It’s All About The Commission!!!

I briefly worked in a telemarketing company a long time ago selling a well known mobile phone network’s products. Though there was a basic salary it was fairly obvious that the entire venture was target driven and if you didn’t achieve basic targets then your longevity in the job was not assured. Furthermore the incentives to sell way above targets were very attractive and the sales managers spent their entire time incentivising the workforce of phone operators to sell more, call more, get more – they were driven by targets themselves.

There was one issue with this business. Those that tended to stay the longest in the job and do well…were sometimes economical with the truth. That is to say, they were hungry for business – they knew when the person on the other end of the phone was interested and in some cases they would over sell or make promises that were not in their remit to deliver. In my short time there, I heard some real whoppers.

Obviously, this isn’t a great long-term approach to doing business. When customers who were mis-sold products complained they had to go through a lengthy and time consuming process of compensation which didn’t do the company very good. I get it though – this company was a short term business. Easy to re-locate, revamp, remarket and move into other areas of business. They could afford to move around doing the same thing – the danger was for the mobile phone network. Their brand was systematically getting tarnished by third part companies like this.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I like the idea of incentives and bonuses. It is nice to be recognised for bringing in more than you are required to do. Yet, it seems to me that we aren’t even over the last financial cataclysm in the banking sector, which might I add was driven by bonuses and commissions, and still we haven’t learned any lessons.

My colleague Anthony Iannarino is perfectly right to say that targets should be about personal development rather than a blanket statement of intent from the board room. I have always believed, perhaps a little altruistically, that the company is the sum of its parts, meaning that the quality of the company is reflected in the people that are working for it. In a time where people are losing jobs, there are plenty of people who would kill for the chance to work and contribute to a company. They don’t need incentives to give their all – they want the chance to contribute, to make a difference and to fulfil ambitions for reasons more than just financial. By making a job purely just about commissions and incentives businesses are setting their stall out to attract the wrong types of people.

We often say in sales that competing on price alone is a dangerous business. There has to be more value. Why then is it all right to have that attitude with those that work for you? Why has it got to be all about the commission?

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