Wyndham Worldwide Deception

SCOTT APPLIES FOR A MANAGEMENT POSITION

From: Terry.Nesmith@wyn.com
Sent: Wednesday, November 21, 2014 11:01 AM
Cc: Keahiolalo, Toni; Nieves, Lilly

Subject: RE: Frontline Sales Manager

I will not interview Scott for this position due to his short time with the company at this time.

Terry NeSmith
Vice President- Kauai
Wyndham Vacation Ownership
4970 Pepelani Loop
Princeville, Hi 96722
808-826-2843

Wyndham Vacation Ownership, A Wyndham Worldwide Company WyndhamWorldwide.com

Terry,
Thanks for responding and sharing your thoughts with me. The fact I haven't been here long is exactly why you should interview me and specifically why you should hire me for this management position. Last week, DoS Rackley told us our closing rate was 14%. He applauded our effort. I'm new. To a newbie, this isn't good. I can do better. Since this is a measured statistic, I can back up my claim with provable results. I come from the world of pro sports. Here's a little secret ... it's all about the money! Not about wins, not about fans, not about role models ... it's all about the money. From top to bottom, we only focus on making money. And, from top to bottom, everyone and everything is held accountable. It's not like that here. We frequently assign accountability incorrectly. This costs everyone money.

Let me give you a short, true story. Some time ago, there was a delivery truck driving down the road. It came to a bridge with a clearance of 18'6" - the truck had a max height of 19'0. The truck made it through partially but with the speed, lodged itself firmly under the bridge. Police and firefighters were called. They could not push or pull the truck out. Civil engineering experts were called. People gathered to watch. They were trying to figure how to lift the bridge to clear the road.

A young boy rode up on a bicycle. He asked one of the policemen what had happened. He explained. In earshot of the multi-million dollar experts, the youngster said, "Why don't you let air out of the truck tires?" Wisdom from newbies who are simple enough to question the "expert" paradigm.

LESSON

When talking about a sales professional, if a person can sell a pencil, they can sell a car, and they can sell timeshare. It's not what they sell. It's knowing how to read people and create a positive buying opportunity.

Management works similarly. If I can successfully manage a sports team, a classroom, a research environment or a company, I can manage a group of sales professionals. It's well believed Michael Jordan may be the greatest player in basketball history. Few asked him to coach. It's well established great players rarely make great coaches. The current Wyndham pattern is to advance excellent sales professionals to managers. This risks the Peter Principle, as proficiency in sales does not predict effectiveness in management.

I sent a link to a TEDx Talk in the addendum to my application by Shawn Achor — "The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance." You may not have received it. The video discusses the power of positivity. I add it here: Power of Positivity

As we all recognize, the Wyndham sales floor is a highly negative environment. Changing this will improve sales by 40%. It's all about the money, right? Don't you want to increase our sales by 40%? Who would object to a 40% increase? Wouldn't Wyndham want such a program?

To accomplish this, we must first assign accountability properly. This isn't a blame game; this is how the team identifies both strengths and weaknesses. Michael Jordan might get the final shot to win a game while his team is down by one point. He misses. He's accountable. He knows he missed. The world knows this. He can go back and practice that shot 1,000 times. This increases the probability he will hit the shot the next time - and, he will get another shot.

Yet the coach (fans, experts) also question the play. Did the coach call the right play? Michael shoots better coming to his right. Why did the coach call a play that had him coming from his left? Thus, the coach is also responsible. All participants watch the film over and over. They have Michael practice the shot, but they also know they will run a play having him come from the right next time.

We further ask the WHYs. Why were we down by one point? Scott missed a defensive assignment seconds before. Had this not happened, Michael would not have been pressured to make this game winner. The ref missed a call seconds before this. If we had a video replay system, we could have corrected the official's mistake. All stones are overturned. We ALL want to make money. ALL will be criticized. ALL will be examined. Can't handle this pressure? Find another job!

You see ... it's all about the money. Humans are imperfect; systems are imperfect. We do not stop with the Level 1 analysis. There's too much money on the line. We dig and dig and dig. Those who do this well earn the Gold medal.

TIME MANAGEMENT

In the NBA, it's critical to manage the shot clock. Here we have a 90 minute game. Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive, pointed out this requirement beginning in the 60s. As a director for over ten years, a coach for twice that time, this was my bible. Coming here as a new agent, managing the 90 minute schedule was extremely difficult. My manager worked hard with me. As the executive of my tour, I mapped out the process.

On my arrival in August, there was much agent agitation about podium. I was new and didn't understand the concerns. In a staff meeting, they collectively demanded help from DoS. He promised a special clock. He then promised a conch shell alert to signify the start of podium. Neither promises were fulfilled. He demanded podium start 15 minutes after the stated tour time. This, the 8:30 tour would start podium at 8:45. We were to manage our time accordingly.

As I learned, this did not happen. I began tracking the process. It was taking 30 minutes - not 15. I documented this. Gave copies to my manager and the DoS. Nothing changed. I brought it up recently with Joe in a training. He explained to us the Admin team simply couldn't get people registered and on tour in less time. Thus, I adapted my presentation. As in sports, if you face an obstacle, say unfavorable refs, complaining does little. Adapt and make it happen. Get the W - earn the money. Complaining is counterproductive!

Thursday you punished me for being late to podium on my Wednesday tour. I was following the actual timeline, not the theoretical one. I told this to you. You said podium starts 20 minutes after tour time. That is incorrect. Rather than ask the WHY, you incorrectly assigned blame to me. It's ok, I can survive. Yet you missed the real issue. This is happening systematically and this failure of time management costs ALL of us money. In sports, we would face the reality and figure out a solution. None of us there are comfortable losing games - or in losing money.

