cost management behaviours had made it near impossible for other equivalent auto suppliers to exist. Bailing out this bumper bar business cost the industry much more than if they had have worked in a sustainable partnership model that allowed all parties to continue trading in a healthy manner.

David Noble, Chief Executive of CIPS worldwide, says that the volatile environment is the new norm and being near sighted about cost management only will harm everyone. The key differentiator, he states, is the Supply Chain as it touches all corners of the organisation and is the face of the enterprise. He commented that Value Add is increasingly generated external to the enterprise and that strong supply chains need to be fast, flexible and robust with the ability to control risk and environment.

The Supply Chain efficiency is increasingly seen as the key differentiator in business with the majority of value add in an enterprise coming from outside the organisation’s boundaries.

Sixty percent of major corporations now have Procurement and Supply at the top table with the world globalisation, recessions and environment all sitting squarely in the procurement space. David states that, the spotlight is on their profession and volatility is at the heart of supply chain management. Controlling volatility and managing value gives an organisation a huge competitive edge.

We are witnessing a quickening in the development, thinking and sophistication of the Procurement Profession – they are definitely on the front foot. They realise that they do not have to make negotiation a part of every sale – it is not about being adversarial for the sake of it.

The Procurement Profession has access to more information than ever before. Most clients know what they are after even if they don’t know how to articulate it. Today, clients expect to communicate and deal with a real professional who knows their own business and how they can best serve their clients’ needs with creative solutions and fresh ideas.

They don’t expect to be coerced, bullied, tricked or intimidated into buying. They don’t expect to be treated like an idiot by sales people who just talk at them and flash brochures or product sheets. Nor do they necessarily want to make ‘friends’ with sales people.

Clients, especially the procurement profession, are now after ‘business people’ who can sell, think about possibility and take information to the imagination phase. They are looking for partners to help them map a pathway forward into the future.

As a sales profession, we need to be keeping pace with the procurement profession and rather than working against procurement we need to work with them in a spirit of cooperation where we can manage value together.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Are you ready for Sustainable Selling?

October 21, 2010 in Ethics & Values, Procurement, Sales Relationships, Strategy, Value Creation

Sustainable Selling was voted by you as the number 10 Sales Trend for 2010. With the green agenda comes Sustainable Selling. More and more questions are being asked by many about how we can best manage this relationship now and for future generations?

I recently attended and spoke at the 6th CIPS Australasia Annual Conference (peak industry body for the Procurement Profession) where Sustainability was well and truly on the agenda. The conference theme, ‘Managing Volatility’, had a range of national and international speakers presenting on how we manage and guarantee supply in an ever changing, often unpredictable world. The key topic, which everything seemed to revolve around, was about managing value rather than only managing cost. The messages I received was that the Procurement Profession wants to encourage real, measurable value, trust, transparency, substance, and ethical selling and procurement practices which discourages excessive consumption and greed. The focus was on forging legitimate business relationships which serve the environment, people, businesses and communities. ‘We are all in this together’ was the point that I resonated with.

Taking the lead from the CIPSA conference, other forward thinking professional bodies and emerging business practices such as Fair Trade, if we are to meet the needs of the present (economic, environmental and social) without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs, we need to engage in Sustainable Selling practices which support the concept of Sustainable Development as part of our strategy moving forward.

The Brundtland Report that formalised ideas around Sustainable Development provides the basis for practical application of the principles of sustainability in the real world. Sustainable Development is not a fixed state of harmony, but rather a process of change in which the exploitation of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional change are made consistent with future as well as present needs.

Cradle to Cradle Design is one example of some clever thinking and action around sustainable development. Cradle to Cradle Design is a biomimetic approach to the design of systems. It models human industry on nature’s processes in which materials are viewed as nutrients circulating in healthy, safe metabolisms. It suggests that industry must protect and enrich ecosystems and nature’s biological metabolism while also maintaining safe, productive technical metabolism for the high-quality use and circulation of organic and synthetic materials. Put simply, it is a holistic economic, industrial and social framework that seeks to create systems that are not just efficient but essentially waste free. The model in its broadest sense is not limited to industrial design and manufacturing; it can be applied to many different aspects of human civilisation such as urban environments, buildings, economics and social systems.

Sustainable Selling, I propose therefore, is made up of ethical selling principles, ideas, values and practices which values trust, transparency, substance, community, the environment and healthy profits while discouraging the exploitation of people and resources, excessive consumption and greed. Sustainable Selling recognises that everybody lives by selling something and that selling is about the principle of exchange – the sustainable exchange of ideas, innovations, products, tools, concepts, feelings, money and value.

The focus is on creating Sustainable Selling business cultures by encouraging and training all people in sustainable selling and business principles and skills so they can forge legitimate business relationships which serve the environment, people, business and communities.

Take the Victorian Government and VECCI initiative Carbon Compass which was launched in April 2010. Carbon Compass is a place where small and medium businesses can find knowledge, share information and get practical advice on how to reduce their carbon footprint. The website has been developed to help us understand what carbon is and where it exists in our businesses. It is designed to help us make our businesses more sustainable. The carbon, climate change and sustainability solutions they host have been recommended by businesses for businesses.

