This excerpt is from Heavy Hitter Sales Wisdom (Wiley & Sons copyright 2006 and may not be reproduced without express consent):
A vice president of sales sent an e-mail to his entire sales team titled “The 19.5 reasons why you fail.” His list gave his top reasons why his salespeople were failing. Although his intention was to stimulate his team members’ thinking and improve their performance, the e-mail had the opposite effect. Every sentence started with either “You fail,” “You don’t,” or “You can’t.” The e-mail’s negative and condescending nature infuriated everyone. Soon the e-mail was posted in chat rooms and on bulletin boards where the vice president was vilified as one of the worst sales leaders of all time.
Here are my thoughts after reading his list. First, it was a terrible misuse of e-mail. Whenever possible, serious announcements should always be done in person, not over the Internet. I am sure the vice president was not too happy when he found out he was being lampooned by thousands of Internet users in spite of his best intentions. Second, he broke the golden rule of sales management, which is to praise in public and critique in private.
Finally, the message was a horrendous use of two of the most important sales resources: time and language. The vice president had obviously put much thought into creating the wayward e-mail and was probably quite pleased with himself when he clicked the Send button. Unfortunately, he had no idea that he was sending a message that actually encouraged failure. Beyond the content of his words, he was brainwashing his team members with the idea that they were failures. Instead of motivating them to succeed for the good and glory of all, the anger his e-mail generated toward a disrespectful boss most likely fueled turmoil and dissension.
Moral of the Story: Never send an e-mail or letter that you wouldn’t mind seeing printed on the front page of your hometown newspaper.
Other Articles That May Interest You:
The Six Real Reasons VPs of Sales Are Fired
Why Did We Lose the Big Deal? (5 Questions for the VP of Sales)
