A friend works at a cable company. They have worked their for 28 years. This person is on the counter staff who takes customer's payments, gives face-to-face customer service, and the like. (This person cannot retire until age of 55 per company rules, and that isn't for a few years.)
The new manager (who transferred from a cell phone company) has set unrealistic sales quotas for the counter staff. The new manager wants the counter staff to sell 225 units each per month. (This cable company also offers phone service, internet service, and cell phone service.)
The problem is there are 8 members on the counter staff. There isn't enough customer traffic to support 1800 units per month. The customers who walk in to pay their bill are the basic cable types who just pay for the local channels, they cannot afford cable internet or cell phones. Additionally, with normal sales to be about 1 in 4. There would have to be 7200 customers minimum per month to handle the rejection rate.
2006-06-17 09:48:10 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Business & Finance ➔ Careers & Employment
The employer has spoken to the immediate supervisor who says there is nothing she(the supervisor) can do about it. What else can the employee do when the goal is set to make the team fail?
2006-06-17 09:49:24 · update #1
You didn't mention if this new manager was also selling. If he is, great. Have your top sales person offer to match him sale for sale. That should embarrass him into either quitting or coming up with a more reasonable figure. Or, who knows? Maybe he is right. Either way, everyone will find out. Chances are, especially if one comes from outside of their industry, that the manager doesn't know how to sell. That is usually the case. In that case take the top salesperson's monthly average and add about 20%. I don't care what the product is cable or airplanes, that's doable. BTW, why did they hire from outside the company? Another problem might possibly be that they want people to quit that are close to collecting retirement benefits. It happens all the time.
2006-06-17 10:07:53 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
During the first month, the employees will ALL fail to meet the targets. In that time, they should devise a list of the tools they would need to achieve the sales goal. They should include things like more walk-in customers, increased marketing in the community, incentives for customers to pay in-person rather than online or by phone, specialized training in up-selling, etc. All of the counter staff should know what is on the list, and at their performance reviews they should tell their employer what they need in order to succeed. Have them ask- politely- how they can be expected to sell more units than they have customers.
I worked in a department store that was managed very poorly. I worked the late shift on Monday and Tuesday night, yet my sales targets were the same as for people who worked the busy lunch hour and weekend shifts. I was expected to sell $200 per hour, despite the fact that the ENTIRE STORE only sold $400 worth of stuff on one Monday night! In my performance review, they looked at the percentage of goods that I sold that were later returned by customers. Each week, for a month, 10% of what I sold was returned. My super-intelligent supervisor ADDED those percentages together to inform me that 40% of what I was selling was being returned! I knew I just couldn't argue with that kind of idiocy and quit.
2006-06-17 16:56:02 · answer #2 · answered by Jetgirly 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
LOL.. you should read that book "Who moved my cheese?!"
Your nest has been upset. A new manager has come in, demanding what seemed impossible BEFORE...but you never know... this guy didn't get to be manager for nothing... maybe he has a strategy to increase traffic through the store...maybe he anticipates a spike in sales because he's doing research ...for whatever reason, he feels that this is a legitimate goal...
you should do all you can to get on board and meet it.
And if you fail, at least you gave it your best. But if you claim defeat without even trying........well, I wouldn't want you on MY team.
Good luck
2006-06-17 17:52:00 · answer #3 · answered by deebrahjean 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
"Start by doing what is necessary, then do what is possible, and suddenly you are
doing the impossible."
St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226)
Italian friar, founder of the Franciscan order
2006-06-30 16:19:32 · answer #4 · answered by William B 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The best thing not to do is complain. If you don't hit your quota your boss is more than likely notice that. If you put forth the effort he/ she believes you have, you may surprise yourself.
2006-06-17 17:05:42 · answer #5 · answered by ejad74 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
do the best you can get as many sells and when the new guy sees that it is a hard goal to complete and they tried real hard to make it that he will have to re think or maybe he is just and a**hole.
2006-06-17 16:57:18 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Might be they're planning to fire a couple of people and they're setting you against each other. Do what you can, or find work elsewhere.
2006-06-30 11:58:38 · answer #7 · answered by chilixa 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