I LOST THE BET

Have you ever known someone so well that you would place a bet on how they will act in a given situation? Well that is how well I THOUGHT I knew a sales rep friend of mine. As a matter of fact I was so sure of how well I knew him, I made a bet with his sales manager how he would react to his new quota.

I have known this sales rep for over 25 years and for about 12 of those years he worked for me as a sales manager. I hired him right out of school and he was green as grass as far as sales were concerned, but he was one of the most determined people I have ever met so I gave him a chance. Well 25 years later he reacted very different than I expected him to.

His sales year started on January 1^st and last year he had what some would call an awesome year with sales growth of over 17% year over year. He called me on January 3^rd and let’s just say he was not happy. It seems that his banner year was rewarded with a new quota that included an 11% increase.

He ranted and raved for about 20 minutes before I could get a word in and then he asked me what I would do. I told him I would do 12% so there was no mistaken how incredible I am. He wasn’t amused (I thought it was a great line). He told me that no other rep that he has talked to had anything over a 5% growth in their quota and many of them had decreases last year.

I know this rep, or I thought I did, and I knew that after all his belly aching he would turn around and far exceed the 11% he has been tasked with. I actually called his sales manager who also worked for me when I haired the rep. We talked about the rep and he agreed with the rep that the quota was high. He actually told me that he didn’t expect the rep to deliver the 11% and that a 5% increase would be acceptable to him.

I was ashamed at the manager, I told him that if he really thought that way then it was his job to go back to the company and have the quota reduced. If the manager didn’t believe it was possible he can’t lead the rep to do it. I, on the other hand, said I thought the rep would exceed the 11% and would not miss any of his quarterly bonuses.

I got a call today from the rep, he was very depressed, it seems that the first quarter bonus checks arrived today and he MISSED his bonus. That news depressed me. When I was talking to the sales manager I thought I could make some quick cash by betting him the rep would make all his bonuses, having missed the first quarter the bet was over and I had lost.

But enough of my problems, I had to get my friend back on track. I asked him what had happened, his only reply was that he didn’t know. It seems he got out to a good start and had an increase in January and February but March just never came together.

I asked about his manager and how involved he was during each month. The rep told me that as long as he was ahead of quota his manager was constantly pumping him up and staying in contact, but as soon as he fell behind in March his manager dropped out of sight.

Our conversation went on for about another 45 minutes and what I was trying to get the rep to understand was that he needed the manager more when he got behind than he did when he was ahead of quota. We all need the positive push when things are going against us. When everything is going great it is easy to stay motivated, it is when our self-motivation is at a low that we need outside motivation to keep us going.

NO, I don’t blame the manager for the rep not hitting quota, I blame the rep. I don’t hold the manager responsible for the rep, I hold the rep responsible for himself, however I know it is the manager’s job to help their reps. If the rep is ahead of quota the manager needs to be the support to keep him on track, if the rep is behind quota it is the manager’s job to motivate get the rep back on track.

Reps don’t let your managers get off track! If you need to brag call your manager, if you need help call your manager, if you need direction, instruction, motivation or a simple sounding board, call your manager.

I may have lost the bet but I know that the talk I had with the rep today will help him do what he needs to do to hit his quota. All I need to do is to see if his manager wants to bet double or nothing on the rest of the year.

Lorin