Conference 7.286::digital

    re: .0 and cash incentives ...
    
    Is this another one of those $250 things?
    
    Geoff

    re: .1;
    > Is this another one of those $250 things?
    
    You mean the, ahem, "virtual" cash incentive? :-/
    

         Today we have most of our product offerings in place and many are 
                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
        as good as any on the market. What we need now is confidence in 
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Oh really?  I think if this were true we wouldn't have such a shortfall.

	

    >    Today we have most of our product offerings in place and many are
    >	as good as any on the market. 
          
    Surely to sell these products they need to be better than others on the
    market. Being just as good is not good enough...

    Don't really agree-if we have any rpoduct which is red hot and
    better/cheaper than competition,it is like a red rag to a bull and
    competitors will do their best to be better asap.If a product is
    marginally better,then efforts might be lower.Bottom line is that being
    better is not the issue-our products are excellent in my humble view
    and will be constantly challenged and overtaken and we will respond.
    IF everybody always bought the best product,wouldn't we all be driving
    Rolls Royces?No,we don't,not because we can't afford it but simply
    because RR target certain customer groups.This is something that we
    appear to be lousy at-whenever I mention it to marketing folk over
    here,it's like I came from another planet.I did actually-I used to work
    for Intel and they didn't seem to have a problem with the concept....
    
    Next one for the soapbox?

re: .1
>    re: .0 and cash incentives ...
>    
>    Is this another one of those $250 things?
>    
>    Geoff


	This is real money. Sales reps get 2% of their Q4 revenue, if they
	are over 100 % their budget, and 1% if they are below budget.

Sales reps here get �8,000 if they exceed their FY93 budget ($12,480 at current
planning rate). If they exceed by over 10%, they get �20,000 ($31,200) in
their pocket.

The rest of us are on for an additional �750 at end of Q4 if we meet all our
revenue and quality metrics ($1,170), payable in October. But we've known
that for the whole fiscal.

My group's on track for making over 20% growth in NOR and margin this fiscal,
but only the subsidiary-wide deal applies to us. So if the country misses its
goals, no dice...
								- Ian W.

    sales reps get 1% of revenue, even if the MISS budget.
    that's an incentive!?
     
    willie

Hmmm, and i'm responsible for delivering $89.9M NOR by end Q4... ;-)

								- Ian W.

    Wow, $12+ K for making your number?  All I can say is DEC really
    knows how to dis-incent its' US sales force.  We get $0, for making 
    our budget.  But we do get to keep working 70hour weeks, no training
    or expenses, and now perform the function of two since all the layoffs.
    In fact we'll be the lucky ones to get the worst TFSO after hanging in
    all this time.
    
    Makes me excited for FY94 when we get to participate in a 10% pay CUT
    and then have the opportunity to get it back.  What a commission plan!
    
    Just for laughs, in order for the US sales people to make $12K over
    salary, we would need on average to do 150+ % of budget.  Seems alittle
    off base.
    
    But, good luck !

    I agree with .10. The US sales mgt team has no idea how to motivate
    us sales folk in the US.  
    
    However, being a salesman for my entire career, I incent myself to
    reaching the minimum level of 100%.
    
    Good luck to all my fellow peddlars!

    They just announced in the US the 1% kicker for anything you
    sell & invoice in Q4. I guess I spoke to soon. (re.11)
    
    I'll be at my customers for the rest of the year!

    i'm not even going to mention what those of us who directly support the
    sales people get. everyone pretty muchs knows the answer.

    
    it comes on thursday, or am i missing something?

    robert
    
    if the weekly paycheck should satisfy me, it should also be adequate
    compensation for my brothers/sisters who carry the sales bag. there
    seems to be many from top to bottom who think that that is not the
    case. i don't ask special favors. just fair treatment. that should be
    expected. not something one has to campaign for, as it is today.

    re .12 I'll be at my customers for the rest of the year!
    
    Why aren't you there normally?
    
    only 1/2 :-)

    The euro/finnish plan is also sell-deliver-invoice = revenue in Q4.
    Everything that has been sold/booked in Q3 or before that generate
    revenue in Q4 does not count.
    
