In late May last year, some 250 salespeople at American Express learned they weren't going to get paid.
For top performers, the sudden change meant losing hundreds of thousands of dollars they had already earned by encouraging clients to use their American Express corporate credit cards. Even moderately successful salespeople lost tens of thousands of dollars. Adam Isserlis, an Amex spokesman, said the May 2022 overhaul was simply the result of a regular review of how it serves clients.
Most of the leaders of Amex's sales team have either been fired or otherwise left the company, but Amex has not placed any blame on more senior executives. Since Stephen Squeri became CEO of the credit-card giant in 2018, he has sought to tamp down some of the more freewheeling corners of the company's culture, joining with competitors across the industry to exert more control over employees working on commission.
One initiative began when Amex started working with a third party, a Canadian company called Payroll by Credit Card.through its system. Customers paid a fee, which Amex shared with its partner, and received Amex rewards points they could use on travel or other benefits, one person familiar with the program said.
The product took some time to gain traction. Though Amex salespeople played up the fact that the fee could be deducted as a business expense while the rewards could be enjoyed tax-free, the cost was still higher than the value of the points. That made it attractive to only a small segment of Amex's customers who were considered, in the words of one former salesperson,"points junkies.
The subject line of the email, which was viewed by Insider, read,"FXIP Premium Wire Update," and the first heading promoted an"Exciting Update." The email explained that the company was now changing the compensation structure so that Premium Wire would be compensated at the same level as card volume.
While regional in-person training played a part in the salespeople's education, regional and national sales calls did as well.
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