I’ve refrained from commenting on Xerox sales compensation practices in the past for a few reasons namely staff who have struggled with getting raises from Xerox generally don’t want to hear any complaints from a Sales Person about compensation, generally non-sales employees don’t always see the tireless investment a sales person may make day after day traveling from one city to another, and finally it’s just not a great team approach. Well today, I’m breaking my own rules because I think people should know some of the garbage that happens to Xerox sales people.
First and foremost plans are not developed with any input from salespeople at all. There was a time the company had sales reps as a part of a compensation committee to give input but that practice largely ended many years ago. First, sales people with a yes attitude were added because they challenged nothing and in some cases were so new they had no knowledge or real history of sales operations. Later, the practice ended.
Whatever Xerox wanted was shoved down salespeople’s throats and were mandated to accept it. In fact, they were badgered to record their acceptance online even if they had questions about the plan that were unanswered. Some objected to agreeing, some ignored the request. Once the company was down to the final few dozen people, second level managers would get involved to harass the employee not answer questions or even listen.
The issue of chargebacks were an ongoing piece of contention as well as assignment of accounts. On the chargeback side, even if the client completed their financial obligation to Xerox by paying for its entire lease or maintenance term, if they didn’t sign a new order with Xerox the salesperson was chargedback even if they were not paid on the original order. In an industry, where the machines in field decline were significant, this was a constant financial pressure on any sales person. Perhaps more concerning, were the rampant corruption in assigning failing accounts. There was no reasonable check and balance on managers playing favorites and assigning the best accounts. Frequently a manager would assign an account that was canceling equipment to an unsuspecting sales person or someone they had a simple disagreement with. That person would have to dig out of chargeback after chargeback before they were paid anything on a new sale. This was the cause for a number of age and racial discrimination claims as the process would go unchecked. It was also the cause for a lot of employee turnover frustrating customers and staff alike.
Further, many territory planning abuses took place. At first you could be fairly assured that you could develop account opportunities and you could keep the account for at least a year to see something large come to fruition. Then territory changes took place twice a year, then three or 4 times a year with sales turnover, and then almost at will and at any whim by a manager. This was highly disruptive to revenue growth and morale. Again more legal disputes as well. I’ve seen people develop multimillion dollar opportunities only to have the account moved to a relative, or new employee, or favored employee right before the sale.
Sales budgets were developed under a massive growth expectation that is so entirely out of touch with both the industry and the shrinkage that Xerox was experiencing. Often less than 10 percent of an entire talented sales force was making plan despite revenue being on pace with the industry. Morale suffered. Frequently, the company would announce results and offer news to Wall Street that was seriously disconnected with how all of the sales people were performing.
Last but certainly not least, failure to pay rightfully earned commissions. Leadership reserved the right not to pay you for any reason they wished and it was used far too frequently. Often threats were made as well. The sales compensation plan is a general document written with many hundreds of pages but is ultimately meaningless when the company holds full discretion.
It’s for the above reasons, that Xerox is not where I would recommend anyone start or continue a sales career. It’s simply not worth your time and effort.
All of the above is offered entirely in my opinion.