Technician commissions for "Leads"

[cccjjn]

I am just wandering why you are wanting our input, you have struck down every opinion given.

Situation came up this morning. Just felt like bitching about it and was curious what opinions I would get here. I should post it on a sales forum.....bet I'd get completely different responses.

[mo0651]

Tick off your techs and you might get the opportunity to turn that screw driver again! lol. Trickle down theory of replacement is hard for techs to see. You said he didn't know the relationship structure of the client. He turned in a lead to make a copier move and new one come in. Should your manager or owners have a little interest in giving him commission?

[blanka]

From the sounds of it you are a typical salesman. Taking care of number 1. My opinion is " Salesman/women dont sell machines, Techs do ". Salesman just do the paper work and collect commision. Salesmen dont want anything to do with anything unless there is something in it for them. This is a perfect example, if the client was wanting to replace the mach and you knew about it or had plans for it already, how come the client did not know anything of it. If they need to ask the tech who willl obviously know nothing about then the the salesperson is not doing their job properly. I think you need to give credit where its due but i doubt you will. Im guessing by know you know im a tech and not a salesman. Good luck in the future but i doubt that tech will be giving you anymore leads.

[mojorolla]

Sales gets them, but service keeps them.

[Ianizer]

My take in general is, Nothing wrong with throwing a tech rep a bone for putting a legit bug in sales' ear. Helps keep lines of communication open. Me? I ain't no salesman and do not want to be. Your line of work is WAY too brutal for me! I am in awe, sir. Carry on.

That sed, it is absolutely critical to have a very clear policy on leads. Loosie-goosie notions of what constitutes a "lead" is just a situation waiting to happen... "Then you get what we had here last week, which is the way he wants it... Well. He GETS it. N' I don't like this anymore than you men..."

I digress.

Quick rundown on ours:
Tech must fill out appropriate form and email it to specific admin person. Do it wrong and the delete button works super well.
If lead is deemed valid it is forwarded to the appropriate sales rep and their manager, where the rep is invited to keep service rep in the loop. (Sales rep may or may not elect to contact service rep. Their call.)
A valid lead is good for half a year. (If the sales rep sells the account on the 6th month & 1st day, tech's outa luck... Too bad, so sad. Deal. You're in Service for a reason.)
If sales rep meets specific criteria to claim to already be "working" the deal, lead is invalid in the first place. Remember the delete button?
If the account is sold within the alotted time frame, the tech is deemed to have indeed helped and is awarded a (small) percentage of the overall deal. As I said, it's a bone, a wee spiff, not intended to help out a service rep make bank.
If not sold, the tech has the option to resubmit the lead... Some nuts are tough to crack.

It all hinges on clearcut guidelines. Sales and service have got to have a mutual respect and somewhat of an understanding of the giants we face each day. Neither job is easy. Above all, if executive management intends to offer such a program to foster the kind of teamwork it implies, the lead fee must not cut into the sales rep's commission (unless it is an agreed upon sales instituted program).

The amazing thing is that in the years I've been doing this gig, sales and service persist in expecting each other to look and act like themselves. The jobs are vastly different, yet symbiotic. If we don't figure out how to control animosity and resentment, it leads us all directly to the unemployment line...

Or in the words of Ben Franklin: Gentlemen, we must all hang together, or assuredly, we shall all hang seperately.

-I

[KenB]

This is a REALLY sore subject with me.

I certainly agree that there must be a "system" for handling leads, and separating the qualified from the non-qualified.

We have one tech who turns in a lead for nearly every call he does, hoping that some may result in a sale. That approach I totally disagree with. (He doesn't fix them very well, either.)

I can though, honestly say, that after better than 32 years in the business, I have gotten screwed on literally EVERY lead that I've turned in.

I always get:
a. I was working on that.
b. It's a national account, and nobody gets paid.
c. The margins were so skinny that we can't pay you.

We're not just talking about onesey-twosey deals, either. Some have been whoppers, and I don't mean malted milk balls, either. (Hey. it's Halloween! )

[JR2ALTA]

You guys are being way too black and white...and a tech should always appreciate gradation, be it on paper or in life.

This particular case the sales rep sounds justified.

I've never believed in leads for existing customers, maybe in certain cases of "wowing" them on some new technology out there, when upgrading wasn't even on their radar.


Techs should be happy with the growth of company profits and getting POS dinosaurs out of the field!

[Ctl-Alt-Del]

What do you guys think?

What do we think? We think, "fuck you". You are a sales rep and you have been reaping the benefits of having customers buy from you because of the good service your company's techs provide. This is an existing account, and their fore an easy sale for you so pay your tech the few bucks and shut up.

Ps. Yes I know we can't exist without each other so there's no need to go down that road.

[fixthecopier]

Lately I have been on service calls on equipment that was at locations were they had a sales rep with the company. In a couple of those cases the sale was made because I felt out the customer and told the salesperson they were ready. Salesman got the sale, I got nothing. I also have equipment that could be replaced but I tell the customer that it will run for years, just call when it breaks, that is why you pay for maintenance. There are a lot of times it is the techs call as to whether or not a sale gets made.

[Hemlock]

Salesmen lie for a living; why should we believe what one of them posts here?