Sales Laundry

When the economy goes sideways and you start to see the revenue generating lot get pink slips, (that would be the sales team to you and me) it is time to go bold before you get bowled.

For this conversation, let’s just look at the Top 10% of your sales team.  The Top 10% will not typically get the ax in difficult situations unless one of the following is true:

1. The rep was deemed by management to be making too much money.  This is better known as the slice you own nose off to save your face style of management.
2. The reps noise factor outstripped his or her revenue generation potential.  In laymen’s terms the revenue to B.S. ratio was so far out of whack that management took the convenient excuse of a down economy to send you packing.
3. The company’s cash burn rate has far outstripped the amount of checks coming in the door.
4. None of the above.

What to do about it:

A.      If upper management is giving you the stink eye as they hand you your fat commission check it could be time to do some internal damage control.  If you find yourself in this position it could well be too late to do anything but you gotta give it the ol’ college try.

Immediately add a new product to the offerings you sell.  That product being you.  When times get tight and your value is gauged not by your numbers but by the numbers on the P/L it time to refocus your managements attention on what the company is getting for its money.  Why would the company be better off keeping you as an asset rather than cutting you loose?

Plan B would be to dust off your resume and start locating key contacts in your network that might be able to save your bacon if you find yourself walking the plank.

B.      In two words…  Shut up.  Keep your opinions to yourself.  If the company is down to eliminating top tier sales guys, additional noise from the sales team is probably not going to be appreciated.

Remember what you were like as a new rep.  Before you became a sales god and developed your successful swagger.  Continue to pound out the numbers but with the humble helpful attitude of a new guy.

Plan B?  Same as above.

C.      This will be a difficult one to uncover in many cases until it is too late but if this one does rear its ugly head here are some suggestions.

1.       Determine the amount of cash flow the company needs to keep the doors open and if you can determine the delta between what is coming in right now and what is needed to survive.

2.       Evaluate your pipeline and forecast from this perspective.  Look at what deals you can bring in or old deals you can help collect on that will bring in the necessary cash flow.

3.       Negotiate quick pay terms with your customers in exchange for pricing discounts (assuming mgmt approves, of course) for the deals you do get done.

4.       Evaluate your product portfolio and look for the products with the shortest sales cycles that can generate cash flow for the company.

5.       Look for additional products/services outside your present lineup that fits the existing company skill set and customer base.  

D.         In this instance who knows why things are going sideways, but clearly something is not right. 

1.       You could offer to defer some percentage of commissions to a future date. (However you may never see that money again if you company blows up!)

2.       Trade cash for non-cash or delayed cost perks that may ease some of the strain on cash flow to meet Friday’s payroll.  (Healthcare, stock options, etc.)

Many of these things you are not going to be able to execute as an individual sales rep, but this should give you some ideas to go to your Sales Manager/VP of Sales with to try and work through the difficult situation.

Hopefully you will not find yourself in this situation.  Just remember to keep an exit strategy in place for yourself and those you care for.  The mortgage and the car notes will still need to be paid and your family will still have to eat.