When salespeople get pitted against each other

Published: Wed, 11/03/21

November 3, 2021

Welcome back. We’re a few days into November, which means there’s eight weeks left until “Crush my sales goals in 2022” becomes a New Year’s resolution. For now, let’s take a quick break with this week’s Quota. Today, we’ll take a look at internal turmoil at Cisco Systems, find out which energy drinks are the best (and worst) for you, head to NYC where one of our readers is stuck with an uncooperative marketing department, and bring you a Sales Fail which shows why some topics are off-limits during sales calls. Sit back and enjoy, and please tell us what you liked, what you didn’t like, and (very importantly) what you’d like to see more of. Let’s go!

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

The percentage of salespeople who are proud to call themselves a salesperson.

Source: Pipedrive State of Sales Report 2020-2021

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

In a bit of strange history, the city of Monticello, Georgia, famous for being the birthplace of Trisha Yearwood, is apparently known for something else too: the mysterious grave of a salesman who hasn’t been identified for nearly two centuries. Legend has it, the man arrived by train in the 1800s, wearing a fancy suit, and (before or after closing some deals) died of natural causes. His burial site has since become a tourist destination. You can watch the local news segment here.
The Idaho State Journal recently profiled Scott Day, a car salesman whose first career was training pilots and special operations personnel how to survive in the world’s harshest environments as a Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) instructor. A pivot to the sales floor was only natural.
The real-life Jordan Belfort recently made news by telling a young TikTok user to quit her $60k-per-year job and “think bigger.” The 25-year old posted a question to Belfort’s account, asking what advice he would give to someone making $60k at a 9-5. True to form, Belfort didn’t hold back, and, unsurprisingly, reactions were mixed. You can read more here.

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn -- Sales Humor

NEWS

"Issy-les-Moulineaux - Cisco Systems France" by corno.fulgur75 is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Cisco’s Salespeople are Frustrated, Say They’re Being Pitted Against Each Other

Cisco Systems, the $230 billion-dollar San Jose technology giant, has been on an acquisition spree recently, buying 14 companies since January 2020 in an effort to stay competitive. That’s in addition to the 12 startups it gobbled up in 2018 and 2019.

But according to Insider, bringing in all that new technology, as well as the sellers with the expertise to explain it to buyers, has created a chaotic, and oftentimes confusing environment for Cisco’s customers and employees, most notably, their salespeople (who are the most important workers, of course).

Here’s what’s happening:

Since 2018, Cisco has acquired 26 companies, including Kenna Security, Socio Labs, and ThousandEyes
All those acquisitions have added a bunch of new and complex products to Cisco’s offerings which salespeople are expected to understand (and sell)
Cisco is trying to grow it’s recurring revenue, so it’s bundling the dozens of new products into a single, subscription-based package
Some salespeople are reporting that the complexity and confusion is costing them big deals, and that Cisco isn’t providing sales teams with enough support
In addition to losing deals, salespeople are reportedly burning out, and some (including the ones quoted for the article) are moving on

There’s another problem too: product specialists, known as TSAs (technical-solutions-architects) are adding to the chaos:

TSAs are often former employees of the companies which Cisco acquired
But since their knowledge is hyper-focused, salespeople say that the TSAs are uninterested in anything outside of their specific area of expertise
Making things worse, the TSAs only earn commissions for the specific products they support, which means they have no incentive to learn any other products
This leaves some customers with the impression that Cisco is not as well-integrated as they claim
Cisco says they’re in the process of reconfiguring these roles to give them broader purview (sounds like a good idea!)

To salespeople’s frustration, different business units within Cisco compete against each other, with competing (and sometimes conflicting) revenue goals:

Cisco’s business units are siloed
This makes it difficult for salespeople to offer discounts to buyers of multiple products, since competing business units don’t want to sign off on their own product being offered at a discount
Experts say that if Cisco wants to remain competitive, it needs to streamline its operations, and get everybody working together toward a common goal

To his credit, Cisco’s VP of Systems Engineering for the Americas, Eric Knipp, said that Cisco would provide training to their salespeople after major acquisitions. But, he added, the acquisitions put “very little burden” on salespeople because they compliment existing offerings. Sure, pal. Whatever you say.

HEALTH

The Best (and Worst) Energy Drinks, According to Dieticians

If it wasn’t for salespeople, the energy drink market (over $22 billion in the U.S. alone) would probably be a fraction of what it is today. These sweet, carbonated beverages help us get pumped up to make calls, allow us to overcome the afternoon slump, and make our hands shake so violently that we can barely hold our phones.

