I got an e-mail from a co-worker this evening wherein they mentioned (for perfectly valid, non-gloating reasons) that they were going on the "CEO Challenge trip to Jamaica", which is (apparently) for sales folks only.
I'm sorry, but I just don't get it. Yes, sales people are important, and rewarding them is important. No argument. But without the entire rest of the organization, salespeople are worthless. Without CSRs taking orders, those sales leads are worthless. Without collections departments, the sales from those leads never generate revenue. Without IT departments designing the order-entry, billing, collections, etc., systems, all of it is worthless.
At the same time, many companies (like ours) tie annual bonuses to "Sales making their numbers". In other words, I might have {x} goals to meet in order to make "my bonus goal", and even though I've met and exceeded my goals, if the sales folks don't meet their goal, too bad... I don't get squat. (Although, I won't get anything anyway, I'm the only employee in the company without an incentive program of any kind, but that's a whole different rant....)
It engenders an "us versus them" attitude in companies. "They" are no more important to the organization's success than any other part of the company, yet they get treated different, and they can impact whether or not other people get the bonuses they've earned.
Why do companies do shit like that?
Easy. Because the other companies do it and sales is all about feeling good.
While there are usually several people on a sales team, there are usually only a few that make quota and carry the load of the others. When you get a sales rep who is talented, gets leads closed, and does it 100% ethically; that is something unusual and you want to reward them. You also want to comp them enough to make sure they don't walk out the door to your competitors knowing your weaknesses. So they do get the trips, the bonuses, the special awards, etc. Fair? No. But nothing ever is in this world.
Some day the IT industry is going to wise up and unionize, if only to get our fair share of the "perks".
And maybe to do something about the 60 or 70 hour work-weeks some folks have to put up with...
Ironically, often a saleperson has no formalized training the way an engineer,programmer,admin, etc. would. Ask someone what their major in college is and you're not going to hear "Sales" as a reply. This leads to the odd realization that *most* salespeople must become intimate with their wares AFTER they are charged with selling them.
I'm aware that I'm painting in pretty broad strokes here, but almost anyone with a voice and personality has the potential to be an effective salesperson, however not everyone could be an effective let's say...engineer.
Sorry folks, exact opposite. Sales is where it all *starts* and good salespeople are born, not trained. That's why they're (usually, if the company has half a brain) singled out like they are.
So what if it starts there? Without all the rest of the team, those sales do the company no good. I'm not normally one to resort to cliches, but there is no I in team... sales folks are no more important to an organizations success than the myriad other people who bring the salesdrones work to fruition, or keep the customers afterwards.
I worked at a place where the sales people were salaried. No commission structure at all. No weekly or monthly targets, no repercussions if they generated no sales that week.
Their job consisted of writing imagined sales leads on the whiteboard, and lots of web surfing.
In other words, "it could be worse".
The day the IT industry goes union is the day you can kiss it goodbye. We are already watching our industry erode away due to competition from India and China. When it becomes cheaper to hire an IT guy in India along with a translator as opposed to a US worker; that's the day you need to worry about.
There are tons of jobs in IT that not only pay well, but have the perks like company trips, awards, etc. Mostly those are in larger companies where there is a large pool of people vying for the top spots. They are out there, just gotta look for them.
And if you want the perks, there are people who have made the jump from Support to Sales. It doesn't happen with the best results too often, but sometimes it does work. Trust me, I've often thought of making the jump back to sales.
I don't want to be some salesweenie, but I want companies to recognize that the entire rest of the staff is just as damned important as the sales staff.
My point is that they DON'T recognize the rest of the staff, we all play second fiddle to the salesfolks, even though we're just as important, and it engenders an "us versus them" mentality. These companies wonder why IT departments hate their salesdrones, and stuff like that, but they don't look inward to see how their own practices CAUSE that animosity.
D, I'll agree with you that the whole team is important, but my business side (the non-frosted one) still has a soft spot for a good salesperson.
Translator? Hah! They already speak better English than many Americans.
"Translator? Hah! They already speak better English than many Americans."
It's not for the English but for the thick Indian accent some of them have. It takes a long time to overcome that to be able to speak to the general public.