Thread regarding Canon Inc. layoffs

I put a donation collection jar by the coffee maker for impoverished sales reps... let’s see...not much yet. Nickel, three dimes, couple of instructive note pictorials. Come on people!

@189 Shorter replies? Nah, just saving my breath for humans, not bots spamming "best wishes" like a LinkedIn auto-responder. Your lame prequel post reads like it was generated by a spreadsheet with a superiority complex. Keep practicing for the Turing test, champ - maybe one day you'll pass for someone with a pulse. #MBAbsBot

@183 WOW, waving that MBA like it's a personality transplant - bold move. The so-called "unicorn" post called for basic human decency, not a PowerPoint on why layoffs are "synergy strategy." Your degree might impress the C-Suite, but it's just a fancy frame for the same old "sc--w the workers" sermon. Keeping polishing that Master B.S. Artistry - those true colors are shining brighter than a board room projector.

Wouldn’t that be MBSA? Glad to see your posts are getting shorter and even less thought out; resources focused on finding a new job I hope. All the best on your future endeavours.

@183 MBA (Master Bovine Scatology Artist). You showed your true colors.

@17a Your attitude and management style is the problem with this company. Suggest you take a refresher course in people skills 101.

Class dismissed.

Misery loves company. So execs take a 10% hit to salary... then what? Customers still not going to buy more. Quiet quit? Fantastic, enjoy your PIP with all the toppings. All this foot stomping is going to achieve is broken stilettos. Maybe put your rage rant energy into finding a new job? Serving hot dogs will only prepare you for your new gig in fast food.

@175 You must be helping Sammy the Hot Dog man. Well, reps will just serve him quiet quitting with mustard on it.

@10y - Here is a question for you. If the company is making less money and selling less, what would you think if we lowered your salary?

Why should sales people just take the hit. Why not reduce salaries by 10%? Would everyone commenting negatively about the sales people in this thread be ok with that?

@14t You must be the road apple talking here, covering for the soul vampires. Quiet quitting will be the new norm. Consider it done.

And you didn’t get a pony for your 12th birthday and threw a hissyfit.

@10y And you must be either corporate plant or a bot.

Clearly some sales reps still can’t / won’t get it. No matter how long winded, condescending, self absorbed & circular their rant... the facts remain the same: Sales are catastrophically down = Lower comp. You got a “big” deal? You hit your numbers? That’s fantastic. It’s a drop in a dry well! If you’re that good a rep find a profitable industry. If not, accept your situation. Whining isn’t winning.

@ad

Let’s add another bullet point to your summary.

• Company driving up the cost of goods to ensure less compensation is paid in an effort to keep more money in company’s pocket.

• Company driving up quotas to ensure gate bonuses are paid less frequently in an effort to keep more money in the company’s pocket.

Let me give you some perspective here. The company is raising prices but customers are not paying more. That is a direct conflict with the sales organization.

Young people are leaving. Older reps are trying to fly under the radar. No one is here for the right reason. It’s a big game and Canon’s risky moves will cost them in the long run.

@ja - Clearly you do not understand how we in sales get paid. Let me help you understand what’s going on.

For starters, if you sell more you should make more, right?

1) Over the past two years WTS/CSG has had a series of quota increases. Comp based programs (gate bonus) with higher quotas mean we have to sell more to make the same amount, not more, as we did just a year ago. See the company raises the quota to limit the money you make as you sell.

2) We have seen 3 price and service increases this year. So for example if you have to sell equipment that costs more than it did just 3 years ago, you will need to raise the price to your customer. Now let’s say that customer says, “If you charge me more I will need to go out and price you out. We don’t have the budget to pay more.” Safe to say they will find the price with a competitor and Canon will lose unless that rep discounts the deal. Now add on the pressure of his/her manager to get the deal and the rep is forced to make a 2% override. Think about a $10.000 device and you make $200. After taxes you will make around $140.

So when you write a post like you did, you insult the hard working people of this company that carry the relationships that sell the equipment. The equipment that helps pay your salary. Sales people worked for peanuts this year. All I have heard has been a series of “Thank you I know it’s hard out there.” from our leaders.

No one is making changes. No one cares. People are leaving. If the reps don’t make money, sales will decline. Declining sales will result in more failures. It’s time for Canon to get competitive again. They need to offer competitive pay and be in line, not more, than competitive pricing.

@tv What PK did was ridiculous. Maybe that's why his wife is back in Chicago and he's holed up alone in an apartment.

@nw not even a good one either. To the person that had to work extra hard for that giant deal, we are sorry you were not correctly recognized. Canon has a well known and unfortunate issue with being stuck in the 50s-60s era where women aren’t recognized, paid fairly, or promoted.

