Never betray your employer's trust
Sales person who are paid a salary for their job by the company should not try to extort commissions illegally from dealers or customers
When any company hires a sales person, it is a decision that has far reaching implications. This is because every step, every move, every single act of that person refl ects on the integrity of your company. It is almost as if that person becomes synonymous with your company’s brand identity, like a larger than life logo. Of course, while considering in the context of Indian companies, phrases like ‘acts of commission and omission’ can take on an entirely different meaning. It’s not just a matter of whether your sales people do what is expected or not. Sometimes you need to also figure out if they are doing what is not expected of them.
Typically, sales persons are paid a salary for their job by the company that employs them. When they agree to take up that job, it is understood that the salary will meet their fi nancial needs. They should not expect anything over and above that - except perhaps a performance-linked bonus at the appraisal time, provided they have delivered what was expected.
In spite of this, certain sales persons decide to leverage the company’s brand identity for their own personal benefi t. Betraying the trust placed in them by the company’s management, they try to extort commissions illegally from dealers or customers. Some of them try to downplay this as ‘perks of the job.’ I say this is unfaithfulness, plain and simple. To use a popular adage, this is basically biting the hand that feeds you.
If such unscrupulous sales persons continue to indulge in these underhand activities, what will suffer the most ? Obviously it is the market reputation of the company employing them. For their short-term gain, these people end up damaging a brand that has been built up with sweat, toil and tears over the years by the management.
The problem is that usually companiesdo not even know when those representing their brand take undue advantage of the trust that they have placed in them. Until people in the market start complaining to each other in private and these private conversations are made public, nobody really realises what has happened. By the time the company realises and takes action against such errant employees, it is too late. A reputation built over decades gets tarnished in just a short while.
It is therefore, essential for us to eliminate the menace of illegal commission by its roots. Rather than trade favours with sales persons, distributors and customers should approach the management and nip such culprits in the bud when they fi rst make the ‘indecent proposal’ itself.
"Typically, sales persons are paid a salary for their job by the company that employs them. When they agree to take up that job, it is understood that the salary will meet their financial needs."
Anil Brahmbhatt.
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