How Nike blew one of the biggest deals of the decade

Published: Wed, 01/19/22

January 19, 2022

Good morning. If you live in the Northeast, then the last week has been mind-numbingly cold. If you don’t, then we don’t really know how warm or cold you’ve been since we’re too frost-bitten to look things up. In any case, this week’s edition of The Quota is the perfect temperature, with a story of how Nike blew one of the biggest deals of the decade, a Sales Fail with an indecent proposal, and advice for a BDR whose boss is a bit of a phony. Let’s do this.

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

2.7

The number of years a typical Account Executive spends on the job.

Source: Spotio

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week

In a potential indication of things to come, Reuters is reporting that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is set to cut the size of its sales workforce as meetings with healthcare providers move online. A source said that Pfizer was eliminating several hundred sales positions, expecting that doctors and other healthcare providers will want fewer face-to-face interactions with sales people even after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. You can read the full report here.
For any true crime fans out there, Oxygen recently ran a segment on the tragic murder of jewelry salesman Mario Hernandez, who vanished in March of 2005 after leaving his home for a business meeting. Hernandez took all of his gems with him that day, an unusual move for the 68-year-old sales rep, who was never seen alive again. You can watch the segment or read the strange and disturbing story here.
A Honda dealer in Louisiana agreed to pay $100,000 to settle claims from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for violating the Americans With Disabilities Act. The dealership was said to have hired a salesperson who disclosed her Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, which she was treating with medication. The EEOC said that an operations manager told the employee to stop taking the medication, and ordered a drug test, but before the drug test came back, the dealership fired the worker. You can read the entire story here.

FEATURE

How a Nike rep screwed up one of the biggest deals of the decade

One of our most popular newsletter items is the Sales Fails section. People love reading about others’ mistakes, whether it’s because they’re funny, embarrassing, or because they make us glad that we weren’t the ones who screwed up.

But sales fails are by no means limited to individual reps selling software or medical devices, they can happen at the highest levels of business, where the stakes are in the billions, and the outcomes can have immense and long-ranging implications.

One such failure is considered by some to be the single biggest screw-up in the lucrative world of athlete endorsements, and, by some estimates, has brought over $14 billion in brand value for apparel company Under Armour at the expense of rival (and market-leader) Nike.

Here’s how it happened

Back in 2013, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry was already a Nike athlete. His contract was set to expire, but, since he was signed with the brand, Nike had first crack at getting him to re-sign for any number of years.

Nike invited Steph, his father Dell, and, presumably, his business representatives for a pitch meeting. The stage was set for the biggest sports apparel brand in the world to recreate the success they had with Michael Jordan – after all, they already had the athlete they were pitching.

How it all went wrong

But right from the start, the meeting went off the rails. First, Lynn Merritt, Nike’s famed power-broker, didn’t even attend the session. This signaled to Curry and his entourage that Nike didn’t think the meeting was particularly important. And it only went downhill from there.

From ESPN.com’s Ethan Sherwood Strauss:

“The pitch meeting, according to Steph's father Dell, who was present, kicked off with one Nike official accidentally addressing Stephen as 'Steph-on,' the moniker, of course, of Steve Urkel's alter ego in Family Matters. 'I heard some people pronounce his name wrong before,' says Dell. 'I wasn't surprised. I was surprised that I didn't get a correction.'

It got worse from there. A PowerPoint slide featured [Oklahoma City Thunder forward] Kevin Durant’s name, presumably left on by accident, presumably residue from repurposed materials. 'I stopped paying attention after that,' Dell says. Though Dell resolved to 'keep a poker face,' throughout the entirety of the pitch, the decision to leave Nike was in the works.”

Other factors

It wasn’t just the meeting that turned Curry and his advisors off from working with Nike, it also had to do with the offer.

From BleacherReport.com:

“Nike was willing to give young players like the Cleveland Cavaliers' Kyrie Irving and New Orleans Pelicans' Anthony Davis their own company-sponsored camps for promising young athletes. After going to Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul's camps growing up, Curry wanted to be able to host camps of his own—but that wasn't part of the deal offered to him.”

The aftermath

While Nike wasn’t willing to give Curry what he wanted, Under Armour, a bit-player compared to the famed shoe brand, went above and beyond to sign the up-and-coming star. In fact, Nike even blew a second chance at the deal. As per their original contract, they could have matched Under Armour’s $4 million dollar offer to Curry, a pittance for a company which at the time boasted a $100 billion dollar market capitalization. But they passed, and the rest is history.

