Comments on: 7 Reasons to Sandbag http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/ Strategies and tools for successful selling, making your number, and increasing your commission. Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:28:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Brian http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/#comment-11570 Brian Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:11:37 +0000 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/?p=251#comment-11570 Excellent post! I've found it to be very useful. Thanks. Excellent post! I’ve found it to be very useful. Thanks.

]]> By: Online Marketing Blog » Blog Archive » Why Sales reps sandbag deals http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/#comment-1992 Online Marketing Blog » Blog Archive » Why Sales reps sandbag deals Sun, 10 Aug 2008 10:01:58 +0000 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/?p=251#comment-1992 [...] 7 Reasons to Sandbag Colin Wilson (Managing Director & Founder FirstBorder) explains why sales reps do sandbag most [...] [...] 7 Reasons to Sandbag Colin Wilson (Managing Director & Founder FirstBorder) explains why sales reps do sandbag most [...]

]]> By: Dave Stein http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/#comment-1984 Dave Stein Sat, 09 Aug 2008 16:45:02 +0000 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/?p=251#comment-1984 Hi Colin, Excellent post. As I was reading this, I thought back to the sales meetings I've attended as a salesrep, sales manager, or consultant. During numbers of those meetings, at what seemed the most opportune (as in opportunistic) moment, some hot-shot salesrep announces a win, holding the contract high above his (these people are mostly male) or her head. It comes as a big surprise to everyone, including the sales manager. How do the sales managers react? With appreciation and awe. (I was guilty of this behavior myself when I was young and had little business acumen.) If that isn't positive reinforcement for sandbagging, I don't know what is. How does one prevent sandbagging? I've seen savvy sales leaders put a sandbagging penalty in comp plans. The rep only gets 90% of their commission on any deal that was not tracked from beginning to end in the CRM or other system. The value of the deal was built into the plan as well--you can't put a deal for ten thousand in the system and then, presto, it turns into a million dollar contract when it closes. A penalty clause like this needs to be in place for only a quarter. Even with all the compelling reasons you stated in your post, sandbagging promptly ceases. Hi Colin,

Excellent post.

As I was reading this, I thought back to the sales meetings I’ve attended as a salesrep, sales manager, or consultant. During numbers of those meetings, at what seemed the most opportune (as in opportunistic) moment, some hot-shot salesrep announces a win, holding the contract high above his (these people are mostly male) or her head. It comes as a big surprise to everyone, including the sales manager.

How do the sales managers react? With appreciation and awe. (I was guilty of this behavior myself when I was young and had little business acumen.) If that isn’t positive reinforcement for sandbagging, I don’t know what is.

How does one prevent sandbagging? I’ve seen savvy sales leaders put a sandbagging penalty in comp plans. The rep only gets 90% of their commission on any deal that was not tracked from beginning to end in the CRM or other system. The value of the deal was built into the plan as well–you can’t put a deal for ten thousand in the system and then, presto, it turns into a million dollar contract when it closes.

A penalty clause like this needs to be in place for only a quarter. Even with all the compelling reasons you stated in your post, sandbagging promptly ceases.

]]> By: Sales Management 2.0 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/#comment-1952 Sales Management 2.0 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 15:36:46 +0000 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/?p=251#comment-1952 Great post Colin. Another little know fact, but sales managers often sandbag a bit because most of us are expected to grow 10% (or some other arbitrary number) over prior year regardless of market conditions or prior year performance. This puts the sales manager in the position where the set a new sales record this year at 15% over prior year, but next year when they only grow 8% they are getting disciplined and people start wondering if they "still have it". If I were to show a 10% growth in sales model year over year forever to a VC I would get told I was out of my mind, but those are the marching orders for many sales managers. What that tells the savvy manager is: Beat your number, but just by a little; otherwise you may not make it next year. Great post Colin. Another little know fact, but sales managers often sandbag a bit because most of us are expected to grow 10% (or some other arbitrary number) over prior year regardless of market conditions or prior year performance. This puts the sales manager in the position where the set a new sales record this year at 15% over prior year, but next year when they only grow 8% they are getting disciplined and people start wondering if they “still have it”.
If I were to show a 10% growth in sales model year over year forever to a VC I would get told I was out of my mind, but those are the marching orders for many sales managers.
What that tells the savvy manager is: Beat your number, but just by a little; otherwise you may not make it next year.

]]> By: Ian Brodie | Professional Services Consultant http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/#comment-1950 Ian Brodie | Professional Services Consultant Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:16:21 +0000 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/?p=251#comment-1950 Aaagh #6 - it brings back nightmarish memories just thinking about it. It was the bane of my life back when I was selling big consulting projects. Luckily when my firm was taken over by a big IT firm my single digit £million consulting projects were dwarfed by the big IT and outsourcing deals so I got left alone a bit more! I must admit, I used to invest significant time in thinking about how to give the senior executives something "harmles" to do so that they felt they had made a major contribution without them actually putting the sale at risk because of their lack of knowledge and expertise. Ian Aaagh #6 - it brings back nightmarish memories just thinking about it. It was the bane of my life back when I was selling big consulting projects. Luckily when my firm was taken over by a big IT firm my single digit £million consulting projects were dwarfed by the big IT and outsourcing deals so I got left alone a bit more!

I must admit, I used to invest significant time in thinking about how to give the senior executives something “harmles” to do so that they felt they had made a major contribution without them actually putting the sale at risk because of their lack of knowledge and expertise.

Ian

]]> By: Why Sales reps sandbag deals : The LEADSExplorer Blog: Lead generation - Website visitors - CRM - B2B http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/#comment-1948 Why Sales reps sandbag deals : The LEADSExplorer Blog: Lead generation - Website visitors - CRM - B2B Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:24:42 +0000 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/?p=251#comment-1948 [...] 7 Reasons to Sandbag Colin Wilson (Managing Director & Founder FirstBorder) explains why sales reps do sandbag most [...] [...] 7 Reasons to Sandbag Colin Wilson (Managing Director & Founder FirstBorder) explains why sales reps do sandbag most [...]

]]> By: Nesh Thompson | Sales Performance http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/2008/07/28/7-reasons-to-sandbag/#comment-1942 Nesh Thompson | Sales Performance Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:36:34 +0000 http://www.firstborder.com/sales-blog/?p=251#comment-1942 An excellent post Colin and good to see you back. You highlight the dichotomy that is sales management in that for a greater understanding of sales performance all information has to gathered yet when this disclosure happens they use that information to pressure. There is absolutely no incentive for sales people to input data into systems because of the corporate culture that surrounds sales management. Only when you get a management culture based on reciprocal understanding will this change. The idea that sales and management want different things is strange, both sales people and sales management want to improve, however until the guillotine is removed from the office there will be fear - which to some extent accounts for most of the points you make. An excellent post Colin and good to see you back. You highlight the dichotomy that is sales management in that for a greater understanding of sales performance all information has to gathered yet when this disclosure happens they use that information to pressure. There is absolutely no incentive for sales people to input data into systems because of the corporate culture that surrounds sales management. Only when you get a management culture based on reciprocal understanding will this change. The idea that sales and management want different things is strange, both sales people and sales management want to improve, however until the guillotine is removed from the office there will be fear - which to some extent accounts for most of the points you make.

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