The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

Alan Andrews

Alan Andrews

Sales | Recruiting | Training | Team Building

Published Nov 18, 2014

I picked up this little nugget from a friend who's in sales.

Recently, the company CEO addressed the entire sales group, and their managers, to tell them that they are going to be rearranging the workspaces in the office.
What's the big deal about changing the seating? Well, it's all going to be based on sales totals . In other words, the person selling the most gets the "best seat" in the office, and the low rep on the totem pole gets the "worst (ostensibly where he/she can get the closest and more intense supervision from the manager)."
There was also one very interesting addendum to the seating chart announcement..."Any inside jokes or eye-rolling over who's sitting where will be grounds for immediate termination."

No kidding. That's the new policy.

What do they sell? Doesn't matter for the story, except that the particular type of widgets sold by this company are sold nationwide via phone, email, and the web. So it's not like the entire sales force is out in the field every day, and just need a place to park their stuff. With very few exceptions, everyone works their assigned territories all day from their desks. So everyone sees everyone every day. They have lunch together. They chat during breaks, and sometimes give each other feedback on their phone technique. They share success stories, and horror stories about a deal that went sour. They exchange advice on how to get past "gatekeepers."
As with most sales offices (the ones I've been in, at least), this one has a board showing each rep's sales for the month. This lets everyone see where they rank in monthly sales, which can be very motivating. It's nice to be able to put your own numbers up on the board, or ring the bell when you close a deal.
It wasn't made clear whether the seating would change on a monthly basis, and no questions were allowed during this meeting.
Sounds like a happy place to be, doesn't it? I've never encountered a workplace environment quite like that, and I've seen good ones and bad ones. Gary Larson - The Far Side
I don't know if this is meant to motivate the employees to excel, or just to decide who gets the ax next. If one person has been the top producer for say, three months in a row, and then has one bad month, does that individual go straight to the hot seat? Or do the 3 or 4 reps who (in any sales organization) typically fill out the middle of the pack have to change desks with each other every month?
What's the reasoning here? I can understand moving a struggling performer closer to a manager, particularly if the purpose is to provide more coaching (let me make clear that when this was relayed to me, the specific seating was not yet announced - I'm only assuming the low guy is closest to the boss - for all I know, he/she has to sit in the parking lot, or the broom closet). But is it conducive to a productive work environment to announce to everyone why someone is sitting in a specific seat?

Glengarry Glen Ross

The mood in the office is "tense." Not hard to figure why, is it? To me, the big issue here is not so much the seating arrangements, but the threat of immediate termination over "eye rolling" or "joking."
That's a pretty subjective condition, if you ask me. Sales professionals are naturally competitive, and along with that comes a fair amount of ribbing and trash talk back and forth. Usually, but not always, good natured. I've also known very successful sales reps who went out of their way to help newer reps who were struggling to find their footing.
So here we have a decree from on high that can very easily be construed as humiliating to some, and at the same time, a threat that will effectively stifle one of the very things that can actually help a sales force coalesce into a mutually supportive team. After all, why should one rep want to help another, if it could potentially be to his/her detriment?

What are the worst motivational tools or methods you've seen from an employer?

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