shouldIstay
New Member
I am in sales for a very large company. there are 50 reps in my division Nationwide. I have been with the company for 8+ years. I have met my sales target in 5 of the 8 years. On average, only about half of all reps reach target. 2 of these years that I missed target, no reps in our entire division reached target. Each year, I get very good reviews. This year, things are different. The economy has taken its toll. The industry is down on average about 20%. On July 1 of this year, I was told that my sales were towards the bottom of the reps and I need to get them up. I was 43rd of 50 reps (I was at 66% to annual target). The company average was 84% to target. Since that date, my sales have grown a little and I now stand at 33rd of 50 reps.I am now at 71% to target, while the company average has dropped to 79%. I was approached yesterday by my manager and told that I have 7 weeks to get my sales up. I was given a number to reach in terms of percent to target. I am being told that I must get my sales up to the point of being 88% to target. If I do not do this, I will be terminated. I understand that I am in sales and I should be held accountable, but it seems as though I am being singled out. As I said, the company average is 79% to target. At this point, there are only 8 of the 50 reps that are 88% or better to target. I asked if everyone is being told to get sales to 88% and I was told no. I asked if the 17 reps that are currently performing below me are being given the ultimatum, and I was told no. It seems as though I am being asked to meet a goal that the rest of the sales force is not expected to meet. When I brought this up, I was told that it also had to do with market share. That is fine, but in our industry, we do not have any way to determine market share (unless our client gives us this information, but they do not provide this info). It was never part of our sales quota or annual goals. Somehow, our company got some information by accident from our primary client (this came in the form of an email that had the wrong attachment). This information was sales information that was already 6 months old. There is no way to ever get this information again unless by accident. But now, I am being held accountable for growing my market share in this 7 week period. Keep in mind, it was never mentioned until this conversation, I was never told to get market share up, just hit sales numbers. And our company has no way to show changes to market share unless our client accidently sends the information So, my question, can they single me out even though I am preforming better then 1/3rd of the sales force? Can my company give me an ultimatum without requiring the other reps to meet the same expectation. Should I look for legal advice or just accept that I will be let go in 7 weeks?
