When I was a little kid, my sister and I would often share the last piece of cake or candy. My sister was older and bigger than me, so she’d split the treat and give me the smaller piece. It was never fair.
One day, when I was about 8, I read an article that said whenever kids had to split a treat, the fairest way was to let one child split the treat and the other child choose his portion.
I thought that was a brilliant idea. The next day when my sister and I were about to share a candy bar, I explained the method to her and said we should do it this way because it would be fair.
Her response taught me a valuable lesson. She said,
“Too bad. We’re not doing it that way. Life’s not fair. “
Then she broke the candy bar in two and gave me the smaller piece.
As Sales Managers, most of us try to be fair to our reps when creating territories, assigning quotas, and handing out leads. But it will never be perfect.
- Some reps are assigned to New York while others get Nebraska
- Some are part of an All Star team while others share a quota with reps who need to be fired
- Some reps are working a mature patch while others are starting from scratch
In the end, we all have to suck it up and get to work. That’s just how it goes.
How My Team Handled An Unfair Situation
In 2008 at the beginning of the recession, I was part of the XenServer sales team. We started with 75 employees. Over the first 9 months of that year our team was cut to 55. Then to 25. Then 10. Then 4.
Despite these layoffs, our quotas were not reduced. Instead, anyone who was still employed was held accountable for delivering his number (which increased as we absorbed the RIF’d employees territories) despite these cutbacks.
Many reps missed their number. Instead of earning commission checks of $10-15K per quarter, some earned as little as $3K or $5K.
No other sales teams had layoffs as drastic as ours. Some were not impacted at all. Many of our peers were happily earning big commission checks while we scrambled.
It sucked.
I ran the Inside Sales Team which began with 12 reps and was eventually whittled down to 3 reps.
I had never been through layoffs this drastic before. I met with my boss to discuss team morale. My reps were obviously disheartened. Some had inherited largely unproductive territories and had no chance of making quota.
He said,
“Steve, everyone on your team chose to be here. There are no victims in sales. Focus on what you can control.”
So that’s exactly what we did.
- Since my team now had massive territories with thousands of untouched leads, we cherry-picked the best ones to work.
- When our sales engineers were cut, we persuaded SEs from other teams to help us.
- We ran our own webinars so we could pitch and qualify groups of prospects simultaneously.
Our mantra became we are going to give it our all to hit the number. Let the chips fall where they may.
We missed the number that year.
The team was dissolved 6 months later.
Many of the original members from the XenServer team moved onto better careers. A bunch (including me) were promoted internally. Some left the company only to be rehired within a few years. Others joined new companies where they did well. Some started their own businesses.
We still occasionally connect.
We don’t talk about the unfairness of the situation. I doubt anyone even thinks about it.
We recall banding together against the odds. We recall being creative and scrappy.
Somehow the situation seemed to make us all more resilient and confident.
The next time you or a member of your sales team is facing an unfair situation, I recommend focusing on what you can control.
Do your best to give it your all and let the chips fall where they may. If the situation becomes unbearable, you can always quit and look for something better.
There are no victims in sales.