The Wrong Corona Virus Message

Last Friday, I had the privilege of attending an online meeting, where the President of Sales for a healthcare organization announced that he wanted reps to stay home unless it was absolutely necessary for them to enter a hospital.  A great message during these difficult times.  He explained the rational, that unless it was a life or death situation, it wasn't worth the rep endangering themselves, or the hospital personnel by being in the hospital.  A very clear and simple message, which was a compliment to the same message being put forth by hospitals to their vendors.  Clear, concise, and to the point.  Excellent!

However, 1 hour later his VP of Sales sent an email stating that there were only 12 days left in the quarter and that the reps needed to be in their accounts trying to promote products and services.  That the goal in the first quarter was to grow 10% and the team was very close to achieving their goal.  I saw the email and I was a bit shocked.  Had he not received the message an hour earlier?  Or was he just an idiot, who was more concerned about the money in his pocket rather than the safety of his employees.

It is difficult enough having to deal with the panic, the fear, and the potential dangers of the COVID-19 virus, but to have your employer ask you to go into a "hot zone" for an extra buck is unforgivable.

Be safe out there and take care of one another.

SFTD

What Your Manager Doesn't Know...

After being a manager for some 20 plus years in business I realized one thing...we don't know a damn thing about what our sales reps are doing.  Everyone else in the organization seems to know if a rep is slacking, being lazy, or generally not working, but we have NO CLUE.

I was at a recent dinner following a meeting and everyone was having a great time when one of the sales reps starting talking about her former husband.  She had a few too many cocktails and decided to describe certain parts of his anatomy when her regional manager cut her off.

"That's not appropriate. You need to stop."

The rep laughed, "You don't know what's appropriate.  Half your reps are being inappropriate, but you're not paying attention!  I'm outta here!"  And she excused herself and went up to her room.

It was a weird end to a very good evening but I couldn't figure out what had transpired, so the next morning I found the regional manager and sat down with him at breakfast before the meeting started.

"What the heck happened with your rep last night.  Too much to drink?"

"Not really.  I talked to her this morning, and she explained that she feels like I'm harder on her than some of the other reps.  She says that I'm always on her, but I told her I try to be consistent with how I treat everyone. And then she started to explain why she felt that way."

"What did she say?"

"She was upset because I have been very sympathetic towards ______ who has been ill during this meeting, and that it turned out _____ was just upstairs ordering room service and watching television. That rep isn't even sick. In addition, another rep was sick but it was really a hangover."

"My response was simple.  How would I know that?  I can't discipline them because I don't know what's going on. She knew because obviously the reps shared things with her, but I had know idea they were flaking on the meeting."

"So she was mad at you for playing favorites when you had no clue what the other reps were doing when they were supposedly sick?", I restated the obvious as a question.

"Exactly!  How can I discipline someone, when I have know idea what they're doing and I can't prove it?"

"And everyone on your team knows these people were lying?"

"Apparently.  And they all resent me for it!"

"That's tough."

"No shit."

It's difficult to manage people in the first place, but if you don't have a clue what they're doing it's even more difficult.  So as a manager, how do you avoid this problem?  You try to hire the right people to begin with, and hope they're being honest with both you and themselves.  Otherwise, you end up with a group of sales reps who don't trust anyone, including you.  And that in business terms is called, a "clusterf#$k". 

Good luck and good selling.

5 Holiday Gifts You Won't Like...

During this holiday season, it's important for bosses, managers, supervisors, and alike to recognize their employees, especially those who have made them successful.  Some people give home made gifts like cookies, or sweaters.  Yes, I heard of a woman who knitted sweaters for her small team, and by small I mean just 3 people.  Still, that's a lot of knitting!  Have you ever knitted a sweater before?  It's a lot of work!

The holidays is a great time to show your appreciation for one another, but please if you're an employee or a manager make sure the gift is thoughtful and appropriate.  In the past, I have received some awful gifts and I listed just five of those below:

5. Company Products - I once worked for a company in college, and my manager would wrap up company products and give them to his employees.  Granted some of us liked the products but that didn't mean we wanted them for a present!  Nothing says "Happy Holidays" better than a free T Shirt which you've been wrapping and shipping to customers all year long.  Not to mention it cost him exactly $0 to give to us. Seriously?  Put a little thought into it boss.

4. Gag Gifts/White Elephants - It's okay for the office to have a White Elephant party, but if you're the boss and you give out gag gifts or white elephants, than you're clueless. I remember one year while I was working in the service industry one service manager gave out joke gifts to all his drivers.  Happy holidays here's your dribble glass and wax teeth.  He must have thought they were all 6 years old.  Wtf dude!  Grow up!

3. Scratchers or Lottery Tickets - A lot of bosses like these gifts because they're cheap, and the pay off for the recipient could be amazing!  But keep in mind the first part of the sentence, they're CHEAP.  Just like the boss who gave them to you.  I had a boss give each of his 10 employees 3 scratchers from the California lottery.  He was making about $200,000 a year, and he spent $30 TOTAL, on all his employees who probably earned him a bonus of $25,000.  "
Yeah that's so thoughtful boss that you went to the convenience store at lunch time and bought us these... I think I would rather you brought me a six pack of beer."

