woolworths and coles just proved your sales manager is lying about "customer-first culture"

Woolworths and Coles just got caught in Australia's largest underpayment case. One billion dollars in remediation payments. Not a rounding error. Not a "systems issue." A billion dollars they didn't pay their own people.

Meanwhile, Optus is writing a $100 million cheque for selling phones to customers who couldn't afford them. Unconscionable conduct. Federal Court's words, not mine.

Here's what this means for every AE, SDR, and CSM in ANZ tech: The "customer-first" pitch you're reading from a script is worthless if the company behind it can't even treat its own employees or customers ethically.

Think about how many discovery calls you've sat through where the prospect mentioned Woolworths or Coles as reference customers. How many case studies feature these brands. How many times your CRO has name-dropped them in all-hands.

Now think about what those logos actually represent: organisations that systematically underpaid workers for years while posting record profits.

If you're selling "customer success" software to companies that can't figure out how to pay their staff correctly, you're not solving problems. You're providing cover.

The Optus penalty is even more relevant. They sold products people didn't need, couldn't afford, or didn't understand. Sound familiar? How many times have you been pushed to upsell features the customer will never use? How often has your comp plan rewarded deal size over actual fit?

The playbook that worked in 2021—growth at all costs, stack the contract, worry about churn later—is now landing companies in Federal Court.

For sales professionals, this is a career signal, not just a news cycle. The companies that survive the next five years won't be the ones with the slickest pitch decks. They'll be the ones that actually deliver what they promise and treat people—employees and customers—like humans, not pipeline.

If your startup's "values" only exist on the careers page, start looking. Because when the Federal Court comes knocking, "we were just hitting quota" won't keep your equity from being worthless.

Bottom line: Customer-first only matters if employee-first comes before it. Everything else is just sales theatre.