Evan Gotlib, SVP Advertising Sales & Creative Services for blip.tv, posted a response to the article I posted yesterday which recommended removing sales commissions from your organization. You should read the whole response, but there are a few things I wanted to reply to directly:

The problem with this article is that it fails to account for the different way salespeople are measured and treated within an organization.  Salespeople are usually given a much shorter leash than other types of employees.  The pressure on salespeople to drive revenue is intense.

I agree here, but see this as the problem. Let’s stop treating them differently.

Salespeople (the good ones at least) are like professional poker players.  The chips poker players use and accumulate are how they keep score…  Salespeople (like I said, the good ones) treat their commission in the same way.  It’s a mechanism to keep score and prove you are better than anyone else on the team.

Again, I would see this as a problem. Why are your salespeople not working together to make sales? As a creative director, I cringe at the thought of our company’s designers trying to prove they are better than each other. Rather, I want us all to acknowledge our individual strengths and weaknesses and leverage each other when it would be beneficial.

Sales is a difficult, gut-wrenching, nerve-racking and at times ugly way to make a living.  It requires people to want to have a number on their back every single second of every single minute of every single day.  And if you start to fall off you’re gone.  Miss your number and it’s not “Oh, do better next time, you’re great!”  No.  Miss your number and it’s “Bye.”  The harsh reality of being a salesperson demands compensation that is tailored to the job.

I’m sure I’m being naive, but I don’t believe any job has to be gut-wrenching and nerve-wracking. Maybe it’s possible to run a sales team without them living in fear of missing an estimate and being fired. Maybe those salespeople, the happier, not-living-in-a-dystopian-call-center salespeople, would prefer to have a salary which was dependable. Maybe they’d make better relationships with customers because they weren’t anxiously pushing products, in fear that they won’t have income to support their family next month. Maybe.

Sales is war.  If you look at it any other way you are not cut out for it.  If you are not ready to fight - and I mean really fight - sales is not for you.  And because of this and of the way salespeople are measured by management, I am a strong believer in sales commissions.

And this is where I digress. I am not cut out for sales. I know this. So please take any of my thoughts on the subject with a grain of salt. My only interest is discussing the subject is its impact on a company’s relationship with its employees and customers.

(Source: inc.com)