Sample Sales Force Survey Comments --
Identifying Barriers to Increased Sales

Sales Force Surveys Identify Reasons
Your Sales People are Underperforming

Sample Sales Force Survey Comments

• Is your company's sales force's performance being impacted by problems and sales barriers similar to those described below?
• Does your company have a healthy sales culture?
• Can your company's sales be significantly increased by identifying actions that can be taken to boost sales?
• Is your company at risk of receiving law suits from your sales people because of unethical sales practices or abusive sales managers?

• I transferred from the _________ Branch and it was very obvious I was not part of "their" team. In retrospect, there were some very subtle racist comments made. Sometimes they were blatant. I should have gone to HR!
• The Houston branch is very "Female Friendly". It seems that only females get the good leads.
• My sales manager has certain people he works with more than others and there is a sense of favoritism. My manager caters to and works with certain reps all the time.
• I am often humiliated in front of peers.
• Employees should receive computer equipment and Blackberrys as promised, access to necessary web sites and training on equipment.
• Branch mgmt. is accommodating and supportive. Regional mgmt. is unengaged and very high pressure "boys club"
• My sales manager is disassociated with the daily workings of our branch.
• Very abusive manner. People are afraid to tell him things or discuss things. He has a "My way or the highway" attitude.
• My last sales manager just left the company, THANKFULLY!!! He treated me like a 5 year old. He wouldn't allow me to write my own mailers, e-mails, etc. He forbade me to talk with FM Manager _______. I have been selling for _______ for 8 years.
• Our managers make decisions in a silo and do not consider the wealth of knowledge that the sales team, many of whom have been with _______ for over 15 years, can provide about high-level or day-to-day operations.
• Sales management above the group manager level is very distant and does not acknowledge successes. If fact they do everything they can to reduce commission earned.
• My manager speaks to me like I am a child. He makes insinuating comments, referring to me as "gay", calls me and others stupid and encourages unethical behavior.
• The sales department is run by _____________. He is by far the worst manager who could possibly run a sales office / micromanager / talking down to employees, etc.
• Our immediate team sales manager fair. The branch and regional managers are a disfunctional group of egotistical idiots. My branch manager actually used the movie "Boiler Room" as an inspirational / training video. The man is only worried about his bonuses and salary. He added no support or value to the sales process.
• Some sales reps are helped. Others, like me are left alone without guidance or assistance.
• He asks me to slam clients to reach quotas.
• Gender bias is evident in our office.
• Manager tries to motivate with negative feedback rather than coaching and encouragement.
• Treat people as professionals rather than high school drop outs!
• I feel like I never really get feedback from my manager unless it is something wrong or bad.
• Sales manager is not interested in any opportunities that I bring to the company and doesn't care to explore the opportunities.
• Admin is OK. Sales manager - could cared less. Branch manager - Always trying to make accounts into house accounts.
• There is hardly any communication going on between myself and my manager. I hardly know him. I don't feel comfortable going in to ask him questions... it is weird.
• There are at least 3 branch meetings per week and I honestly never learn one thing. The communication atmosphere in the _______ office is very negative and stressful. Turnover in this office should indicate this is a correct assessment.
• I have to use my own personal laptop because they don't have enough to go around. Mine is much newer and not compatible with the office desktop which is down quite often. We were told that our office cannot fix the problems and we are not getting help from HQ. When the economy gets better I will be out of here.
• The corporate sales and product training is excellent. However, the sales management never went or participated in the training so they really are not on the same page with the reps. It seems as though when we returned from training mgmt. assumed that the sky would open and money would fall. Moreover, the fact that they did not participate left a void in what corporate was telling and what the individual branch locations were telling us. There were many stories from our classmates from around the country telling each other of the inconsistencies being preached.
• Didn't get training until I had been selling for 6 months.
• I went to New Hire Training in NJ and that was an amazing training. I learned so much there. When I was at the training I thought I would NEVER leave ________. The training got you all pumped up to get back and sell but then when we got back into our office -- the mood was so bad you just sunk back down again.
• 2 week class on sales techniques OK. Product/solutions training - horrible.
• I started here over a year ago and I have not received any commission statements with my pay. When I complained, they said that is the way it is.
• Sales tracking is always changing. Once you get used to one process, it is changed to another. Management never really follows up on the process for any length of time. It seems as though every other week there is a new process and directive for tracking sales and prospects.
• The base salary is not enough for any one person to live on, let alone a family. It takes a few months to build up a pipeline. The $'s in the interim was too little. I feel this is the reason for the high turnover.
• The salary is sub-standard - Commission is a joke!! Too many hoops to jump through.
• I am still owed 8 months of cellular phone allowance - over $1,000.
• Every time I increase sales and profit the Branch finds a way to pay me less.
• Poor management - lack of support sub-standard wages (it cost me money to work here). Being treated like I have no work ethic by making me drive to the office every morning and back at night before going home. I sell by being in the field, not by being in the office. This is the worst, backstabbing, unreliable and unethical place I have ever worked.
• Annual salesforce turnover is over 60% in the company. In some offices it is much higher. This says it all. Good products. Bad management. Constantly changing poor compensation plans. Bad technology (laptops, cell phones and access to company systems).
• Our presence in the market is not as strong as some of our competitors; our "corporate identity" is not broadcast to potential customers; customers cannot find us at key trade shows and industry meetings like they used to. I feel our current senior sales & marketing management teams underestimate the power of marketing.
• Serious money needs to be put into R&D for the _________ products. We are falling way behind in that product line.
• Many of our products are quite old (8-10 years), and when they are redone, often it is only cosmetic. The leading edge innovation that customers expect from us seems to be on the decline.
• I interact with customers every day and I am hearing more and more customers say that PE's products and service are only mediocre at best.
• I am too diluted selling too many products. We face competitors that have a much more focused approach, which allows them to appear more competent.
• Took a very long time to get set up administratively, ie; getting a computer, access to email, a cell phone
• We need online access to customer and product information from the field. We are not responsive to clients without it!!!!!!!
• The world is changing. Our competitors gave smart phones to their sales people years ago. We are still fighting the last war. We need smart phones to compete, to respond quickly and proactively with customers and prospects.
• I am spending more time chasing down problems with shipping equipment, getting it installed, arranging for training in use of equipment, resolving problems with billing errors and other problems than I am spending time selling. We need to fix our processes and get admin support to deal with these issues.
• Customer service is a real problem. I am getting lot's of complaints from customers about our bad customer service. Customers are waiting too long to get through to a person and when they finally do, some of our CSRs are rude and incompetent.