Talk to Dr. Dave: The Complacency Epidemic
Dr. Dave K. Barnett
In analyzing our on-line and print survey responses, we have found that an overwhelming number of our readers have significant difficulty recruiting qualified sales representatives. The following guest article is directed at ISO owners and other recruiters in the Financial Services Marketplace who are experiencing this dilemma and looking for some solutions.
As I travel around the world, I'm losing track of the times sales management pros complain to me about a recurring problem. They call it different things: "malaise," "plateau trap," "comfort level blues." I call it the Complacency Epidemic and it's the toughest problem facing sales-driven industries today!
"Our agents spend years learning their craft," one insurance General Agent told me not long ago. "They build a clientele who are happy to give them referrals. But the agent won't ask for names. Clients volunteer names and the salesperson won't follow-up."
Another recruiter button-holed me at a convention. "Our company invests millions in coming up with new products targeted to upper-income markets. But some of our top salespeople don't sell it. I know they believe in the product. They're highly trained. They spend thousands of dollars listening to motivational gurus? So, why are they so unmotivated?"
It's an Expensive Epidemic
Complacency is nothing new. What's different in the 90's is the prevalence and the acceptance of the complacency epidemic not only in many sales professionals, but in corporate sales philosophy as well. When many sales pros should be maximizing earnings, they plateau and quit. From my perspective, it looks like many sales management teams have adopted an "if-you-can't-beat-'em, join-'em" strategy, accepting this costly turnover as inevitable.
In 1995, I co-authored Earning What You're Worth? The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance with behavioral psychologists George Dudley and Shannon Goodson. They call it the "QWS Syndrome" -an acronym for "Quits While Succeeding." Cute, but here's the shocker from their research - if your office is average, 40% of your top producers are thinking about packing it in right now. If your office is producing sub-par, it could be worse, a lot worse.
Bad enough to lose a rookie after a year or two. I've seen estimates range from $10,000 to $100,000 for a bad hire. But what's the cost of replacing half your top-guns?
The Complacency Epidemic is very costly and its influence is wide-spread. It infects insurance salespeople, stockbrokers, bankers, the health care industry, call centers, bankcard sales professionals ...
In fact, I can't think of one industry NOT battling for its competitive life against the Complacency Epidemic (with the possible exception of attorneys).
Fad de Jour
"You're the expert, Dr. Dave," said one SVP of Sales. "Our company pays for these salespeople to have the knowledge and experience equivalent to a Ph.D., in cash. They earn a lot of money, more money than some of them ever dreamed of making. So why do they get up from their desks, get in the car, and go play golf rather than make contacts?"
Well, I know a lot of things that DON'T work to help salespeople overcome the Complacency Epidemic. Motivational sales meetings don't. Providing leads doesn't. New products don't. Higher commissions don't. Laptop computers don't. What was last month's fad, yesterday's magic pixie dust? It probably won't have long-term effects either.
Carriers of Career Complacency
All right, so what does work? The Complacency Epidemic spreads by casual contact from two common carriers
1) Individual past performance
2) Corporate culture and policy
Anyone in the business of selecting, training, or coaching salespeople must recognize the early warning signs of the Complacency Epidemic to prevent the loss of top people.
Individual Past Experience
Complacency is the by-product of lowered standards. Schools no longer expect excellence. Many of today's graduates bring to the marketplace a pervasive mediocrity content to "get by." I'm not sure anyone really yet knows why Generation X is not as money motivated as their boomer parents.
Professionals with a bit more gray hair and experience are also beginning to suspect hard work and loyalty just don't cut it. Downsized, they may be learning the hard way the most talented, most deserving, don't always get the rewards. They grew up believing "good work should speak for itself." They're not comfortable tooting their own horn. Unfortunately, their avoidance of self-promotion infects their ability to aggressively promote the products and services they get paid to sell.
Corporate Culture and Policy
Like cockroaches seek darkness and moisture, the Complacency Epidemic breeds when mediocre past experience interacts with a constrained, risk-avoidant corporate policy. Salespeople learn that "success" in XYZ Company depends on things other than production-be it political schmoozing, special privilege, or creative paperwork.
Gus is a taxi driver in Sydney, Australia. What a story he told me on our drive to the airport. His family emigrated down under from Greece after World War II. They came by steamer ship.
"Did you know in those days the Brits strictly enforced speed limits in their harbors?" he said.
"No. I didn't know that," I said as Gus nearly side-swiped a bus. "They must have been concerned about safety," I said.
Gus laughed. "Safety, my #$^%," he said. "They didn't want anybody showing up how slow those British tubs were."
I call it Gus's Law: slow sales lead to the search for other measurements of success. The complacency of those in charge trickles down as new emphasis on teamwork, assessing competencies, efficiency, and all manner of other psychobabble. The effect is to slow down top-performers to accommodate the complacency habits of those in charge. Meetings, reports, forms-nothing wrong with any of that-unless they justify lower sales productivity. Gus's Law traces how the Complacency Epidemic spreads.
Inoculating Your Team
What can you do to protect your team from the Complacency Epidemic?
1. Stop ignoring the problem. It won't go away, but your sales team just might.
2. Review your hiring and selection criteria. Are you only (or even primarily) assessing what people ARE rather than what they will DO? You could be introducing the germ of an idea that things other than production determine success.
3. If you can't get rid of complacent producers, challenge them to confront their complacency with advanced training and development programs. Most sales pros have become resentful and cynical of simplistic approaches to complex problems.
4. Know the "success factors" required for success in your industry and company. What is it your salespeople truly get paid to do? What are the objective, measurable skills necessary? Avoid subjective definitions of success like the plague. Chances are if you can't measure it, you have no way of managing it.
5. Draw more strength from the future than from looking back. The first symptom of the Complacency Epidemic is satisfaction with the way things are. The second is a rejection of things as they might be.
Complacency makes salespeople fear the unknown, mistrust the untried, and minimize the possibilities of what is new. As some wise sage once said, "Only a dead fish floats downstream."
Dr. Dave K. Barnett is a speaker, trainer and co-author of Earning What You're Worth? The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance. He holds a Doctorate in Organizational Management and is the President of PsychoMetrics International, Inc. PsychoMetrics specializes in convenient, cost-effective leadership development and personal coaching through individualized, interactive training. For more information call 888-PMI-0003 or access http://www.braintrain.com.