Not only does this cost Wyndham money, it cycles negativity. You had to be negative with me. I sadly learned of my punishment from the Admin staff. We are friends and they enjoy my positive energy each day. The individual who informed me actually apologized for having to do this. She told me it wasn't her decision. She also learned I had been penalized. They see my leadership. This confuses them. Ultimately, I was following the REAL timeline - not the theoretical one. We could have used this incident to improve our system, increase our efficiency and effectiveness - and, increase our positive energy. In actuality, we ignored the underlying problem, punished the agent unfairly, and cycled negativity needlessly. This costs ALL money!

Ironically, I had a similar scenario with my Thursday tour. Two tours. I hustled to ensure I was back on time. No podium. No explanation! Frequently there is no podium - especially on the quiet Thursdays or Fridays. No explanation. Very difficult at first. Podium was helpful so I had to learn how do conduct a non-podium tour. No training ever provided. We are told podium increases deals, then we are denied podium. This is systematic confusion.

Now, do the tour timeline with 20 minutes to podium, the perfect scenario. The 8:30 tour starts podium at 8:50. The Today's the Day presentation ran 50-55 minutes. Agents walk out around 9:45. If they got their tour close to the podium start time, they had little discovery time, did not have time to visit the model (which is an excellent time for casual discovery), and have 15 minutes to give their pitch. Keep in mind the participants may have checked in at 8:20. This cuts more off the agent's time. They are time closed when they walk out of podium.

You wonder why agents are frustrated with podium? The first agent to get a tour has a mathematical advantage to succeed over agents who get later tour starts. We are bright people. We know this. You are systematically giving advantages to some agents. This hurts morale and costs ALL money. Agents do not dislike podium; they believe they cannot succeed in that short time frame.

We could solve this if we assigned accountability correctly. As a loss is simply assigned to the agent, nothing is corrected. ALL lose money.

BAD TOURS

We are told there are no bad tours. In reality, this is an impossibility. Nothing is perfect. You witnessed a couple with me. I did the right thing. I brought this to the attention of management. It got to you and you corrected the problem with marketing. They were incorrectly informing participants about the process. Had the agent not complained, this error would have gone on. ALL would have lost money. Yet I was charged with the tours. I got the losses. Although the error was not my responsibility, I was charged and pushed further down the bench. The result is a talented agent is given less opportunity. Morale drops and inefficiency costs the company money.

As I reported to you, a Sr agent walked up to my table last week, pushed in, TOed the session and quickly ended it. I had no idea why. Asked my manager, he had not sent over the agent. He has no financial incentive to do so - as he would lose some money and would only do so per a plan. I was charged with the loss. I reported this to you and you implied I had lied. I was not seeking to blame - just appropriately assign accountability so we can do better in the future. If we do better, ALL make money!

Had a TO on my table recently. My manager has requested I get more faces on deals. Thus, I did so. This rep showed the numbers but aggressively badgered the woman for not saying yes. Got up and left me with a woman in tears. I get the loss. Wyndham losses the money. I spent the remaining time trying to patch up the negativity.

TRAINING

In my some 70 tours, I have been asked to tour a number of inhouse clients. There have been three notable tours recently. Due to this, I requested specific training. DoS denied my request. What happened?

Tour 1: reported inhouse tour to my manager per SOP. Sr agent stopped by, gave 10-12 minute presentation and left. I completed presentation. Showed numbers, dug in and got the deal. Success!

Tour 2: reported inhouse tour to my manger. Sr agent stopped by, gave same 10-12 minute presentation, but this time continued and showed numbers. Unsure why the difference. Same agent. When clients balked, agent repeatedly called the woman a "horrible mother." Left the table with the woman in tears! I responded professionally. Apologized. They complained to DoS. DoS had opportunity to make the deal. Walked away. I was charged with the loss. Another example is improperly assigned accountability.

Tour 3: reported to manager. Busy. Found an available rep. Stopped by and TOed the tour. Asked me in front of clients to inform his manager this was a special veteran tour. I had no idea about this. Informed manager, which caused confusion. No idea about this. Agent instructed Vet clients to write special letter to Wyndham asking for special Vet deal. They wrote letter. Sr agent then walked off, leaving the conclusion to me. I was uninformed about special program, letter process, and, thus, requested training so I could be more confident with the process. Although this was TOed, I got the loss.

Asked my manager why I needed TO under such circumstances? Seems to be hurting not helping. They walk off, matters not to them what happens ... I sink further down the bench! Accountability must be assigned properly. The TO must share in the loss. They have everything to gain but nothing to lose.

TEAMWORK

I've made two deals happen. I received no increase in VPG for this. I am proving my skills but sliding down the bench. The agent measurement system is crude. It assigns accountability inaccurately. This advances less effective agents while sending more effective ones to the showers. Wyndham not only loses the better agent, it eventually loses the less effective agent. ALL lose money. Wyndham loses good talent. Money, money, money for ALL is lost. Some of this works out when agents have 500+ tours. The measurement error is most dramatic on new agents who have fewer tours.

SUMMARY

Wyndham has a good system. Yet nothing is perfect. I can close some gaps and turn the negativity into greater positivity. The key is to be able to look outside the accepted paradigm - as we ask clients to do. Just as it is more cost effective to own rather than rent, we need to assign accountability properly to ensure greater effectiveness and increase positivity and happiness. It's a simple formula: Positivity leads to success; success increases confidence; confident agents create a happier environment, which is noticed by clients. Everyone is having more fun! This increase buying opportunities. Clients travel better, further, and for less money. They win! Agents sell more. They win! Wyndham increases owners and revenue. The corporation and ALL in the production chain win!

Thank you for allowing me to be part of this successful operation. We ALL can do better, make more money. This is why I ask you to interview me and why hiring me will be a win-win for Wyndham.

Much aloha,
Scott