Episode #295: Wasting Salespeople

Useless salespeople who cannot sell get fired. But are they really useless or are their sales managers useless or their companies useless? There are some industries which are notorious for the up or out mentality and recruiting certainly comes to mind. There is a lot of rhetoric floating around about saving mankind, through matching the buyer and seller of services, but the reality inside these companies is brutal. These are corporate meat grinders, who have massive churn because the targets are high, the profitability enormous and the degree of patience miniscule. This modality worked when there were sufficient people to throw into the metal teeth of the machine, but we are running out of bodies here.

The number of young Japanese going overseas to study in the US for example, dropped off from roughly 80,000 per year to 50,000. It crawled back to 60,000 a year when Covid stopped that flow for the last couple of years. The types of stay have also changed away from four year, full immersion studies to shorter less comprehensive experiences. For the last seven years or so, Japanese domestic companies have become competitors to hire these English speaking, western culture exposed young people, where once the multi-nationals had the field to themselves. So if you want to hire an English speaking salesperson in Japan, brace for impact!

The salesperson training system inside Japanese companies is also broken. The OJT or On The Job Training regime still exists in name, but the actual content and quantity of the coaching has diminished. Bosses are doing their own email these days, often have their own player/manager targets and generally are busy, busy, busy. Having the time to coach new salespeople, isn’t as available as it used to be.

Are these companies doing anything about training these salespeople, given their bosses are too preoccupied? Basically “no”. The penny hasn’t dropped yet, that there is a big gap between what the company thinks is happening with salesperson development and what is actually the reality. No boss is going to admit to their own bosses, that they are not doing a proper job training the young salespeople. It is a tatemae or superficial reality festival.

Once we realise this is the case, then we need a different thought process about hiring and training salespeople. The good news is that while most companies are in denial, there exists a window of opportunity to pick up their people and hire and train them. Often, young salespeople will wilt under the pressure of numbers expected every month and just leave. If we take in these rejects, then we can give them the tools and skills they need to be successful.

When targets are being set for salespeople, the numbers are often pulled straight out of the ether, with no relationship to reality. I have a spreadsheet called Ground Zero, which I consult when setting targets. People join companies at different times, but they all have a Day One. I keep their sales records each month since they started and can compare this against their colleagues at the same stage and can see how they are faring. I used to use the wet finger in the air technique to gauge the necessary targets for the salespeople, but this new system is a lot more based on science than intuition.

When you set realistic targets, the pressure on the salespeople becomes lessened, because you are not expecting miracles from them. Combining this target setting truth with training and we can start to get somewhere. When they feel they can succeed, they are more positive about the profession and the company. Regular training is the key though, because even the most grizzled veteran will be accumulating bad habits like barnacles on an oil tanker. We all do it. We take liberties with our clients, we shave processes to save time and we forget key parts of the sales regimen.

Now if it is just a matter of training, why aren’t companies seeking competitive advantage against their rivals and training their people to get the deals, thus reducing the market share of their competitors? After all, sales training is the one form of training where the results immediately improve the revenue results and the pay back is super fast. Part of it is the sales managers are worried about their own reputation and position in the company. After all, they are supposed to be training these people, even though they are not, but no one wants to fess up. Sometimes the Learning and Development people want to do the training themselves, to justify their own position and to supposedly save money. Bad training or useless training or mediocre training is the most expensive training on the planet.

There is a big opportunity here to rescue salespeople, who have been failed by their bosses or companies and turn them into capable staff, who can get results. Yes, we are a sale training company, so of course we would say that, you might be thinking. Well it is true and just take a close look at your own sales managers and how much coaching they are giving their people. While you are at it, look at the costs to the firm from salespeople departing or salespeople not producing. Also count the recruitment costs of trying to get new salespeople into the mix in the first place. It is horrifying. The answer isn’t rocket science – train them.