Sales Managers meeting

 

I was sitting in my office, door shut.  Lights out, 3 computer monitors are off, window shade half shut.  Thirty minutes till my turn at the regional sales managers meeting.  Five of them, the VP of sales and the Pres.  The agenda listed for me to give an update.  That would have been easy.  The pres told me I should bring up the issues and get them on the table, this is the time to deal with them.  As I've heard recently, 'says easy, does hard', would apply.

I am quiet, on the outside at least.  The inside dialogue is lincoln tunnel traffic during rush hour nyc with lots of honking.  I'm trying to calm down.  Technique after technique.  "I must be calm when I walk in that room".  The inner voice must be settled and served, not needy.  Catching my thoughts 'right, I feel pressure to figure this out', 'I don't know what they are going to say' 'I feel scared they don't / won't like me.  I'm scared of the pain they are going to cause me.'.  Currently, I am not calm.  I'm basically shut down on the outside.  I'm fighting not to distract myself and focus on the pain.  'Deal with this, don't run away.'  I couldn't grab onto it.  Ugh.

Knock on the door.  "Uh oh".  I open it.  My face plain, expressionless, still.  It's the systems guy, he hands me a new cell phone.  'All set up, here you go.'  I look down.  A red and black box.  I momentarily was excited to get the new phone.  This isn't the phone I asked for, I said.  It's a flip phone and this is what we got, so here you go.  

I didn't appreciate that.  It sounded like he was trying to give me a phone I didn't want or order.  He said take it.  'No.'  Well it's already activated, your current phone doesn't work anymore.  I understand.  Here's both phones.  I want the one I ordered.

I was not in a fun mood.  I thought I was right, but I certainly wasn't nice.  Somehow I'm the bad guy.  He's all fun.  Not the first time he's tried to do that.

I close the door.  'back to quiet'.  I look at the clock.  Two minutes.  No more time to figure it out.  It'll be what it'll be.  'Okay let's head over.'  

I open the door, walk in and listen.  A discussion is already happening.  They clearly weren't waiting for me to come in.  I'm guarded, contained, restrained.  The battle wounds from the last 30 minutes and no clear sign of victory is weighing on me.  I notice I am definitely not settled and not happy.  I got scared.


 I am quiet.  Opening my mouth feels dangerous.  I worry more.  I can be attacked if I join the discussion.  If I stay quiet I am safe.  Their discussion winds down, like when you know the song is almost over.  My turn.  'Well this is your turn now, go ahead and please give us an update, says the VP Sales.  Oh boy.  All I wanted to do was walk out.  I had no idea what was going to come out of my mouth.  I noticed no words were coming.  And then I spoke.
 
I was excited to tell this story right now.   What happened in that meeting.  That was my plan in writing this.  But something is bothering me.  I hated that meeting.  And I don't remember exactly what I said.  I remember how I felt.  Empty.  Hurt.  Alone.  No one in there on my side.  Thoughts like I don't belong in business or certainly not in this company.  

 I can't get it out of my head.  I keep thinking, 'they don't need me anymore'.   I am listening to youtube music for writing, it's a flute sort of a japanese like style of sound.  It's making me teary eyed to think that I feel this way.  My time is up.  I'm scared to leave, but it keeps coming up that it's time for me to go.

'I've taken this as far as I can'  Wait maybe there's something else in the company that I can do?  'No', there's too much baggage, they won't go for it.  The issues here will not go away even if I change roles.  I feel like I'm walking on egg shells with these folks except when I'm meeting with clients.  I am tired of walking on egg shells.  I think I bring a ton to the table, but I'm not able to make a difference.  And that's what is bothering me.  I'm tired of the executive team meetings.  They wear me down.  I'm tired of the sales people, they wear me down.  I love the equipment, I love the solution, I love the clients, I love the selling, I love the marketing.  I love the fun of what I do.  I love being the best at what I do.

Passionate Emails

 We are trying to build up the SF branch one customer at a time.  We just signed up a new customer who is spending thousands with us but the credit department only opened the account with a $500 line of credit.  (my shoulders begin to slump and the tension arises).

