Should you be monitoring your sales activities to detect anomalous behaviors?
The use of sales incentives (commissions, bonuses, etc.) to motivate the behavior of salespeople has a long history in the United States. We all hope to assume the initial structuring of incentive-based pay is not intended to have nefarious or abusive impacts on its customers but, in a number of recent and well-publicized stories of mistreatment of both customers and customer information, we have discovered that these negative consequences do exist. Likely, the business practice of turning an administrative blind eye to the damage done to consumers as a result of these sales incentive programs has played an even greater role in the scale of abuse that has been uncovered over the last decade. In the most recent cases of unchecked and large-scale customer abuse, with particular attention focused on the financial services industry, this business paradigm of tying employee benefits (defined as broadly tying employment and/or income potential to sales) were resolved through arbitration and frequently typecast as “a cost of doing business”.
Today, are you putting your business, and all those associated with its success at risk by turning a blind eye to the effects of your business practices, including your employee incentive programs? There are new consequences being laid on to corporate leaders and board members for all business practices used by the company, and the defense of not knowing the intricacies and results of these practices does not protect you from these risks.
We have developed a methodology to detect both customer sales and individual product behaviors that are indicative of problematic situations that require additional examination. Our methodology goes beyond the aggregate sales, which are primarily discussed in the literature, to highlight individuals and/or groups that are often obviated when analyzing such data.
A forthcoming paper, “Sales Practices: Understanding the Behaviors They Incentivize” will explore these issues, and a resolution, in depth. Visit any of our social media channels for the link.
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Sales Practices: Understanding the Behaviors They Incentivize