Sales Goal S.A.S.S. (Stupid Ass Sales Strategies)

In our recent Sales Leader Webcast my guest Tim Welch, Managing Director for Grand and Toy stated (correctly) that leaders and seller’s goals and compensation must be aligned so that if one group wins, all groups win. “You must be able to celebrate success together” he said. I completely agree. Consider this true situation:

• A company sets its goal and creates executive and sales leader bonus plans against that goal attainment.
• The sales leader increases that goal by 40% and set the sales bonus based on achieving this elevated goal.
• That same sales leader admits to me on a call that the sales goals are NOT achievable and no one is at plan. They are, however, at the company plan.

In this scenario, the sales leaders are receiving their bonus and celebrating success. BUT, the sales people are penalized and don’t earn any bonus.

How is that motivating the right behaviors?