So the new sales person who is bringing in the business is confused and looking for guidance from me.  What I'd like to do is fire off a clear and targeted email to the credit manager and the CFO explaining the situation.  So I begin typing.  

'All -  In regards to the new client in SF we feel we are unable to tell the client we cannot produce their work till they give us a credit card because they do not want to pay by credit card.  We'd like to keep the credit card on hold and bill it to the account.

For the future, opening accounts with a $500 credit is not purposeful.  The average project is over $500, so please consider this for future accounts.  We are scrambling to get customers for SF, please keep this in mind.  We are trying to present us as easy to work with even though we are sometimes impossible.'

Okay scratch the last part, that was just a vent.   I envisioned their response, it was going nowhere.  Too much pleading.  It would read something like

"Your group can follow the rules just like everyone else.  They can pay by credit card or we will not produce the job"
 
I wanted to avoid that pain. I left the to: address blank and didn't send.  Phew.  Next.  I'm going to the VP of sales, he'll be sensitive to this.  Draft him an email.  Need to explain from the beginning, yet keep it very short and concise.  It must have what the outcome is that I'm looking for.

Dear X

Sorry to drop this one on you but could use a little guidance.  We opened a new account but unfortunately the credit line isn't high enough for the job.  Client wants us to bill via the account and not via cc as they did on the first job.

We are trying to be easy to work with and bring in every client we can.

I would like to be able to keep a credit card on file, so we are protected and bill the job on the account what the client wants.  Credit manager is saying not like that.  He wants the job paid in full.

Again, kept the to: address blank.  Didn't send it.  Got an idea.  Called the local branch manager.  Got his thoughts.  We are on the same page.  Offered him to go up the production channel (ie to the VP Production).  I think he would agree and make the call and communicate back to credit what will work.  

I'm out of it.  No blasting emails.  Everything is following the chain of command.  I'm avoiding getting in trouble right?

Watch out for getting fired up over stuff that gets in your way.  My way is to write the email you are passionate about but always leave the to: blank.  See what other ideas come to mind.  Feels much better than hitting back.

Website thoughts

Looking to build a website for MMH.  Here are some thoughts.

Top quality / fashion-like quality imagery everywhere
Clear purpose / Mission statement
Direct Advice component


Video as the hero image?

Inspiration component - always looking for someone to come to the site an get something that takes the fire out of the situation.  You don't need to blab about it to your friends at the bar, drink alcohol on the commute home, or be on edge with your wife and family.  Get a fresh look at MM here.

Before you quite, come here.
 
Should there be a community component?  Will people want to interact with each other?
What if it we were somehow able to pair up a mm with someone more experienced and who was willing to provide the feedback.  would they want to be paid for this?  has to be a financial exchange.  Unless somehow this was the older (baby boomers) who were looking to do meaningful things.

news component
twitter - it would seem meaningful for people who are middle managers looking to greatly improve the quality of their Middle Manager life or move up the food chain, ie to executive management, that they would wants

Our purpose - we take a middle manager through steps in the process.  We meet them wherever they are in the ecosystem of middle management.

Use an image to describe the situation.  Behind the image is a page with content, with scenarios and solutions.

watch other people get angry
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSD1b0KywpQ

- provde afresh things to think about and work on.


 - is there some sort of search engine intelligence we can provide that will allow us to filter the right articles to them?  Mostly looking to focus on content that MMH creates, but being social and praising the right content is also meaningful.

MMH Goals

Turning ordinary jobs into heavenly lifestyles

I want to create a place for professionals to go for insight into interpersonal business interactions.  Stories, inspiration, ideas, wisdom, new ways to approach a problem.

Should have a chat area
Place to sign up for classes
email address to send questions to

Need to write a book and get it published to create a little legitimacy.
(can I write a book in 2 weeks?)

Home page has pictures of professionals faces after they've experienced MMH results.
Happy, relieved, free, seeing this clearly, ready for new challenges, feeling refreshed,

how to deal with some very difficult situations through personal stories and lessons learned.

