"SALES ARE EVERYTHING"

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Note:

This case is based on a fictitious company using scenarios of typical real-life companies. The

names of all locations, persons and organisations referred to in the case are fictitious.

Concepts:

Personality| Values| Perception| Emotions| Stress| Motivation| Performance Practices|

Decision-Making| Team Dynamics | Communication | Power and Influence| Conflict | Leadership|

Organization Structure and Culture

Developed by P. Martinez, based on an article by E. Johnson (2018) CBC NewsPage 2 of 5

Sales are Everything

Jenny and Dave had worked with on a high-performance sales team at Quest Networks for over 5

years.They enjoyed the challenge of getting customers to sign up for new products and couldn't see

why their rival team, headed by Ben, had started to complain that managers encouraged them to lie

and cheat customers.Ben complained that the pressure to hit targets was so high, they felt they had

to upsell, mislead and outright lie to customers to make sales.Ben felt that this was inconsistent with

the espoused corporate values of Quest Networks that highlighted employee honesty and fairness,

ethical conduct, customer service and product quality.

In a recent team meeting, Kate Bains, Senior Vice-President of Sales at Quest Networks, maintained

that "the concerns raised do not represent our values or sales practices and must be a training

shortcoming.""Of course, people should just know better", she added.Her favourite saying was

"Sales are everything".It was her answer to almost every concern.Ben and his team argued that

they were under extreme pressure to upsell customers, often at the expense of these values.He gave

an example where his team was forced by their manager to try to make a sale on every call even to

elderly people who didn't understand or need certain products or services.

What did ethics have to do with sales, wondered Janice.She whispered to Dave "this sounds like a

desperate attempt by Ben, to rationalize his team's reduced sales this month.I heard this same

whining when I worked at Talon Canada, Canada's largest telecommunications company, where my

team also claimed they were forced to upsell customers, often at the expense of ethics.I just don't

believe it!"

Ben would not be silenced."You're supposed to look at a customer's account and sell them cable,

home phone, home security, a credit card whatever is missing," said Ben.He felt that he was

Developed by P. Martinez, based on an article by E. Johnson (2018) CBC NewsPage 3 of 5

bravely speaking on behalf of his team and wanted them to avoid retribution that he felt might befall

him."It's better that I take the heat, "he whispered under his breath."Saying the wrong thing can

affect your performance review and get you fired", he thought.He continued, "When people are off

sick, their sales targets aren't adjusted unless they go on short-term disability, "so you're at home,

trying to get better, but stressing about how you're going to keep your job."

Dave remarked that when he is "desperate" to earn sales points, he signs up seniors for internet

service, and tells them a technician was going to come to their house "to install a modem for their

TV" modems are required for internet, not TV.""We're giving internet service to customers who

actually do not have a computer," he says, "but it's up to them to turn me down.""Besides, my job is

important to me", he muttered.

Jenny laughed, saying "Even to those customers who have home phone service, I say, 'How about I

add a second line for your home phone and I'll give you a discount for your other product?' Which

makes no sense, but they don't know that!"

Ben continued, "It feels really bad, but you have all this pressure on you. All your managers are

around you, telling you to sell, sell, sell."

Dave recalled Debbie, who had worked on this team but had recently quit, saying that employees

were expected to try to sell on every call, even when customers want to cancel services, complain

about malfunctioning products, or were grieving the loss of a partner.

Jenny remembered that during her employment interview at Quest Networks years ago, they had

actually asked her 'If an elderly lady calls in to cancel her sports package on her TV because her

husband just died, are you going to convince her to keep it and add more?".Sure thing, she though.

"Harsh, but not my problem," she had answered.Of course, they hired her.

Developed by P. Martinez, based on an article by E. Johnson (2018) CBC NewsPage 4 of 5

Ben remarked that during training, "They teach us how to be empathetic. To say things like 'I

understand how frustrating that must be that you need to revise your service since the death of your

loved one", but he continued, "I'm like, why? We're the ones conning them."

Former Quest Networks employee, Debbie Mills, had been on stress leave three times due to the

pressure to make sales. Most managers know what is going on, thought Dave.They are just doing

what needs to be done in this competitive world.Dave reflected that managers are less focused on

customer satisfaction than they are on making money.He explained, "I would get five cellphone

activations in a day and sell a bunch of cable products, and then my manager would say, 'No credit

card?'.It was always what I didn't do - that was my training".

Ian Smith, Senior VP of Operations, also in the meeting, had been listening quietly to the emotional

discussion.He was concerned that a reporter from Go Public had recently called him for comment

on accusations of employee harassment.They described how several Quest Networks employees

told Go Public that the pressure they are under to make sales actually prevents them from providing

good customer service.They described how they "drop" calls when it becomes clear a customer is

calling to cancel a service, because it will count against their sales targets.Ian recalled how recent

customer operation statistics showed that most customers have to call in three, four or even five times

to get a problem resolved.He had been told by Kate Bains that this was the "new normal".This

concerned Ian, but he was not prepared to make any statements to the press or to his team until he

understood the situation.He first had to understand whether sales targets were achievable, was

training adequate, where lagging employees on effective performance improvement plans, where

teams empowered to make sales decision, how could employee engagement be improved and how

could employee absences due to stress, be reduced.Not to mention, checking with the legal

department to determine the number of times customers were suing to recover costs.In a recent

Developed by P. Martinez, based on an article by E. Johnson (2018) CBC NewsPage 5 of 5

report from the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-television Services (CCTS), which

mediates disputes between customers and their telecom providers, the top three complaints revolved

around incorrect charges, poor disclosure of terms or misleading information about contract terms

and intermittent or poor quality of service.The CCTS resolved 91 percent of all complaints this year,

resulting in payouts of over $2 million.An official at CCTS remarked "I wouldn't find it surprising

that telecom providers incent their sales people to sell.We see that in every mass consumer

product.

1. According to this case, discuss the concepts and theories related to issue 1 and 2.