Beware Of The Sales Saboteurs

Beware Of The Sales Saboteurs
By Bob Ayer
The year was 1943. World War II was raging. In Washington D.C., Allen Dulles was diligently directing the Office Of Strategic Services, the forerunner of the Central Intelligence Agency. The discussion was internal security. Admittedly, spies and saboteurs had infiltrated our country, established themselves as normal citizens and were busily (and invisibly) at work trying to destroy our ability to make war. This internal threat became known as "The Fifth Column," (a term from the 1938 Spanish Civil War and memorialized by HemmingwayaEUR(TM)s book of the same name). Thus aEURoethe fifth columnaEUR? became equated with aEURoetraitor.aEUR?
Predictably, these saboteurs set about recruiting fellow-travelers, citizens who were disgruntled with the status quo and convinced they were serving a so-called aEURoehigher orderaEUR? by undermining their own government.
The difficulty with uncovering these traitors was that they looked like friends, acted like allies, attended the local P T A -- in fact were like you, me and our neighbors. In reality, they were focused in exactly the opposite -- the destruction of our system. They operated, not overtly with massive frontal attack, but subtlety, without attracting attention as they went quietly about their dirty work.
TheyaEUR(TM)re still here.
Today, we have a new kind of fifth column. They are on your sales payroll. In your Company. They are as difficult to perceive as the original fellow-travelers: they behave and look like our friends, they say all the right things at meetings. They smile and nod in agreement when management speaks of profits and the need to sell at high margins. But their agenda is to continually sell from the fifth column--the lowest of profit margin in the Company sales book.
Their job title is salesperson, but they seem hell bent on destroying the company by sabotaging profits. They are corporate traitors.
HereaEUR(TM)s how you can identify and unmask them: When you tell them, aEURoeIn a tough sale, if you are pushed to the wall, you can give up another 12%,aEUR? What do they do? They immediately go the additional 12% discount without even trying to sell up aEUR" to fight for and get a decent margin. What these aEURoefifth columnaEUR? salespeople are doing is forcing your company to pick up all the expenses of their not being able to sell aEURoeValue.aEUR? They collapse at first pressure. They give the sale away -- and charge the reduction to you.
Who do they recruit?
Your customers! Its subtle and subversive but they are aEURoerecruitingaEUR? their customers, doing their utmost to transfer the customeraEUR(TM)s allegiance to themselves, away from the Company, pretending itaEUR(TM)s them who is giving the customer a break aEUR" making it look like they have the power to do a aEURoegood customeraEUR? a personal favor on price aEUR" all of that, your CompanyaEUR(TM)s money!
At the same time they try to convince management that they control their accounts so thoroughly that you, the Company, should be fearful they if they leave they will take those accounts down the street to a competitor. Not true. DonaEUR(TM)t fall for it! These fifth column sales people are weak sales people who undermine your sales program by giving away reasonable profits while they claim to being such aEURoepalsaEUR? with the buyers that they are holding you ransom. They will pay this saboteur game until you unmask them or get rid of them. Or both.
Spotting the fellow travelers.
How do you find out if there are sales traitors in your ranks? First, donaEUR(TM)t be fooled by appearances. Of course they say the right things, snuggle up to you and applaud your ideas, act and behave like genuine salespeople. What are the telltale signs? The first and most important sign is a lack of gross margin in their accounts.
The clues are the salespeople who always come begging to their manager with the best excuses saying, "We've got to give good old Joe our best price. After all, he buys so much from usaEUR|" These are often the salespeople who have large books of business and have been around for a long time. They see their role as advocating for the client, instead of their own company. WhoaEUR(TM)s paying them?
And, itaEUR(TM)s a sure bet you'll often find "good old Joe" on their expense account over and over again -- for baseball tickets, the football tickets, repeated meals, all of the perks. Our fifth columnist will naturally go fishing and on vacation with "Good old Joe" to prove to management how close he is with customers and families.
The problem.
Your dilemma may be that your saboteur actually does control the account. But, if they control the account, it is because your management has not intervened to neutralize their influence with major accounts. For management, it always seems there are always aEURoemore important prioritiesaEUR? than doing the necessary in-person handholding and involvement with major clients. So, the unfortunate alternative is youaEUR(TM)ve let your best accounts rest in the hands of the traitor.
Who are the real agent provocateur? Surprisingly, it is customers like good old Joe, that buyer inside one of our best accounts. Ole Joe looks like our friend, acts like our champion, comes to our holiday parties, romances all the office staff but in reality is pulling the strings on our fellow-traveler salesperson puppet. It is good old Joe who has the life and death authority over a significant amount of income for our puppet. Under the guise of helping us get more business, Joe convinces our sappy salesman that giving up margins and going to the fifth column price will result in more businessaEUR| aEURoein the long runaEUR?. A killer phrase and an irresistible temptation to constantly con our feeble salesman.
Pressured by managementaEUR(TM)s dictum to "Hit the quota numbers," our deluded fellow-traveler falls for the oldest trap of all: aEURoelower the price and make it up in volume.aEUR? Trying to please good old Joe, and hit the numbers, our sales person can be counted on to advocate for the customer.
Management Beware.
All betrayals begin with rationalizations; aEURoeIf this is what management wants, then it will be OK to bend the rules anyway I have to in order to get them what they want.aEUR? SureaEUR|
Corporate pressure to make short-term sales quotas is often in conflict with long-term profit strategies. And the goal of creating strategic alliances and "partner" relationships with customers often rationalizes the fellow-traveler salespersonaEUR(TM)s advocacy of the customer. aEURoeGee, I was just trying to wrap this guy up aEUR" like you said we should.aEUR? Not if it gives away your long term margins.
The prudent sales manager knows that there is a dual purpose to the sales plan; a plan that will sensibly meet the short-term company objectives without endangering the longer term strategic objectives aEUR" a plan that will not jeopardize long term profits for short-term sales goals.
Yes, the purpose is to meet quotas and to build tight relationships with good customers aEUR" but profitably. Allowing the sales saboteurs to give away margins in order to aEURoemake a quick buckaEUR? (or worse yet, buy personal loyalty), is a sure way to undermine what really matters: carefully building a solid, profitablecompany.
Recommendations:
When you uncover those fifth column fellow-traveler saboteurs aEUR" the traitors in your sales organization aEUR"
#1- quickly intervene with their saboteur-buyer accounts
#2- unmask the saboteur and give him/her an ultimatum
#3- failing that, assemble the Firing Squad.
The longer you hesitate, the more damage the subversives will do. Any delay gives your traitor the time needed to do permanent harm to your Company, to your margins, and to your major accounts.
About the author:
Bob Ayrer is a successful sales consultant and popular speaker at conventions and sales rallies. Bob is the creator of FUNdamental SELLING. Bob can be reached: REA Performance Consultants, (304)274-6463 bayer@comcast.net

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