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Dear Quota Team

For the last decade, I’ve worked for the same company. We’re a privately owned company with just under a thousand employees and a sales team of around eighty. Everything was going good until a new Vice President of Sales joined the company a few months ago.

Not only is this VP not from our industry, he is one of those guys with a background in consulting who has only worked for massive companies. Management said they brought him in to “take us to the next level” but it’s been nothing but trouble since he’s joined.

One of the first rules he’s instituted is mandatory outbound call quotas (100 dials a day) with strict tracking. He’s also changed our comp plan with a better payout at the very very top, but reduced pay in the middle and a no-commission-at-all structure at the very bottom. And he’s spent all this money signing us up for all this new software that basically just wastes our time when we could be selling.

Very few people are happy with these changes and we’ve actually had a rough few months since he started performance-wise. But upper management seems committed to this guy so it’s doubtful he’s going anywhere. Basically, he’s ruining what was once a perfect job. Any advice? I live in a fairly rural area so there aren’t a ton of other employers to pick from.

Frustrated in Location Withheld    

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Dear Frustrated,

If there’s one thing that’s certain in the sales world, it’s that things are constantly changing. Nothing ever stays the same, whether it’s the market, the comp plan, or the way people handle business transactions. The hardest thing to accept is that things aren’t going back to the way they were.

There’s not a whole lot you can do for now. Your options are to stay or to go, and, all things considered, you might want to follow upper management’s lead and give this guy a chance. If in another six months, you’re not making the money you’re used to making, then it’s probably worth looking for another opportunity. But don’t throw in the towel too quickly. Good luck.