At Barrett, we recognise the importance of minimising the impact of the way we do business. We have a continuous improvement approach and have developed a purchasing and recycling strategy and sustainability checklist amongst other things – our goal is to live and work with a cradle to cradle mindset. As one of our initial steps, we have signed up to Carbon Compass as well and find it a great resource.

However, our vision for Sustainable Selling extends beyond the day to day operations of our business. On a broader business perspective, at Barrett we are in the process of developing the Sustainable Selling Manifesto & Charter where we are inviting individuals and companies to contribute to its formation.

Following on from our vision extends to the creation of a tribe or community of businesses and business people who subscribe to the Sustainable Selling Charter which would lead to the subsequent opportunity for businesses to do business with other Sustainable Selling Partners.

The Sustainable Selling Charter & Practices would support the concept of Sustainable Development and Cradle to Cradle initiatives which provides practical applications of the principles of sustainability in the real world.

Sustainable Selling is not a fixed state of harmony but rather an evolving process in which the application of resources, the direction of investments, the orientation of technological development and institutional change are balanced with future as well as present needs. 2010 and beyond will be about putting eco into sales.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Why we should take customer service more seriously

September 15, 2010 in Customer Service, Ethics & Values

I propose that customer service is an assertive act, a proactive role that has an incredible impact on the attraction and retention of customers. It represents the ‘front door’, the daily face of a business, ideally setting the scene for productive, healthy relationships. I propose that customer service can often be a much harder, more gruelling role than selling; dealing with the many variables that confront a business, sorting out problems, providing advice, answering technical/distribution/supply questions, coordinating and liaising with various departments, contacting suppliers and, dealing with crises; all the while being polite, friendly, effective and efficient on a consistent daily basis.

The types of people who perform customer service best are people who are interested in people, like regular interpersonal communication, value being part of a team, like organising and sorting things out, get real enjoyment and satisfaction from helping people get what they need, and are resilient, calm and thick skinned whilst being sensitive to the feelings and needs of others. Who do you know that is like that?

Why then is customer service often seen as a lesser role, a ‘servant’s’ role, a role where you are required to put up with abuse and bad behaviour, and a role where you are expected to put up with things most other people would not tolerate? Why do many customer service people feel they have to suffer in silence?

I am in the midst of working on a Customer Service Excellence program roll out with a well respected and innovative manufacturing company in the building industry sector. They take being ‘excellent’ very seriously and as such are ensuring their customer service team are well trained in skill as well as the ethics and vision of a customer focused, quality business. As part of our work, we discuss how to deal with rude and angry customers. It was revealed by some of the female customer service staff, on our initial program, that some of the customers (male) were making inappropriate comments of a sexual nature over the phone to them and this was causing them distress – rightly so. The management team (all male except for one female) who were also on the initial program were shocked at the news, and all agreed that their staff should never have to put up with this or any other type of abusive behaviour.

Asked why they hadn’t spoken up previously about these incidents, the female staff stated that they were worried that if they stood up for themselves and told the customers concerned to stop, then they might lose their business. Credit to these staff for putting the business first however, it should never have to be at the expense of their dignity or professional behaviour. Management were adamant that this type of behaviour, abusive language or threats from customers or anyone should not be tolerated under any circumstances and if it did happen again the staff were advised to report it immediately to their manager.

We need to make sure that all our staff are safe – free from abuse, bullying and other inappropriate behaviour. I too often see customer service being undervalued by businesses and trivialised as fluffy, or being nice and ‘the customer is always right’ stuff. It is far from that. It’s a tough job. It saddens me that people, especially women, do not think they can say something when inappropriate and abusive behaviour surfaces. A recent newspaper article put paid to the issue that bullying was due to low self esteem, instead it stated that research found that bullies had an over inflated view of themselves and thus set about demonstrating this in various ways including bullying.

Perhaps we should be able to give our people, especially customer service staff, training and coaching in how to address bullying and other challenging behaviour alongside the more traditional customer service skills training. And then, back this up by a code of conduct; a charter on how we deliver customer service and what we stand for.

I defy any senior manager to sit in the chairs or stand in the shoes of their customer service staff and handle that role for a week and see how they fair. The program on channel 10, Undercover Boss, gives us a glimpse of senior executives taking on the roles of their staff, often service staff in the front line. They are usually shocked at how hard these roles actually are and realise that without their customer service staff they do not have a business. Whether your staff are servicing customers via the telephone or in a restaurant or over the counter, we need to make sure that we back them, keep them safe and help them be at their best, and that includes having the skills and the right to address inappropriate and abusive behaviour without the fear of losing one’s job.

Customer service is the back bone of any business, driving home our values, messages, vision and the state of our relationships with each other and our customer community. Let’s take customer service seriously.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Can sales and medicine mix?