2. Coffee Mugs - I don't know about you, but I have at least a dozen coffee mugs from various companies that I have worked for or worked with, and I never use them....ever.  What happens is they end up in the garage and then we sell them or give them away to charity.  Yes, even the fancy coffee mugs from YETI and other brand names, still tell your employees, "I didn't think a whole lot about this gift, but I hope you like it!"  The worst are the ones that have company logos or a picture of your boss on the mug.  Seriously, do I want to look at my boss in the morning while sipping on coffee.  Hell no!

1. NOTHING - I have received this gift many times over the years and I have always resented my boss.  It costs little, and takes no time to send to your employees.  It also tells everyone that you're a complete a##hole of a manager.  Thanks for nothing boss!  Crappy Holidays!

SFTD

Free Your Mind-A Message To Hiring Managers

Yesterday, I was sitting with a hiring manager who had just finished with a candidate and was reviewing his notes.  I looked at his list of dislikes and he had written, "previous position farmer".

Naturally I was inclined to ask, "Why is that a dislike for you?"

He answered, "Oh I had that job and it's not really a hunting mentality.  I don't like people from that background."

"So what you're saying is that you wouldn't hire yourself?"

"Wait.  Huh?  No that's not what I'm saying.  I'm saying he seems like a farmer and that job is all farmers."

"But you came from that background right?  I'm confused.  Can't people be both hunters and farmers? Does it have to be one or the other?"

"Well in that position it's all farmers.  So I don't think I'm going to hire him."

"I think you're limiting your scope, and remember you came from the same position. I'm not saying you're wrong.  I'm saying maybe you should not based your decision solely upon his previous job."

"I think he'd have a hard time adjusting to this position given his background."

"How well do you adjust to this position given you came from the same job."

"Well that's different.  He's not me. "

"Really?  Well what if someone had never given you a shot? Where would you be today?"

He sat that and thought about it for a while. "Maybe I'll have him interview with another manager just to see if he's a viable candidate.  You seem to be pushing me in that direction."

I laughed, "I'm not pushing, I'm advising, and a lot of times we get these preconceived notions of what we think will work in a job, and they might cloud our judgment. You could be right but it's best to confirm your decision."

"Okay, okay.  Dot our i's and cross our t's.  I get it."

"I just think we sometimes don't free our minds to the possibilities in a candidate.  We're too busy trying to find something wrong with them, rather than looking for something right.  One of the best sales people I ever hired was a substitute teacher. "

"No way.  Really?  You took a chance on a substitute teacher?  With no sales experience?"

"Yep.  No sales experience whatsoever, but I could see he had potential. And we trained him right.  Now he's a regional manager."

"Damn.  I guess I do need to free my mind."

"Just look for the potential and don't be detrimental."

SFTD 

Enough With The Machismo Stuff!

When I was a Service Manager at Cintas, and even when I was starting out as an Assistant Manager at Wells Fargo Financial, I was always told I had to be "tough".  That I had to make those hard decisions and fire people even when I thought it was wrong.  Why? I didn't understand why it was bad for me to disagree with my manager regarding hiring and firing.  I wasn't in the armed forces and I didn't need to obey direct orders.  I just didn't get it. Why couldn't I disagree with a decision about someone's future?  Maybe that's why I don't play well in the corporate environment.  There's too much machismo for my taste.

I'll give you an example.  Recently, I heard that a District Manager with a healthcare company for 35 years was being let go, just 2 years from retirement.  2 years from retirement!  WTF?!!!!  What type of message does that send to your people?  And is the person who made that decision really "tough"?

35 years in sales for the same company nowadays is unheard of, but to let a person go just 2 years from retirement is ridiculously stupid. And some of you members of the Jerkstore Management Team might actually defend the firing of a 35 year veteran:

"Same standards for everybody.  No one gets a pass."

My response, "You're a moron. If he's been performing for 35 years and has one bad year, he'll figure it out the next year.  He's been doing it for a long time, he knows the consequences. He's in sales."

The Jerkstore MT response, "We're paid for performance.  Not for tenure."

My response, "Absolutely, and he's been performing for 35 years so again, he'll figure it out."

What the Jerkstore MT doesn't understand is that this message tells all your up and coming young people that no matter how loyal you are, and no matter how hard you work, that the company doesn't give a damn.  I asked a friend who works at the company exactly who fired this 35 year veteran, and sure enough it was a Regional Manager with less than 2 years on the job.  Not only that, my friend told me she got the position because she was the BFF of the Vice President.  In addition, I was told that the VP said of this regional manager, "she's got bigger balls than most of the guys on my team.  No one else had the guts to fire him."

