Focus On Where You Can Win

When you first start at any new company you're always excited.  It's the thrill of working with new people, selling something different, and meeting new colleagues.  It's thrilling.  That's assuming that you've made the right choice and the company has a great culture.  Too often we get saddled with a place where they sold us on the idea they are culturally sound, when in reality, the company's culture is non existent, and they treat their employees like crap.  Which unfortunately is today's job market.

I have a friend who works for a company which specializes in creating "culture" for other companies. In other words, guiding the companies to be better at treating their employees, and creating an atmosphere for people to thrive.  For me, it always made sense to take care of the people who take care of you, but apparently some corporations are oblivious to this concept.

I asked her, "Why do you have to create a culture for them?  Wouldn't the culture just come naturally to a company?  And as it grows people would define the culture?"

Her answer, "You would think so, but a lot of people who own companies are frigging idiots.  They either stumbled on to something great and don't know anything else, or they're too focused on their own stuff to worry about their employees.  You'd be surprised with some of the companies we work with, and how bad their corporate environment really is."

"Oh please tell me.  I need to know who they are for my blog."

"This information is not going in your stupid f$%king blog.", she answered.  What a great "friend"? And yes her mouth is that foul.  It's great!  She's training people on how to conduct themselves with their employees and in the meantime she's swearing like a drunken sailor.

I can't name any of the companies but I was shocked that a major retailer, she was working with really had no cultural identity. Yet, I was proud that she was helping them to establish one.  Which leads me to this post's topic as it relates to different situations.  If you find yourself duped by a recruiter into taking a job and the company culture sucks, focus only on where you can get some wins.

In the past I've been recruited by some pretty large companies only to find that their senior leadership was lacking the vision to make the company great.  Yes it is possible, for a company to still be successful despite it's poor management.  Why?  Because they have good people to overcome that sloppy management.  In addition to poor management, the work force and especially the sales force were MISERABLE! And I mean that sincerely.  A month after taking a new job, I came to find out that everyone working in the place wanted to quit. It was hard to accept, because I had just left what I perceived as a worse situation to come to a "better" environment, however the two companies were noticeably different.  My previous company had a much better culture than my new employer.  So now I was screwed.  What was I going to do?  Look for another job, just months after I'd taken a new one? No company would hire a "job hopper", so I had to think of an alternative plan.

As I spoke to some of the seasoned reps, I came to understand one thing about the company which I could not overcome.  NEGATIVITY.  All the reps seem to focus on was what they couldn't sell, as opposed to what they could sell.  What I did was the opposite of what they were doing; I focused on where I could win, not where I was going to lose.

I would mention an account, and the older reps would say, "Oh don't go in there.  Your competitor has been in there for years.  You'll never get that account."

My response, "Thanks for the advice, and I'll sell somewhere else, but I'll come back to this account later."

I just wanted to get some wins/sales under my belt so I could get some confidence and have my company's name on people's minds.  It worked!  After a few sales to some particular doctors, suddenly I was on top of the region.  When I was asked by the seasoned reps how I was able to ramp up so quickly, I told them that I simply followed their advice.  I sold where I knew I could and avoided the spots where my competition was entrenched.  It wasn't hard, in fact if they had taken their own advice they would have been on top of the region as well. .  It's important to score those little wins on your way to bigger ones down the road.   Too often we let our shortcomings prevent us from even trying to sell.

If you focus on what you can do and not on what you can't, then you'll be successful.

Have a great day selling.

-M