Resist the Bailout
Should we bail out the banking industry? I don't know. They tell me that if we don't, there will be horrible ramifications for the economy.
Should we bail out the automotive industry? I don't know. They tell me that if we don't, unemployment will soar and the trickle down effect on those who depend on the auto industry will cause untold horrors.
Should we bail out the middle-of-the-pack account manager whose business has been decimated by his customer's drastic cutbacks? No.
John has been a solid account manager for your company for the last eight years. He doesn't develop a lot of business but his clients like him and he has built his revenue over the years to a fairly respectable amount. As his manager, you've given John good reviews. You like him and so do the bigger bosses.
Now, through no fault of his own, John's biggest customers have cut back dramatically. Whereas he was right in the middle of the revenue pack a couple of months ago, he is now close to the bottom. Revenue from his book of business is off 65%. Not too long ago, John came by your office and told you that he couldn't live on the commissions he is earning and wasn't there something the company could do for him?
The tendency is to figure out what the company can do to help John. Maybe there are some House accounts that John could handle and get paid a commission. Maybe John's draw could be increased or maybe he could be given a guarantee for a few months until he has had a chance to re-build his book of business.
These attempts to fix John's situation should be resisted.
I'm not saying there is nothing to be done for John. Perhaps, John can be the recipient of more leads than his usual share. Maybe management can spend more time with John trying to figure out the hottest categories or geographies in which he should be prospecting. Perhaps, there is a prospect that the manager has been working on independently and he can transfer the lead to John and work on the project with him.
John needs some love and he should get it, but he shouldn't get a financial handout. A rescue plan implies that there was nothing that John could have done and that he is a victim. We know that isn't the case. John began to take his business for granted. He allowed his book of business to monopolize all of his time instead of setting time aside for continual prospecting. He didn't maximize the relationships he had with his best accounts to get referrals from those folks. John didn't leverage his success with his current clients to get written recommendations or testimonials. John didn't utilize all of the assets of his company and continued to sell the same products to the same people.
John did what most of us do and he rested on his laurels. Now, the pain has come and he must bear it. Of course, John might come out of it on his own. He'll reduce his expenses and he'll increase his activity. Maybe his wife will go back to work part-time in order to help make up the difference. Maybe he'll sell his boat or rent out his second home. Maybe he'll auction off his golf clubs and his bicycle on E-bay. Maybe he'll eat rice and beans for the foreseeable future.
If John takes those actions and redoubles his commitment to selling, you will have a dynamite seller who will move up the rankings as market conditions improve.
If you bail John out, you will be sending a signal to the rest of the team that you are willing to take extraordinary measures to rescue an employee that barely fulfills the requirements of the job. This will guarantee that you will be bailing someone else out in the not-too-distant future. Worse, you will be letting the very best sellers on your team know that despite their success they are no more important than those who have been less successful. You will be declaring that everyone is special and the more astute will realize that when everyone is special, no one is.
Let the natural course of business weed out the weaker players on your team. None of us created the current market conditions but each of us has to live with them - as painful as that can be.
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Should we bail out the automotive industry? I don't know. They tell me that if we don't, unemployment will soar and the trickle down effect on those who depend on the auto industry will cause untold horrors.
Should we bail out the middle-of-the-pack account manager whose business has been decimated by his customer's drastic cutbacks? No.
John has been a solid account manager for your company for the last eight years. He doesn't develop a lot of business but his clients like him and he has built his revenue over the years to a fairly respectable amount. As his manager, you've given John good reviews. You like him and so do the bigger bosses.
Now, through no fault of his own, John's biggest customers have cut back dramatically. Whereas he was right in the middle of the revenue pack a couple of months ago, he is now close to the bottom. Revenue from his book of business is off 65%. Not too long ago, John came by your office and told you that he couldn't live on the commissions he is earning and wasn't there something the company could do for him?
The tendency is to figure out what the company can do to help John. Maybe there are some House accounts that John could handle and get paid a commission. Maybe John's draw could be increased or maybe he could be given a guarantee for a few months until he has had a chance to re-build his book of business.
These attempts to fix John's situation should be resisted.
I'm not saying there is nothing to be done for John. Perhaps, John can be the recipient of more leads than his usual share. Maybe management can spend more time with John trying to figure out the hottest categories or geographies in which he should be prospecting. Perhaps, there is a prospect that the manager has been working on independently and he can transfer the lead to John and work on the project with him.
John needs some love and he should get it, but he shouldn't get a financial handout. A rescue plan implies that there was nothing that John could have done and that he is a victim. We know that isn't the case. John began to take his business for granted. He allowed his book of business to monopolize all of his time instead of setting time aside for continual prospecting. He didn't maximize the relationships he had with his best accounts to get referrals from those folks. John didn't leverage his success with his current clients to get written recommendations or testimonials. John didn't utilize all of the assets of his company and continued to sell the same products to the same people.
John did what most of us do and he rested on his laurels. Now, the pain has come and he must bear it. Of course, John might come out of it on his own. He'll reduce his expenses and he'll increase his activity. Maybe his wife will go back to work part-time in order to help make up the difference. Maybe he'll sell his boat or rent out his second home. Maybe he'll auction off his golf clubs and his bicycle on E-bay. Maybe he'll eat rice and beans for the foreseeable future.
If John takes those actions and redoubles his commitment to selling, you will have a dynamite seller who will move up the rankings as market conditions improve.
If you bail John out, you will be sending a signal to the rest of the team that you are willing to take extraordinary measures to rescue an employee that barely fulfills the requirements of the job. This will guarantee that you will be bailing someone else out in the not-too-distant future. Worse, you will be letting the very best sellers on your team know that despite their success they are no more important than those who have been less successful. You will be declaring that everyone is special and the more astute will realize that when everyone is special, no one is.
Let the natural course of business weed out the weaker players on your team. None of us created the current market conditions but each of us has to live with them - as painful as that can be.
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