    	- tomi
    

>>    The euro/finnish plan is also sell-deliver-invoice = revenue in Q4.
>>    Everything that has been sold/booked in Q3 or before that generate
>>    revenue in Q4 does not count.
  

Ditto the US plan.

    
    Right Gene, us support folks aren't worth squat, we are a dime a dozen
    and should be lucky to have our jobs.  BUt you know this by now.
    
    
    
    Mike

    My guess is that this is a repeat of last year's scam.  What's within
    the control of the sales rep is to induce a customer to present to
    Digital a purchase order.  This is alternatively called "selling" or
    "certing".

    What happens after that event is out of the control of the sales rep. 
    Namely the process of "revenue", "delivery" and "invoicing" depends on
    what's in the warehouse and how efficient is the process of moving
    products from warehouse to customer.

    As for services, typically they are invoiced as they are delivered.

    I wish I could recall Jack Smith's wording.  From my incomplete recall
    it was "Although the sales force met the certs goal, it didn't meet the
    revenue goal because so many of the orders could not be filled in the
    time available."

    It's hard not to be cynical about all this.  What should be "incented"
    is consistent performance, not the mad Q4 rush:

    A lot of customers know from experience that what Digital resists in
    terms of making a deal in April or May, Digital will take in June.

    re .16- As most salepeople at DEC know, we spend most of our time
            dealing with the internal sales-prevention people.
    
    re .20- When customers can delay purchasing from a vendor until
            the last month of that vendors year, they know they will
            get the best possible deal. This is not an uncommon practice.

>    re .16- As most salepeople at DEC know, we spend most of our time
>            dealing with the internal sales-prevention people.

	What has changed so that you don't need to do this now? - If you
	had to do this the rest of the year, why not now? Or conversely,
	if you can ignore this now, why not ignore it the rest of the year?

				Tom_K

	PS Hard questions, I know, and I'm not picking on you - I just want to
	know...

    
    And you insinuate that the rest of us try and make it hard/impossible
    to do business, this is pure bull and I imagine that if you looked into
    it a little you would find out that it isn't the people in the wasy
    rather the P's&P's that we are tasked to obey in doing our jobs.
    
    
    
    Mike (who has had many an order come through unprocessable)
    
    

    What a wonderful place!  Where else can you make a deal - i.e. accept a
    budget - not follow through on your part and then get a better deal as
    a result.
    
    I guess Digital's ideal salesperson would work quietly with his
    customers and make some internal friends (sharing the cash might do it)
    so that all sales could be made the third week of June and everything
    would ship by air the fourth week.  Product would, of course, be hidden
    somewhere for him as he called it in (rather than putting through legit
    orders) to whoever he was paying on the inside.
    
    This hero would further help manufacturing planning.
    
    
    And besides - that stupid comment on product quality really ticks me
    off.  If the company sold stuff properly we wouldn't be in such a
    slump.
    
    Maybe 'Neutron Eddy' will fix this nonsense!
    
    Don

    I've seen the games played both ways.  At a central processing
    facility with it's undertone of make sure it matches the P&P exactly,
    the CYA naturallt takes over and slows up order processing for 11
    months of the fiscal year.  In June, ALMOST anything goes that can be
    certed if a manager is willing to sign off, and worry about the
    problems it causes in the next fiscal year.  On the other hand, being
    in a remote sales office this past 15 months, orders are processed so
    much easier without the unnatural roadblocks & obstacles that are
    placed in a central processing facility.  The things that would be put
    on "hold" are worked through YEAR ROUND!

    re:  .24
    
    "If this company sold stuff properly we wouldn't be in such a slump."
    
    No problems in any other area of the company? 

    re .26
    
    >>No problems in any other area of the company? 
    
    Of course not!  (Oooooh boy, that must have made my nose grow a foot!)
    
    Having started in Digital's internal information systems group quite a
    while ago, and worked in software engineering for quite a while too,
    I'd have to say that the company has produced quite a few poorly
    conceived, badly executed, and confusing or contradictory software
    products.
    
    /Butch