Are
you headed to a Pyrrhic sales victory?
Between 280-275 B.C., King Pyrrhus of Epirus engaged in several battles against the Roman Empire. Pyrrhus apparently enjoyed the thrill of the victory so much that he began to live for fighting battles. Although he won many battles, he was forced to retreat from Sicily in 275 B.C. against Rome’s soldiers at Malventum because his army was nearly depleted. He ended up losing the war.
Today, whenever someone wins a battle but loses the war, we refer to it as a Pyrrhic victory. Salespeople, sales managers and senior managers have to be particularly careful of their own Pyrrhic victories.
Here’s an autobiographical example: Early in my sales career, I was fortunate to be appointed to the prestigious national account program of a Fortune 50 corporation. One of our responsibilities was to coordinate the sales, administrative and service activities in national accounts that headquarters assigned to us. More specifically, we were required to establish relationships from the top down in order to more effectively manage the account, not only in the event of significant competitive threats, but to solidify top-level relationships between our two organizations.
One of my accounts had focused its power within the Purchasing Department. Salespeople representing different divisions of our company were not permitted to make selling calls within the account without approval of Purchasing. In one instance, our sales group strongly believed a significant order had reached bottleneck proportions within the Purchasing Department. Our strategy for breaking this bottleneck was simple: Contact the chief financial officer and explain why it was in the best financial interests of his organization to implement our recommendation immediately.
Within three days, we had our order. We had won the battle. There were smiles all around. For the next several weeks, we reminded ourselves almost daily the importance of using high-level contacts within an account to break up purchasing roadblocks. We should have also reminded ourselves of King Pyrrhus. We were about to lose the war and we didn’t even know it.
Of course, the purchasing agent and his director were not happy with my “end around,” that is, going over their heads to the CFO. They believed it was a personal affront. They had established rules and guidelines they expected their partners to follow. We broke the rules. An “invisible war” was declared.
A few months later, Purchasing informed us it had awarded its largest order in several years to one of our competitors. This time, the Purchasing Department included the CFO in the decision-making process. We didn’t have anywhere else to go. Purchasing assured us the decision was business, not personal. Furthermore, we were invited to visit with the CFO if we had any questions regarding the Purchasing Department’s decision.
This reflection brings to mind other sales traps in which our profession just might sacrifice long-term success for short-term gain:
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As sales managers, do we hire someone we might not otherwise select because we have an immediate need to fill a territory vacancy, thus compromising our hiring standards for the immediate term?
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As senior managers, are we unwilling to approve compensation bonuses to keep top performers? We save money today, but perhaps we are sacrificing it tomorrow.
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As salespeople, in tough economic times do we compromise our ethical standards because we need the business and income now? Remember that a negative personal reputation is difficult to offset later.
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As a sales profession, do we solicit and encourage frequent, constructive feedback regarding our sales and sales-management skills? Are we willing to accept the temporary pain we might feel from the constructive criticism leveled on us today for the long-lasting skill sets we will gain for the future? |
In the end, instant gratification may not always be the most prudent course. It might be helpful to ask: “Will this particular strategy or tactic merely be a Pyrrhic victory?” No sense in losing the sales war, is
there?
Quote: As salespeople, in tough economic times do we compromise our ethical standards because we need the business and income now?
Canada can be reached by e-mail at rcanada@dartmouthgroup.com.
Quote: As salespeople, in tough economic times do we compromise our ethical standards because we need the business and income now?
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