back to article Salesforce calls some workers back to the office amid slowing sales

Salesforce is calling some staff back to their corporate desk as it tries to counter slowing growth, despite CEO Marc Benioff saying at the start of the year that return to office mandates "don't work." According to reports, workers that live near offices were asked to travel in for three days a week from Tuesday to Thursday, …

  1. Insert sadsack pun here

    "The staff were told to host eight meetings with customers a week – half of them in-person – and provide bi-weekly presentations."

    Isn't this just incenitivising totally pointless meetings and presentations instead of e.g. incentivising actual sales?

    Is this how sales teams normally work?

    1. Marty McFly Silver badge
      FAIL

      Meetings - The universal alternative to work!

      We need to have the pre-meeting to set the agenda for the meeting. Formalize who is bringing the donuts, etc.

      1. elsergiovolador Silver badge

        Re: Meetings - The universal alternative to work!

        Don't forget to create a mandatory form for all participants to fill in advance whether they have any food allergies or special needs. Then brainstorm the shape of ice breaker session.

    2. TaabuTheCat

      Is this how sales teams normally work?

      Sadly, yes. So much of sales is just a numbers game - you get x number of leads from cold calls, you get x number of opportunities to quote from those calls, you get to x number of serious negotiations after you've quoted and then you get to actually close some percentage of those.

      Honestly, some of the most successful sales people I've known get that way by doing massive numbers of contacts, with the full understanding you need to get through x number of "fuck offs" before you get to a "yes". The really good sales people also have a keen knack for not wasting time on those who will never buy from them, no matter how far along in the sales process they get. As one of my very successful sales buddies used to say, "No practice quoting."

    3. Mayday
      IT Angle

      “ Is this how sales teams normally work?”

      Indeed. Some sales bonuses (I’m not referring to commission here - that’s purely based on a cut from closed deals alone) are based on calls, customer face time, progress in (of all things) Salesforce etc.

      Naturally commission is the most pertinent factor and no sales person is going to prioritise filling in the CRM or ringing someone who is not interested in over closing a deal.

    4. elsergiovolador Silver badge

      half of them in-person

      These typically don't leave exact minutes of what was discussed and give an opportunity to offer some incentives to make the purchase happen, if you know what I mean.

      I am not saying this is the case here...

    5. LybsterRoy Silver badge

      Sales is a bit like marketing - some of it works, some doesn't. Unless you're in retail sales waiting for a customer to rock up and buy something isn't the best approach. I wonder just how much more difficult it is to contact potential customers if you're WFH and so are they?

  2. Old Man Ted

    As a 78+ year-old I enjoy talking to cold callers and asking them about the weather, traffic conditions and their families and or any other non subject which I think of and offer them my commiserations for having to do such meaningless jobs.

  3. Confucious2

    Sometimes…

    Sometimes in person meetings are better.

    I tend to go into the office one day a week to have in person meetings, most of which could be done over teams so I don’t have to, but I still do.

    This doesn’t sound like a mandated return to work rather than ‘we think it would be good for business’ if you do.

    Mandated return to work when there is no benefit is bad, if it actually makes a difference then there is nothing wrong with it. IMHO.

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