Morning meeting participation. Daily report submission rates. Client visit check-in compliance. Training exam scores...
I flipped through the entire proposal and spotted the critical problem.
In the whole performance review system, the metrics tied to actual orders and contracts carried a weight of only fifteen percent.
In other words, whether a salesman earned his performance bonus depended mostly on whether he showed up for morning meetings, whether he filed his daily reports, whether he checked in at designated locations during client visits, and whether he passed the training exams.
As for whether he actually closed deals? Barely mattered.
I took the proposal straight to the boss.
"Mr. Finch, there's a problem with this review system."
"We're a sales department. Our evaluations should be results-driven."
"This whole framework is completely disconnected from actual orders."
"When we're on the road visiting clients, sometimes we're stuck on the highway and can't make it back for morning meetings. Sometimes we're out entertaining clients until midnight and can't file daily reports in time. Under this system, all of that gets points deducted."
"And the check-in requirement? Half the factories are in industrial parks where you can barely get a cell signal. How are we supposed to check in?"
Kerry Finch didn't respond right away.
He picked up the insulated tumbler on his desk, took a slow sip of water, and only then spoke. "Steve, you're a veteran here. I understand how you feel."
"But times are changing, and the company has to change with them."
I pushed back. "But this system clearly doesn't fit what we—"
"Manager Lambert came from a major corporation." Mr. Finch cut me off. "He's been through a proper, standardized management system. How could his framework possibly have a problem?"
"You've been in sales for seven years, and you've gotten by on experience and relationships. But if this company is going to grow, it can't rely on just that."
"Processes. Standards. Management tools. We need to get with the program."
I had nothing to say to that.
Seven years of sales experience, and in his mouth it became something I'd merely "gotten by" on.
When Mr. Finch saw me still standing there, he added, "Go on back. We'll run the system on a trial basis. If there are issues, we'll adjust."
I walked out of his office and stood in the hallway for a while. Then I went back to my desk.
I found out later that the whole conversation reached Nelson Lambert's ears that same day.
Mr. Finch had told him himself.
Lambert didn't come talk to me. Didn't show anything on the surface.
But after that, things started to change.
The key accounts I'd been managing for years—Lambert began assigning other salespeople to tag along on my visits. Cross-coverage, he called it. Risk mitigation.
My travel requests started getting rejected. The reason: tight budget, priority given to key projects.
During morning meetings, whenever I gave my updates, Lambert would grill me in front of the entire department with impossibly specific questions. When I couldn't answer one, he'd let out a cold laugh. "Seven-year veteran, and you don't even know your own clients' situations?"
The most direct blow was the performance deductions.
The new system included a category called "Client Satisfaction Rating," scored by the employee's direct supervisor.
Every single month, my score in that category was the lowest in the department.
I asked Lambert what he was basing it on. He said it was a comprehensive assessment.
I asked if I could see the specific feedback. He said satisfaction was inherently subjective—there was no such thing as specific evidence.
My performance score went from negative twelve the first month to negative thirty-five the second.
Then negative seventy-eight last month. And this month, it finally hit negative one hundred and eight.
According to the system's own rules, two consecutive months of negative scores triggered a probation period. Three consecutive months, or a cumulative negative score of one hundred, meant termination.
So when he fired me, it was all by the book. Perfectly compliant.
I carried my box out through the front doors of the company.
Outside, it was raining.