What a surprise...not.  Too often VP's promote someone who they think is exactly like them, and then they mold them to be little foot soldiers.  However, this only breeds monotony, stifles creativity and ensures resentment from those people who aren't in the "club".   Apparently it also creates a woman with big balls?  What does that even mean? 

Personally the only big balls I want to see are beach balls, and I definitely don't want to see big balls in the conference room.  Leave that machismo stuff out of the office.

-SFTD

Tracking Reps Activity Will Not Lead To More Sales

Photo courtesy of 123rf

First of all I would like to apologize for the overuse of capital letters in this post.

Yesterday, my friend called me to complain that her company was now asking her to log her calls at her accounts directly from inside the office she was visiting.  What?  Now keep in mind this is a rep who's above her quota, but they're making all the reps follow this plan.  ALL THE REPS! And guess what?  This is happening at a lot of company's in the medical field!  Company's are trying to use sabermetrics to improve performance.  Hello!  This isn't frigging baseball, you morons, it's sales.

"We need to keep track of reps and how they're managing their time!", said her confused CEO. And the marketing manager had the audacity to tell her that this is exactly what he said.

I'm sorry but this does not work.  All you get is a bunch of reps driving around to please management and the same people who don't perform will continue to under perform, and your peak performers will continue to do the same.  In fact, all the reps below quota, will probably become Uber or Lyft drivers to supplement their income. And why not make extra cash, if you're driving around all day to check a management box. They'll have to buy extra bottles of water at Costco and install air fresheners in their vehicle to please their new passengers. However the only difference is that management won't be able to judge performance based on their activities.  Because every rep's activity will look the same!

I understand that management is trying to control even the tiniest aspects of performance, but this isn't a physical sport.  It's sales!!!!  I studied econometrics and statistics while at university, but  activity does not lead to more sales.  For years, I thought the opposite.  At Cintas we tracked activity liked no other company in our industry.  But honestly, it didn't lead to better reps or more volume.  Instead reps simply lied on their reports.  Once, I figured this out, my focus was on training them to make the best use of that activity and not focus on the activity itself.  And I was very successful.

Here's a good analogy.  If you're playing any sport, and I mean any sport.  Basketball, football, soccer, or baseball.  There are some people who no matter how many reps they get, will just not get any better.  They can kick a soccer ball a hundred times at a goal but if they don't focus on improving their technique, or if they don't have the physical tools,  they'll never get better.  NEVER!

Shaq would take hundreds of free throws a day, but he never changed his shooting style, so no matter how much he practiced he still sucked at free throws.  Same theory here; you can track activity all day long, but if your reps technique is terrible, they'll never make quota. NEVER!

Think about what really matters...and if I have to explain it, you've got more problems than I do. 

SFTD

"Hey Boss! I'm Down Here!!!"

Copyright: mihtiander / 123RF Stock Photo

As I've mentioned too many times, I have won a lot of awards as a sales rep, as a manager, and even as a general manager. And each time usually there is a phone call or interaction to thank me for my wonderful efforts.  The conversations are casually dotted with compliments.

"You're a wonderful asset to our team!  Thanks for your super human efforts."

"3 times in the last 4 years, you're a great utility man.", I still don't understand that one.

"You are the best employee I have working with me!  Thanks so much for all the time you dedicate to your job.  Your wife must hate you.", again really inspiring? WTF?

And the next year when my goals or quotas are so far out of reach that it would take a Herculean effort to achieve them, I would find myself at the bottom of the Key Performance Indicator list.  Would I ever get a call then?  Heck no!  And to be honest, that's when I would need a call the most.

A lot of sales reps get down right lucky.  I'll admit it.  My first year in medical sales, I got lucky.  I inherited a territory with a lot of promise and the previous rep was a complete buffoon, so it was easy for me to make President's Club.  All I had to do was show up everyday and work half as hard as I did as a manager.  It was pretty easy, I have to say.  I received all kinds of texts and phone calls, and the president of our division even rode with me, just to see what a great job I was doing.  I was honored with all kinds of awards; rookie of the year, best newcomer, President's Club Winner, Rep of the Year.

But the next year, they DOUBLED my quota.  I laughed when I got it, and told my boss.

"There's no way I'm going to hit that goal.", and naturally I tried but only got to 90% of goal. I was more proud of that achievement than all the others.  Why?  Because it was much harder to get to that 90% than the 160% from the previous year.  Do you think the division president called me?  Mmmm, actually she did.  To find out what I was doing wrong?  Why was I failing so miserably.  Thanks boss?

I needed a bit of encouragement more than the previous year, but it didn't happen.  Why not?  Because managers have a tendency to focus only on your successes and not your failures. And when you fail poor leaders don't try to help you, they just fire you.

As a leader, when I had a good employee, I strove hard to keep them when they were struggling, because I knew it would pay off in the long run. People at the bottom may in fact need more encouragement than people at the top.

When you're running a marathon and you know you're not going to win, if you see someone struggling, do you help them up?  Or do you push them off the course?  If you help them up then you'll both finish the race. 

SFTD