What Are You Worth?

Do you know? Are you being honest with yourself or are you full of hot water? Look around the corporate landscape today. We have CEOs of broke companies who pay themselves millions, sales leaders who miss the number, reps who don’t make quota, marketers who provide zero leads to sales, purchasing agents who buy the cheapest product rather than the best one for the company, product managers who build products nobody wants, customer service reps who don’t care about the customers, human resource managers who create red tape instead of eliminating it. You know who you are.

Sometimes we need a reminder that we aren’t as good as we think we are. Nobody gets better when they’re told how great they are every second of the day. The challenge with corporate America is that people run to HR every time someone tells them they did a bad job. Allow me to deliver the message on behalf of your company: If you aren’t delivering what you were hired to produce and you are mailing it in, you are doing a bad job.

Ask yourself this question: What Am I Worth?

Companies evaluate sales compensation plans every year. Employees constantly complain they are underpaid, undervalued and underappreciated. The funny thing is: When you ask someone what they should make, it’s often met with deafening silence, followed by a weak response, like: “…more than I’m making right now!” Really? You’re complaining you are underpaid, yet cannot effectively articulate your own worth? Hello? McFly?

If you made 50% of your quota last year and think you were underpaid, you are delusional. If that company is still stroking you a paycheck, drop to your knees and thank the heavens. When I was a young and inexperienced sales rep, I was that guy too before a guy named Matt Sharrers told me I sucked. I thought I was God’s gift to sales because I had some talent and closed a few deals. The truth was I couldn’t sell my way out of a paper bag and my results were awful. I was lazy and rather than put my head down and work hard to get paid, I grew dissatisfied and decided it was time to “take my talents” to another company. What I quickly learned when I entered the job market was that my lackluster results, coupled with a meager W2 qualified me for lower level jobs and compensation than the one I had. It was one of many humbling cold showers I’ve taken in my life, and I deserved it. The truth hurt when it came time to be honest about my market value relative to my performance.

Let’s be honest, it’s easier to complain about being undervalued and underpaid than it is to face the harsh reality of the truth.

Posted by Ryan Tognazzini
http://www.salesbenchmarkindex.com/