"Last Year I Made More Money Than Ever, This Year They Are Dividing My Territory!"
The Business of Furniture - 4/5/17 Edition
Stephen Says Column
Dear Stephen:
I am in sales for a manufacturer. I had a great income year in 2015 and an even better year in 2016. My base salary is about 90K, and I have doubled that base salary with commissions and bonuses two years in a row. Most of my colleagues where I work, as well as friends of mine at competitors, have been doing very well income-wise. Our base salaries are all just OK, but everyone has been exceeding their sales goals in the past two years. People that I know who work at dealers in a more commission-oriented environment have made even more money over the past two years.
Now it seems the manufacturer I work for is dividing my accounts and bringing a couple of more salespeople into my territory, which means that I will definitely make less money this year. Two of us have a lock on a large geographic territory right now. The bosses feel we need more salespeople here to get greater market penetration and to better service the A&D community and our dealers. Last year our lead times got ridiculous, so I worry what more sales people will do, but mostly I worry about my shrinking account list and how it will affect my income. It’s true that I was making more money than I imagined I would when I first started this job, but I still resent having to give up accounts. Is it time for a new job?
Don’t Divide My Baby
Dear Don’t Divide My Baby,
I am not so sure that it is time for a new job. Salespeople need to recognize the difference between being good at their jobs and being the only one on the job. For example, sometimes circumstances dictate that a strong brand or unique product has one or two salespeople in a territory. These salespeople almost always clean up financially. Why? Because they are the only two people in a territory that really needs three or four people. Think of it like this, if there is so much business that no one has to work to pull in new accounts, it is likely there are accounts out there that no one has had the time (or economic incentive) to work to win. Let me break down the whole process for you. The owners start out slow by not hiring enough people for a territory. This allows them to test the waters without much risk. If the brand is successful in the territory, those pioneer salespeople are rewarded financially for launching the brand because they get massive commissions. Eventually, if the brand is doing well enough that those early salespeople are rolling in money, the company will see there is sufficient demand and more salespeople would mean more business. That means more people targeting a specific geography and more people dividing the pot of accounts. The idea is for everyone to get more business out of the accounts they have or to go out and find more accounts. Get it?
Ultimately, you’re right. You likely won’t make as much as you did in the last couple of years, but you will also have more time to throw into the accounts you still have. Your company’s bet is that this extra work on your remaining accounts will make up for the transfer of some of your other accounts. And no company wants one person to be the King or Queen Bee of a territory.
This is very common in the wall world and comes up sometimes in the carpet and tile sectors and leads to a situation where you have a 100-year-old bully salesperson refusing to give up accounts. Companies know better now. All of this is also why so many companies have decided to pool regional sales goals — the company wants as many sales as possible. If you feel like this is unfair, maybe you’re right, but this is the industry. If you really want to find another job that pays you as much as you’ve been making, you’re going to have to prove yourself in a more competitive environment. Most great salespeople do not get this nervous about having one or two more salespeople dividing the pool.
Now is the time to prove you’re as good a salesperson as you think you are. And hey, have you read a newspaper lately? Who knows what will happen with the economy in 2017. Everyone is a bit nervous. There is no use in getting ahead of yourself.
Remember, it’s easy when you have a monopoly on the account base, and it often gives a salesperson a swollen head. So it may not be the time to change jobs. Instead, try to work a little smarter. If you crush your sales goal even with more competition, then you might be ready to test the market. Until then, try to change your attitude about the way you work and become a part of a company mission, because if you don’t they’ll find someone who will.
Stephen
You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@below.press.
Questions selected to be answered, will appear in this column. Please use the Subject: Stephen Says for all emails. Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of The Viscusi Group, global executive recruiters located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @WorkplaceGuru. Like Stephen on Facebook; and follow him on LinkedIn.
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