DiscoMan

Sales Engineer

“Brand” PIP

Sales savages --

Anyone ever heard of get PIP'd for "personal brand" reasoning? This happened to me the other day and came out of no where, so it took me by surprise.

Had a 1on1 with my manager where he delivered the news. I'll say that I have a good relationship with my manager so I asked where this came from & he mentioned it was a decision above his head and was given no say in. My numbers have been great across close rate % and revenue brought in, both of which are second on my team over the last year so sounds like I pissed someone off?

To throw an interesting twist in the plot, my manager said the PIP was a formality and there will be no way for me to come back from it.., I feel like that is some type of employer law violation? 😂

🧠 Advice

😤 Conflict Resolution

☁️ Software Tech

54 comments

Sort by:

detectivegibbles

Politicker

Sales Director

This sounds extremely personal and rather sinister....

Did you sleep with someone's spouse above your boss? Get drunk at the St. Patricks day team happy hour and insult the CEO?

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Wish I had a good story to tell ya’ but nothing comes to mind

detectivegibbles

Politicker

Sales Director

Then dont' sweat it and start looking elsewhere. Not a reflection of you bro.

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Appreciate it man, the new job hunt is already on

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Obviously it’s the VP sales and his buddy.

When you know they are driving, anonymous report to the cops you saw drugs being used.

SaaSsy

Politicker

Ugh, yes and I'm sorry, F*CK these losers. I was in the top 10% of the country at a big logo for 3.5 years loving life and we had a total leadership change. New CRO, new VP and new (outside hire) Regional. They started paying us like AMs and capped our net new commission plan. I was quickly PIP'd for my "negative attitude" even though I was outperforming most in my region. 30 days later, Regional called me congratulating me for beating the PIP. Bigass check hit my bank account Jan. 3 and I turned in my 2 weeks that day.

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Being fired for damage to the brand sounds like you won’t win a lawsuit.

Sorry this is happening to you, but how abrasive are your posts ok LinkedIn or internally on Slack 😂

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

😂 zero post on LinkedIn & like to think I’m a nice guy, maybe too direct and honest with feedback I suppose? Oh well

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I am reversing course. Find out what infractions you’ve committed, in writing and with evidence. If they can’t produce them then you will win a suit.

JDialz

Politicker

Chief Operating Officer

And CC everyone in your chain. EVERYONE.

ZVRK

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

What did i just read lol! Just to be clear: "

he PIP was a formality and there will be no way for me to come back from it." does this mean they`re letting you go soon?

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Same reaction I had when I was told this & yeah, early May when PIP ends apparently

ZVRK

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Jeez, did you forget to fill-in a product marketing survey or something :D just kidding, this really is over the top, just crazy. Even if it was a thing, it`s your PERSONAL brand, it`s in the name...how can that be up for judgment by the employer if you haven`t broken any law or something.

Def start looking, at least you have a month or so, good luck!

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Appreciate it

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

Who did you piss off and how? Are you really active on social media and did you say something you shouldn’t have? Or is it the opposite - no social media presence?

At will employment means they can just fire you so I don’t get why they gave you a PIP.

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Zero social presence outside of keeping LI up to date tbh

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

Wow, you are getting let go for “fit”. That is a hard one. Someone doesn’t like you, and you must have said something to someone. Can you pinpoint what it was?

Maximas

Tycoon

Senior Sales Executive

Your manager must be kidding ya, lol
But let me clarify things further though!
Does the PIP include an auto termination after a specific duration?
Any documented PIP or written warning should involve a reason why you're signing it so, if it's not numbers you're already achieving, what else is mentioned?
Did you ask who have you pissed off or even why he/she was pissed off?so that you will stop pissing em off again:)
Any decision to be taken has to consider the answers for the above first!

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Autoterm - no, was told HR would be reaching out to begin the process in two weeks
Took a quick pass at the document and nothing in there was actually legitimate so I did not sign it, said I needed more info/data to sign anything
I have a feeling I know who it is

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

what did the PIP cite as reasons for the plan?

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

Really sorry to hear this..

All states in the U.S., excluding Montana, are at-will. Most do have exceptions, but the states of Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Nebraska, Maine, New York, and Rhode Island do not allow any exceptions. So I am not sure if their is a violation

Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

This is a first for me, and weirdly specific.

lowhangersalesbanger

Executive

Director of Sales

Get in writing exactly what you did to harm the brand image. Invaluable for the lawsuit you should file.

This also sounds like someone above your manager has beef with you for some reason. Also, how is it a PIP if there is nothing measurable you can do to "improve". They basically just gave you notice they are firing you.