@ja You're definitely an AI bot.

“Great talent...” Oh my! Real life feedback: The Ai virtual sales reps are coming.

Some will just refuse to see more than 3 inches beyond their nose... If gear price and comp went back to previous do you really think sales would increase proportionally? C-U-S-T-O-M-E-R-S A-R-E N-O-T B-U-Y-I-N-G...No comp change, price roll back and heavy petting is going to change this.
The rage posting making a strong case for Ai Virtual Sales Reps though. Only challenge is keeping the rants out of the LLMs.
“Without sales reps you do not have a company.” -If you don’t have sales why do you need sales reps?
“Poaching talent left and right.” - Let them pooch up n down and side to side. Go to a pure channel model.
“It all starts with the sale.” - No sales so again not applicable.
“Back end support.” -Direct is not selling. Lay some back end off and rest can support dealers.
“A happy sales rep will lead to a better company.”

• A happy sales rep is a complacent sales rep with a broken comp plan. Think like an investor. Would you be “happy” if your 401k performed same as last year? Worse?
  “If prices go up our pay should go up.”
• Why. If I hit target and sold 100 apples with 25 cents gp each I make $25. Q2 I only sell 50 apples so make $12.50-m. Q3 am I going to sell 150 apples: 100 for my target plus 50 to make up for Q2? Nope. Gotta increase my price to compensate for down sales and to cut expenses (comp) as I have less sales to spread my expenses over. There is no option to expect less. See above re 401k.

@bv correct. I will add dealers are poaching reps left and right. The word is out about how poorly reps are treated and paid at Canon.

Just remember, without sales reps you do not have a company. It all starts with the sale. We can’t service unless the sale is made. We can’t bill unless a sale is made. We don’t have customers unless a sales is made.

If you are not a sales rep I would worry about all the backend support that could be affected if sales are not made.

A happy sales rep will lead to a better company. Sales numbers are down because people are making less money to perform the same job. If our prices go up, our pay should go up.

@f3 You must be one of those C-Suite folks who get off creating a toxic workplace, and obviously want great talent to suffer. What a sadistic mindset.

Oh the humanity! Sales rep prima donnas gone wild. What did you think would happen to your comp plan when industry sales are catastrophically down and gp is getting absolutely hammered? You thought it’d be status quo? If you’re that good a rep go somewhere else!
Rants like this are fodder for the high maintenance and entitled North American sales rep cliche.

@bv Gee, one wonders if PK violated any company policies over this blooper. HR won’t touch this one. If it was another employee, they’d be lucky if the person would get the cardboard box exit.

@ad Sounds like you're a management shill, dismissing valid employee concerns. Your underlying message not only unacceptable but you are obviously advocating the position that toxic workplaces are acceptable and want to see employers force people to leave so the company doesn't have to pay severance. No wonder the world is so sc--wed up. From reading the comments on this site, there's an unhappy workforce and barriers are intentionally being erected so sales reps are set up to fail. Your underlying post is cruel. How's that for a reality check?

@OP so you are saying the fire alarm during PK's call was more like a lie detector? seems accurate

PK made a mistake and it’s too bad for the one he was recognizing that he never caught it and apologized.

As for sales people whining, I can only assume the person who replied is either in a back office position or someone with a title.

I don’t think most people out there can take on a 15%-30% reduction in pay. Most people are selling close to or at the revenue they brought in back in 2019. The difference is the quotas are through the roof so it’s looks worse and they are getting paid less based on % of quota. If you want to blame the economy, fine. The problem is the company is not adapting to pay sales reps and they are leaving.

Whether you like it or not, sales reps are the ones who carry the relationships with the customers. They are the ones who take all the complaints. They are the first point of contact for our company. When they make less they leave.

People are leaving. They just don’t announce it. On the flip side, potential new hires are not lining up to fill these positions because the industry has a decline in demand. That’s not an economic issue, it’s a shift in how our society has gone digital. That’s not going to change.

In closing, I hope you are someone with a title. I hope people throughout Melville read this forum and see how bad things have become. Kind of hard to cry the blues when the higher ups are sitting at 99.5% YTD considering all the changes we have had.

@ad exactly!!! What a waste of a post. Let’s just all whine because we don’t have it as easy as we did the last few years

Grow up and just leave if your so unhappy

Ai summary of the above:

• Outrage that wrong pronoun was used in recognition of performer.
• Rep is making less money. Customers are buying less. Cost of doing business increases. Sales Rep furious about the realities of economic correlations. Blames leadership.
• Sales Rep exploring opportunities to leave...