Sales Representatives and Second Jobs

Dealing with Moonlighting Reps

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Sales Management


Dealing with Moonlighting Reps -
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
Bruce Fenton, president of Atlantic Financial Inc.


September 2004

Moonlighting Reps how to deal with a salesperson selling for another company
Solution 1: Todd Carlson, national sales manager, Digipos Systems Inc., Jacksonville, Florida

First, I would approach him and ask, "Why are you moonlighting?" because in sales, you make money based on productivity the more you put into selling in one environment, the more you'll make out of it. Then I would start heavily monitoring the number of calls and appointments he is setting up every day. It's not just about the goal for the month or quarter, but daily productivity. I would personally try to work with him to determine if he's having a difficult time reaching goals, then I would focus on what we need him to do to be more productive.

As long as numbers are in place, I would not have as much of a problem with moonlighting. But I would make sure that he is putting in hours that I asked for. After that, if he's meeting his numbers, I'll be flexible and not impose any real restrictions.

Solution 2: Bruce Fenton, president, Atlantic Financial Inc., Westborough, Massachusetts

In our business, we are governed by a code of ethics, and if someone violates that she would be immediately terminated. The investment world is very complex, and if a salesperson is tempted to offer something to clients, receive a commission for it, and not tell the firm, she's breaking the law. Any conversation we have would be to gather information to make sure we're covering ourselves legally.

If she was selling something that didn't concern our industry, I'd still take a hard line. Even if this salesperson was the most important revenue generator, there are certain things you can't ignore. These days, financial services firms are heavily regulated. If you don't keep up the best of ethical standards, you run the risk of getting into trouble.