In many sales organizations, the heavy investment in existing sales practices makes dismounting unfeasible, and these creative strategies are adopted instead:
- Providing motivational seminars, tapes, and group sessions, to encourage riders to stay on their dead horses longer.
- Threatening riders with termination when they can´t get their dead horses moving.
- Providing riders with stronger whips.
- Determining how more successful organizations ride their dead horses. Then, adapting those methods as the company´s new "Best Practices."
- Determining that riders who don´t stay on dead horses are lazy, lack drive, and have no ambition - then replacing them.
- Appointing an intervention team to reanimate dead horses and assure that all riders are in compliance with approved riding standards.
- Awarding professional certification plaques to riders who learn the best techniques to stay on their dead horses for long periods of time.
- Reclassifying dead horses as "living-impaired."
- Directing management to find new and better ways to inspire riders to charge their dead horses into battle.
- Teaming several dead horses together for increased speed.
- Donating old dead horses to a recognized charity, thereby deducting their full original cost. Then using the savings to buy new dead horses.
- Proving that the reason for diminished sales results is a combination of macoroeconomic circumstances and increased competition from other dead horse teams.
- Developing contests and incentive plans to reward the best dead horse riders.
- Enacting a strict dress code so that their riders look "professional."
- Prohibiting riders from purchasing and riding their own live horses since that is not in accordance with the company’s time-tested methods.
- Promoting the most persevering of dead horse riders to manage and train new riders.
Did you chuckle as you read this? Salespeople stuck riding dead horses need a good laugh. Sales managers who read this and laugh in embarrassed recognition need to abandon their dead horses-now.
Reprinted with permission by Family Business/Strategies
Article written by Jacques Werth President and founder of High Probability® Selling
