Dylan Hoffer always struck me as an Australian, though I don’t know why. Maybe a Brit. He’s a nice guy, but as a salesman he is supposed to be. As with the rest of the sales staff, he was also quite visibly LDS (missionary work is an outstanding training ground for future salesmen and customer service reps - it’s no coincidence that there are about 50 million call centers out here) and pious enough for me to be unrelaxed around him. He was a unique combination of charmer and stone-cold killer. It was the elegance of the first that made me think Brit, it was the gruffness of the latter that made me think the Australian.
Hoffer the Brit, as it turns out, made the Eremus sale. Eremus is our biggest client by far and they will be bringing in about $200,000 a month alone. Hoffer the Australian had worked it in to his contract (salesmen, unlike the rest of us, actually get an employment contract) that he indefinitely gets 3% of gross income from his sales so long as he is with the company.
Our first month came and went and we got $175k in sales. They approached Hoffer with a new contract. For sales over a certain amount, he would only get 1%. Hoffer the Loyal Subject of the Queen consented.
Three weeks later he was one of only two salespeople to be laid off. In an amazing stroke of luck with the company, he now gets 0%.
Companies can be so short sighted. The way to save money is to fire their top salesman? Hmmmmm….wonder how many more big contracts they’ll be able to pull in.
Comment by abel — April 19, 2006 @ 9:21 am
It’s going to be harder. Since the layoffs, we’ve lost our entire sales staff. One was fired, the rest all quit. More on this later…
Comment by trumwill — April 21, 2006 @ 12:43 am