September 1, 2010 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Culture, Ethics & Values

As you know, I am an advocate for the philosophy that ‘everybody lives by selling something’ and that people buy from people they trust. At its best, selling is about the principle of exchange:- the exchange of value where both parties benefit from open and transparent communication and know what they are engaging in.

So can ‘selling’ be seen as a legitimate role in the various practices of medicine? I.e. GP’s, dentists, optometrists, physiotherapists, surgeons, etc.

If we take it that good selling is where people are fully informed of the facts surrounding their situation, are given legitimate options to choose from, and are in a position to make their own decisions without fear of deception, bullying or intimidation then, yes, selling can form a part of the practice of medicine.

Educating your ‘clients’ is a key function of good selling and selling does involve persuasion on occasion, especially where people are concerned about the decisions they have to make as it relates to their priorities, needs, wants, fears, desires or frustrations. Some clients are prepared to take more risks than others. Any good sales person or medical practitioner would make sure their clients are made fully aware of the risks so they can enter into a decision with their eyes open. Offering your best expert advice is part of what we pay the medical profession for.

Bad medicine like bad selling is about tricking people and taking advantage of the unsuspecting and the uneducated. And as the medical profession is part of the educated elite, where there is knowledge there is power.

My concern lies in the corporatising and commercialisation of medicine and I feel it is posing some ethical problems by creating a range of competing motivations such as ‘Do I do the best for my patient or my shareholders’ wallets?’

You may notice the increase in the amalgamation of medical practices, especially in the areas of dentistry and optometry and the shift in focus to shareholder value. It’s similar in my view to corportatising child care and look at what happened there.

A couple of years ago, I was asked to present information on ‘selling’ to a dental group. They were interested in how to bring a sales culture into their business and get patients to buy more, especially ‘teeth whitening’ and other ‘vanity’ offerings. I must say, I felt very uneasy and did not continue with that business. A recent article in The Weekend Australian, 28-29 August 2010 titled ‘Ethical doubts over optical sales’, highlighted the potential issues with the ‘corporatisation’ of Optometrists. The President of the Australian Medical Association highlighted the possible ethical dilemma and conflict of interest, with optometrists working for large corporates and their emphasis on selling prescription glasses. Whilst he stated that there was no evidence of the over prescribing of prescription glasses, he raised issues about providing accurate medical advice and the desire to increase the value of the ‘sale’ and shareholder value as a real risk. The issue revolved around ‘trust’ – trust in the advice given and the options presented.

This is not just hearsay. Take the following scenarios I came across in the last 4 weeks:

A dentist, about to clean the teeth of his patient after the normal check up, suggested that the patient should have a photograph taken of their teeth so they can have a before and after shot. The patient agreed, but found out later when they got their bill that they have been charged $55 for the photograph unaware they were required to pay for it. At no time did the dentist inform the patient that there was a cost associated with the photograph. When the patient confronted the receptionist about her bill it was immediately refunded without question.
A patient is overcharged via her private health fund by her dentist. The dentist was able to access her private insurance surplus taking advantage of her savings. When she confronted him he told her ‘bad luck it’s already done’. Now she has to take her complaint to the Dental Board and her insurance company wasting her time and creating more angst.
An optometrist offered to take a photograph of a patient’s retinas to check for pressure build up, etc, and like the dentist above, didn’t inform the patient that there was a cost associated with this. Later, the patient found out there was a $90 fee attached to the photos, and upon challenging the receptionist, had the fee waived.

That optometrist patient was me in this instance and as a result I no longer go to this optometrist. My trust has been breached and I could not rely on his opinion or advice any more.

I understand that dentists, optometrists, vets, naturopaths, physiotherapists and podiatrists, for instance, have ‘retail’ arms to their businesses because they can sell ancillary products. However, I am proposing that there needs to be more attention paid to the transparent selling and ‘up selling’ of products and services between the medical advice given and the sale of retail products. Not having met all medical professionals I can only assume that the vast majority know the difference between giving sound medical advice free from bias and the offerings in their retail business. For instance, I like going to my vet. He gives me good advice, and he hasn’t tried to take advantage of me by over selling products or offering me things I do not need. He informs me of my choices and, as a result, I reward him by returning to him when I need vet advice as well as buying my dog and cat food from him rather than the big pet store a few kilometres away. I like supporting him and I understand that retail is part of his business mix. I buy from him because he is a good vet and he also offers products of a superior value that I couldn’t get at the supermarket.

The spotlight, too, is being shone more brightly on the relationship between the medical profession (GP’s and Specialists) and the pharmaceutical and pathology industries. I wonder how many have been influenced or even induced by pharmaceutical or pathology companies to change their prescribing or referral habits in favour of personal benefits at the expense of patients. No wonder people are increasingly feeling cynical and wary about the intentions of the medical profession.

In conclusion, I recognise the need for businesses to be well run and profitable, however, when shareholder value outweighs the health and wellbeing (financial as well as physical) of its clients or patients, then I think we need to question the application of ‘selling at all costs’ in these cultures.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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