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Yep, that is exactly what is happening since I was told HR would be reaching out in a few weeks to begin the process

st94

Honestly think it's too dumb a reason, unless it's somehow in your contract/sales plan that social media is part of the role, it's a BS attempt at getting rid of you they will chalk up as "poor attitude". I would also be sceptical that your manager "has no say in it", otherwise their role is pointless?
I once got put on a month-long PIP which was straight in or out, pass or you're out, and I passed it. The manager then said they reviewed it internally, and decided the original PIP wasn't long enough and that I'd need to do it again the next month, same conditions.
Remember that any PIP is just a way of management freeing themselves from owning their team's poor performance. It's always a personal thing, dressed up as a professional thing. It's a big world out there for people with sales skills, leave them and grow somewhere else

braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

So what'd you do...?

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

🤷🏼

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Never connect with anyone at work socially.

Managers, VPS, everyone, block their ability to see you. They are not your friends.

this gets proven daily.

HVACexpert

Politicker

sales engineer

Someone doesn’t like you, and it sounds like you can’t change their mind.

Pretty awful tbh. Sorry you have to go through this.

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Seems as so, yeah but it’s all good. Wild scenario I’ve never encountered

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

damn homie this blows.

what makes you think this is because of your personal brand? did anyone hint at that? has there been any issues with what you say online/

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Zero social presence & that was what my direct manager said specifically

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

"zero social presence" sounds to me like you're good at your job but dont participate in things like Happy hours...am I off?

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

Nope but context is missing. Being a remote employee w/ a young kid makes 5/6pm happy hours impossible to attend

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

That is absolutely ridiculous and I hope you find another opportunity soon.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Got any HR violations lately?

jcoup

Client Manager

Unresolvable PIP? Seems suspect. I'd start looking

Arizona

Personal Narrative

BDE

You have a lot of good advice below so I won’t repeat the stuff about how to possibly keep your role or win a suit. But if and when you do, get your ducks in a line, close every deal you can get paid on quickly, and get tf out of there anyway. Bad leadership is poisonous.

Tireless

Contributor

CRO

Hmmm..were you in Washington DC on January 6th by any chance??

gripittandripitt

Contributor

Senior Global Sales Manager

I was PIP'd for saying "two birds, one stone" and was then corrected to say scone. what a time we live in.

Executive, Strategic and Performance Coach

The correct phrasing is two birds with one stone. Who the fuck would go around killing birds with scones?!?!?

Director

If I remember correctly, when I put someone on a PIP, it was a step away from terminating the individual. Good luck and I hope you have polished your resume.

thetopperformer

Executive

Enterprise Account Executive

You're not secretly Trent Dressel, are you?

DiscoMan

Catalyst

Sales Engineer

This made me laugh but nah

SaaSyMum

Executive

AE (Account Executive)

I’m sorry this happened to you, especially in these times. I’m familiar with the PIP as well, rather it was a “subjective” rather than quota driven which meant they didn’t like me. Sucks to come to terms with it but upper management will make up ANYTHING to cover their asses! Chin up, God speed.

RevOpsRenegade

Good Citizen

Director of Rev Ops and Enablement

Are you supposed to be doing something to build your personal brand or is your personal brand too big and the company doesn't like that? A PIP for the first one could make sense, but the 2nd one is someone who thinks you are bigger than the company doesn't like that

Sales Consultant

These employers are getting WILD

ShavingsMakeAPile

Executive

Enterprise AE

Sorry to hear you are going through this.

Not sure about the legal stuff, but this is the first step in documentation that can be used down the road (even after you get off, the fact there was a PIP at one point can be used again later - even years).

The best way to get to the bottom of it all as best you can is to ask what KPIs specifically will be tracked and how will PIP adherence be scored? The KPIs will give at least some insight into what the root issue is.

Making sure the weekly or monthly requirements are defined as explicably as possible and then making sure you hit all of them is the only way to get past it. If there is anything ambiguous like "show a better ability to articulate the product to customers in a concise manner", make sure to dig deeper and get what that means & entails to show improvement. You do no want anything to be determined by "manager discretion" or such

BreadHead16

SDR

Had the same thing happen to me. Start looking for another role. You won't win.

RevOpsRevealed

Opinionated

VP Sales and Marketing

Time to start looking for another job…this is ridiculous.

LeadMachine

Opinionated

Sr. BDR

We've all heard the story of Henry Ford II or III telling Lee Iacoca, it's not your work, I just dont like you very much, as reason for letting him go. Iacoca goes on to save Chrysler. Go save some company and employee's who appreciate you and your work.

Bravado is a community of trusted sales professionals endorsed by their customers.

Products

The War Room Jobs Salary Guide Tech Sales U

Company

About Us How It Works Blog Bug Bounty

Contact

Press Careers

If you are hired as a contract sales rep by a Bravado customer, we may ask you to prove access to the employee email account provided to you by that customer. This data will be shared with customers to track your sales productivity; customers can use this data to confirm you meet the minimum activity requirements to pay out your ramp stipend and commission.

DiscoMan

“Brand” PIP

54 comments

Related posts

PiP

Put on PIP after 6 months