Seeking to achieve sales goals ''at all costs'' can also result in ''costing all.'' The following sections raise some questions relevant to the sales process and achieving goals.
The idea and practice of setting and reaching goals is found in many endeavors, but is of particular concern to any company that hopes to remain in business and to make a profit.
In any business that sells anything, which includes virtually all businesses, top management, the company owner or both know that a certain number of sales must be made at a certain percentage of profit over a particular time period in order to thrive profitably as a business. As someone once said, “Nothing happens until a sale is made.”
When sales goals are established, the means to achieve them is the next concern. This assertion recognizes the fact that, in the business plan, where and how things are to be marketed was given some consideration, along with the potential size of the market.
It is at this point that questions of ethics and morals also have to be dealt with, though they may not be mentioned as such. For some, ethics and morals are relegated to the back burner, with the only concern being that of “making the sale.”
Seeking to achieve sales goals “at all costs” can also result in “costing all.” The following sections raise some questions relevant to the sales process and achieving goals.
Basic questions
Any business that does not consider the following questions may eventually find that it has few options left and little time to consider how to do things right:
1. Are your goals realistic (covering costs – at a minimum – and generating greater profits – at a maximum)?
2. Is it your policy to pursue these goals at all costs, which implies “pulling out all the stops” and doing or saying whatever is required to make sales?
a. Although this may work in the short run, what happens in the long run when prospects are on the run away from you?
b. What price might you have to attach to a “goals-at-all-costs” approach?
(1) When “payday” comes, will you be able to afford it?
(2) Will it be worth the price?
Some costs of “Goals at All Costs”
When sales people are told to do or say whatever is necessary to make a sale, such a practice may work for awhile, but, with consumers becoming more and more sophisticated, through the internet and by other means, the likelihood of turning this into a lifetime business practice and “getting away with it” is even less than it was 10 years ago.
When ethics are thrown out the door, the door is less used by prospective customers. No graduate study is needed to verify this. Sadly, this amounts to an unnecessary, self-inflicted wound.
Knowing that positive impressions may be passed on to only a few people and that negative impressions are likely to be passed on to one to two dozen people, basic arithmetic tells us that, with a no-holds-barred approach to sales that excludes ethics, the only direction that will be traveled over the long run will be downhill.
Once the downhill slide starts, a number of things will happen – none of which are good. The following “Baker’s Dozen” of likely events to follow could leave any business (i. e., one without ethics) “cooked” in more ways than one:
1. The speed of the slide will increase rapidly.
2. The size of the mass going downhill will increase, thereby giving it more force.
3. Short-term emphases on great sales results will prevent management from seeing or perhaps even anticipating what is starting to happen and its potential.
4. As the slide starts to become apparent, management may blindly intensify the short-term sales strategies that worked at the beginning, but do so to the point that sales tactics become very unprofessional – including unethical – and perhaps not even believable.
5. The time, energy and costs required to stop the downhill slide will increase as long as the slide goes unrecognized, not admitted and unattended.
6. Competitors will start to take advantage of the slide before the company in the slide recognizes it (and the slide) and will gain prospects to convert to customers who used to go to the company that is now sliding.
7. The rate at which sales will be lost will be at least three to four times as great as the rate at which sales were normally made in the beginning. (Remember how negative news travels compared to positive news.)
8. The time, energy and resources (money and personnel) required to stop and hopefully reverse the slide will be such that resources will have to be diverted from other areas and activities – possibly causing slides and losses in those areas as well.
9. If the slide goes on long enough, recovery may be impossible. This is especially true for small businesses with limited capital and personnel.
10. In the case of a serious slide that eventually becomes apparent to other employees, morale may suffer, which, in turn, will affect productivity, customer relations and, as usual, the bottom line.
11. Attempts to reverse the slide may require extensive and unplanned (=unbudgeted) outlays for advertising, public relations, retraining and more.
12. Prospects and customers lost at the start of the slide and during the slide may never be regained. And, as everyone knows, it is always easier and less costly to retain current customers than to constantly recruit new ones.
13. Serious, prolonged slides may result in employee retention problems as well. Even worse, the best employees may decide to leave a “sinking ship” for a competitor or another business with more ethics and professionalism. This will again increase the time, energy, personnel and money required to advertise for, interview, hire and train new personnel. Additional time will also have to pass before the new personnel become as productive as those who left.
Conclusion
Achieving sales goals at all costs may work for awhile, but the short-term gains may be more than offset by long-term results that fall far short of what could have been achieved and maintained with business practices that are more ethical.
Short-term profits will be eaten up by long-term losses; some customers may be lost forever; fewer and fewer prospects will come or respond to sales attempts; much will be wasted in fix-up actions; and, worst of all, business termination may result.
Although the foregoing dealt primarily with external relations with customers and potential customers, seeking to achieve goals at all costs will also have a negative impact on the internal workings of the company, including worker attitudes, horizontal and vertical relationships, productivity, safety and more.
From the above, it should be apparent that the pursuit of “goals at all costs” can generate more costs than a company is prepared to meet.