Curry has since become one of the most popular basketball players in the world, and has had a tremendous impact on Under Armour’s business. In fact, the company’s stock actually fluctuates based on the performance of Curry’s sneaker line. Curry and UA have since renewed their contract through 2024, though it’s likely their relationship will extend far past that date.

So let this serve as a lesson to all sales reps. If you have an important client or prospect, make sure they know you value their business. Bring in sales leadership. Make sure you know how to pronounce their name. And, always, always, always, double check the slide deck. It might feel like a waste of time, but you definitely don’t want to lose a life-changing deal because you didn’t spend a few more minutes preparing.

MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

How many users does LinkedIn have in the United States?

A. 180 million
B. 110 million
C. 146 million
D. 192 million

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

“I work for an ad agency now, but in my early 20’s, before going back to school, I spent a year in car sales, selling Nissans. A few months into the job, a guy came in to look at a truck. From what I remember, he was in his mid 40’s, pretty soft-spoken, and nice.

Anyway, he didn’t buy on the first day, and he was definitely one of those people who did a lot of research before agreeing to anything – not a clipboard guy or anything, but probably had a spreadsheet somewhere on his computer. He called me a few times to ask questions, before finally agreeing to come in to test drive a base-level Frontier.

So he makes an appointment and comes in, but then starts looking at a fully-loaded Frontier that we had parked near the entrance. I figure there’s no way he’s going to buy it, but when we get to my desk, he looks at me and makes an offer. He says that if I agree to go on a date with him, he’ll not only buy that day, but he’ll buy the fully-loaded truck (bigger commission in this case).

In retrospect, I should never have agreed to do it, and if it happened today, I would absolutely say no, and would call it out as completely inappropriate. But I was young and dumb, and was still making plenty of mistakes in my life, so I agreed to go on a date with this guy who was twenty years older than me. He ended up taking me to dinner at a really nice restaurant, and had a nice conversation, but I definitely wasn’t interested in anything romantic with him.

At the end of the night, I gave him one of those hugs where you stick your butt out so you don’t get too close. But he was nice about everything and didn’t try to bother me again. So I guess since he bought the truck, it’s not exactly a Sales Fail, but I definitely look back on it and cringe. Women have to put up with a lot of crap in sales that men never have to deal with.”

Anonymous, 30 Arizona

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram Poll -- January 2022

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I’m a BDR for a fast-growing software company that most people have probably heard of. My job is pretty good and I’m getting some great experience under my belt. After this, I’ll either move up here or land somewhere else, but I definitely see sales as the best career option for me.

The reason I’m writing is because there’s one thing at work that bothers me more than anything, but I don’t even want to bring it up to my coworkers because it’s a bit cult-y here and I don’t want to get thrown under the bus.

The problem is my boss. Well, technically he’s my boss’s boss, but he manages the team pretty closely. The guy is a total jerk. He doesn’t even try to pretend that he gives a shit about what happens to us, and treats us as if we’re just numbers on a screen. I once saw him call one of the reps “useless” on Slack -- he left it up for like three hours before finally going back and editing it.

But that’s not even the problem. I worked in the restaurant business when I was in college, so I can take bad management. The problem is his LinkedIn persona. He posts on LinkedIn constantly, and the theme is always about “good leadership,” and how being kind to people and valuing employees is so important, and that your sales reps are your most valuable asset. It’s so unbelievably fake, because this guy does NOT lead that way at all.

I honestly can’t believe he can be so shameless, because if you saw his LinkedIn, you’d think he was the Gandhi of sales leaders. I know calling him out would only cause problems for me, but I don’t know if I can deal with his crap for another few years. It’s infuriating. What do you guys think?

Angry in Massachusetts

Dear Angry,

One of the most disappointing things we find out as we get older is just how many people’s public personas are different from their private ones, and how sometimes, shamelessness can actually help you get ahead, not vice versa.

The LinkedIn phonies drive us crazy too, since half (or more) of those viral stories where people humble-brag about how generous or empathetic they are are completely made up to drive traffic, clicks, and attention. It’s definitely obnoxious.

But as you yourself pointed out, calling him on it will only cause problems, and not just because he’s your boss. Your best bet is to keep your head down and do your job well, and to get as much out of the experience as possible. The truth is that if you can perform while working for a boss you can’t stand, you’ll do even better when you work for someone who isn’t completely deranged.

You’re on the right track. Keep at it, ignore the nonsense, and take comfort in the fact that you’ll never be one of those clowns pretending to be a saint while being the exact opposite behind closed doors. Good luck!

Quiz Answer: A

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Today's email was written by Ken Kupchik, Steve Rado, and Emily Hill.

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