Much has now been written about the “culture of greed” after the findings of the Royal Commission into the financial services industry and in particularly the banks.
The International Sales Institute (TISI) has for some years and well before any Royal Commission, spoken about the dangers of creating a culture of greed, by incentivising sales people with unrealistic commission payments at the expense of satisfying customer needs.
Desperate people do desperate things. Greedy people inspired by their own rampant consumerism and spurred on by the hope of endless riches via sales commissions, become even more desperately greedy people. Perhaps the word predator is more appropriate.
It is not unusual that banks and financial institutions, international car manufacturers, real-estate agencies, and even charities, made such horrible, unconscionable, and often intended deceptions against their customers, by sponsoring financial commission-based sales incentives and bonuses.
The seller was faced with the consequences of no sale no gain, often this meant no food on the table. What transpired is that there were endless unconscionable sales commission payments made to many, at the direct expense of the customer.
The Institute has knowledge of the use by businesses of the repulsive business term:
“a percentage of customer wallet”
This term is used to describe the intensions of organisations to focus on a customers’ available funds, rather than on satisfying a customers’ needs and affordable desires.
Clearly no conscious or altruistic human ever worked in these organisations when they were creating these immoral and often financially criminal incentives in pursuit of the almighty dollar. After the Royal Commission people are now more aware. The foundation for change has been laid.
TISI looks forward to playing a critical role as a change agent, assisting organisations to implement the essential cultural changes needed to put the customer back at the forefront of all business activities.
Isn’t it also remarkable how businesses had seemed to be able to operate independently of any human involvement or accountability? Surely humans would have intervened had they known that there was:
Intentional price fixing, financial deceptions, endless lying, wilful deceptions, no customer service, false reporting, and all manner of fraudulent, unlawful and illicit practices, including, “but wait, there’s more charges you need to pay, for services never provided!”.
ROYAL COMMISSIONS CAN TALK ABOUT A CULTURE OF GREED AND THE NEED FOR THAT CULTURE TO CHANGE. WHAT IS MISSING IS THAT IF THE CAUSE OF THAT CULTURE IS NOT EXORCISED FROM THE BUSINESS, THE CULTURE WILL NOT CHANGE AND THINGS WILL RETURN TO THE WAY THEY WERE.
When an organisation decides to implement a commission sales structure, it invariably means that the organisation has replaced the sales management function with the dangerous short-term and addictive drug called sales commission bonuses.
TISI’s 12 Immutable Laws of “HUMAN” Relationship Based Selling (which forms our Code of Conduct) will be of immeasurable help to all organisations who truly wish to make a total cultural change. Our sales management information programs will help establish the management systems, to enable the selling function to be directed and managed on a range of performance indicators including activity and where sales results are put into realistic and achievable levels.
Organisations which invest in developing a sales management system, will minimise the risk of limitless greed, fuelled by the drug of choice (sales commissions), putting their origination and their invaluable asset, their customers and clients at risk.
After the Royal Commission’s findings, anyone who aids in the trafficking of this drug of greed should and will be made personally accountable.
There is also the hidden and inspiring message of “well done” in the findings of the Royal Commission to all customers and clients, who have respected and built sustainable long-term relationships with their product and service providers.
“You were right to continually demand that:
the relationship is far more important than the sale”.
