I get this email from one of our salesmen about a customer that owes us a shit-ton of money and he says the customer...
I get this email from one of our salesmen about a customer that owes us a shit-ton of money and he says the customer has been "very patient with us" while waiting for me approve his latest purchases, and I'm thinking...
Throw it up the chain and say "SHOW ME THE MONEY!" :)
ReplyDeleteThat's what I did. This salesman hasn't made a dime in commission on this customer in months and he still pulls this crap. Jebus.
ReplyDeleteSalesmen seem to work on the extreme fringes of optimism. I guess that's how they can do a job that would leave me a nervous wreck.
ReplyDeleteThen again working with salesmen who promised clients features that didn't exist, waited until a contract was signed and then came to the coders and documentation departments to say 'we need this to do that in three weeks' has left me with a distaste for the breed.
Make the sale. All other concerns are secondary... Like if we can deliver what is needed or if the customer can actually pay...
ReplyDeleteCasey Garske or as I call it 'not actually a real sale'. Something I've had to beat into salespeeps on more than one occasion (as a one-time sales manager).
ReplyDeleteI am the purchasing manager and I build workorders etc at our shop and I recently had a salesman order material and build a job ticket on his own so I would not halt it due to past due account. I about lost my shit over it..
ReplyDeleteTim Shinn wow. I've had salesmen break large orders into many small orders so they can sneak by my department (financial services) without us noticing.
ReplyDeleteChris Hill no shit. Is it a sale if the receivable ages so far it's now worth less than the margin? Is it a sale for the account manager if he doesn't make a commission on it because it aged out too far? Thank Jebus we don't pay commission on invoices that age out 120 days or more, which is pretty generous. Most of our sales guys are willing to help us out, but this particular fuckin' guy...
ReplyDeleteI think the worst was when the same guy actually called up a sub contractor that we use for plating and had them rearrange the order of parts I had scheduled through them so his parts were done first.. totally crippling the rest of production on other items.
ReplyDeleteCasey Garske liberal application of a cluebat is required in that individual's case, there's really no other option. Its for his own good.
ReplyDelete