But there’s a dark side to these miracles in a can: a lot of them are really, really bad for you. They’re loaded with sugar, artificial sweeteners, and some have more calories than a candy bar (mmmmm, candy).

We were curious whether some of these drinks were worse than others, so we did a little digging and found an article that surveyed five nutrition experts to get their take. Here’s what they say:

The best:

Bai Bubbles Sparkling Antioxidant Infusion
MatchaBar Hustle Unsweetened
RUNA Energy Drinks
Hiball Sparkling Energy Water
Zevia Energy
EBOOST Super Fuel
ZOA Zero Sugar

The worst:

Rowdy Energy
Mountain Dew Rise
Red Bull Coconut Edition Sugar Free
Natural Bang
Rockstar Organic
Monster
Full Throttle

We don’t know about you, but the only ones we’ve ever had were from the bottom list 😬😬

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

“I sell B2B marketing software. A few months ago, I was working on a good-sized deal with a company I’d been after for a while. I finally got the head of marketing on a zoom, and things were going well. We had some good rapport and he started talking about how he’s a runner, and then he asked me what I do for fun. I’m from Pennsylvania, and I’ve been hunting since I was a kid, it’s just a part of growing up where I’m from.

So I mention that I like to get out and hunt with a crossbow whenever I get the chance. All of a sudden, this guy’s demeanor completely changes and he gets all weird for the rest of the meeting. He lets me get through my pitch and then ends the call. I thought the way he acted was super weird, so I Googled his name and did some research. It turns out that he’s on the board of a wildlife defense foundation. I should’ve just kept my mouth shut -- no deal.”

- Anonymous, 37 Concord, NH

GRAPH OF THE DAY

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- May 202

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I’m a fairly new hire at a small company, as is the rest of our sales team. In fact, this is the first time they've ever had a sales team (yes, you read that right). The entire environment is aimed at marketing for exposure and not revenue. We currently have zero methods for getting inbound leads. We as a team are pressing the importance of inbound leads -- and qualified leads at that -- but it feels like it's going nowhere. We've been told by management to "stay in our lane," so to speak. How can we go about convincing them that while we're happy to cold call all day, the quick wins they're looking for are going to come from the right leads? I don't know if I've asked this correctly but I am feeling stuck. Thanks!

Frustrated in New York City

Dear Frustrated,

As you’re realizing, there are upsides and downsides to being part of a company’s first sales team. Unfortunately, it looks like one of those upsides: being able to shape the direction of the sales organization, doesn’t actually exist for you. In fact, it sounds like the people who run your company want to run it like a big organization, rather than a scrappy, nimble upstart, which is what it is. The “exposure” marketing approach makes us think that whoever is in charge of marketing came from a large corporation, and not from another startup.

Brand awareness is a good thing, but if your leadership doesn’t focus on filling the sales funnel, sooner or later there won’t be anything left to be aware of. So in that regard, you’re right for being frustrated. If marketing dollars are being spent, they should be spent driving revenue, unless there’s some bigger strategy at play that you haven’t been told about.

You asked how you can go about convincing leadership to invest into driving leads. You also said that you’ve been told to “stay in your lane,” which isn’t a great sign. The way we see it, you have three options: stay and keep pushing for change, stay and accept it, or move on.

If you’re going with option one, you should take the following approach: invite your manager out for a cup of coffee, somewhere away from the office. If you’re remote, ask if you can hop on a quick call to chat. Try to make it as informal as possible, and make sure you don’t put too much pressure on them. Let them know what’s on your mind, and make it clear that you believe that making these changes would be in the company’s best interests, not just your own. Depending on your manager’s response, you should have a good idea of what comes next.

Option two isn’t a terrible play, as long as you can make the most of it. If you’re able to close deals without any support whatsoever, you’ll build skills and confidence that you can take with you to your next role, and through the rest of your career. There’s nothing quite like making a deal from nothing to show yourself that it’s possible, and if you can self-motivate and bring in revenue, your suggestions are much more likely to be taken seriously by the rest of the company.

Finally, you can always move on. Companies can’t hire enough salespeople these days, so it won’t be hard for you to find something new. And there’s a good chance that if your company doesn’t switch course and figure out how to get the sales team closing deals soon, the choice to leave will probably be made for you. Good luck!

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Today's email was written by Ken K., Steve R., and Emily H.

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