I no longer feel challenged

Whooooo.  VP of Sales just left.  Sounded like there was more to the story but I'm not going to ask.  Someone may tell but I'm not asking.  Very important difference in how you find out about certain things.  If someone tells or you ask.  This one I don't care.  I'm not asking.

It's important to understand personalities.  When I say that I don't mean the word personalities in a general way.  I mean in a very specific way.  If you understand personalities as a psychological term, you understand a basic rule.  Personalities are predictable.  By definition the personality is taking the person on a ride through life.  The question is how sold is the person on what their personalities tell them.

Back up.  This may be confusing.  Too complex, wrong blog title.  Simple.  Okay.  The guy who left nearly cost me my job.  He was being evaluated on an even platform with me.  I was shocked and offended when I saw what was going on.  This guy blew up at me on a Friday afternoon, screaming at me on the phone.  I challenged him back without screaming.  He was off.  In general this guy was unpredictable.  Sometimes I loved him.  He had an extremely endearing quality about him.  But depending on who he was speaking to, he could run you over.  He was smart too.  But he didn't think before he spoke.  Quite possibly I've heard him say some of the dumbest things I've ever heard someone say.

But to be clear.  6 months ago, the company was looking at me versus him.  I thought I was going to fly out of my bathing suite.  I built up a solid growth business and he's been mostly nothing but trouble, except he keeps his desk clean and his paperwork is on time.  I could see right through this guy and the entire exec team was supporting him, including the pres.  Not happy.  Oh no.  I took a huge deep breathe and went into the under-workings of my personality.  I prepared for work, not by doing work, but by doing the work.  The work, meaning work on myself.  Dealing with my anger.  Facing it.  Facing anger is like throwing darts at yourself.  Your trying to hit the target but you know if you do it's going to hurt the most.  Amazingly, when dealing with pain in this format, you can overcome it and the pain just kind of goes away. Minus the darts.

In preparing myself this way it allowed me to be more open and caring in the moment.  I could see and hear the other person without feeling I need to win or protect myself.  Pretty much is moving you up the ladder instead of falling down it when someone pushes your buttons.  

Being challenged is not at all fun, certainly when you're a middle manager trying to create some sunshine on your side of the sidewalk, but if you've done the work you can be there in the moment without having to jump back at the person.  It's basically a different existence.  And so ultimately this process will take you up the ladder and bring best of you out to the world instead of the automated you.  

I know a little self-help-ish, psychologist-ish type stuff.  But given my deck of cards, if you're not doing the work you will not make it.  Simple.  If you are not going up the ladder, you are going down.  There is no staying the same.  Today you may be a middle manager and feel totally stuck in middle management.  You ain't stuck.  You just think you are. 

Getting to Instagram

Big time event.  15 of us heading to a VIP / CEO / Celebrity black tie event.  Our technology will be front and center.  It's not a normal logical step by step how we got there but we did.  Hours before the event the marketing person who reports to me (I'm not a marketing director so there's a story here) and I respect his design sense, says to me 'Hey we don't have an Instagram account and from my research everyone there will be using Instagram.  It's a visual event and we're are going to be providing the best visuals. Twitter and facebook aren't the best visuals.  We need to be on Instagram.  

Great.  Now I need to get permission from the marketing director, who pretty much hates me and everyone who works for me.  She probably has disagreed, argued and put down 99% of the ideas me and the team have had.  Most of us have resigned to the fact that she's in her position and we're simply going to do everything we can to not have to work with her.  She can be quite pleasant.  But she's just not built to work with a team, she's built to be a commander of people who know nothing about style, social or communication and are willing to have someone make all the decisions for them.  That is just not the case with my group.  We are pretty passionate about what we do and we've got a clear sense of direction and how we need to communicate with our clients.  She disagrees.  You can see where this goes.  This has been going on for the last year.  Not fun, stressful for everyone.  

Anyway, the marketing designer who works for me is talented and on-spot.  He works for me and not her.  Very unusual.  Why you might ask is it set up this way?  Because the business can't move forward the current marketing group is as mentioned above and the design sense isn't there.  It's not going to change so I pushed, and the pres heard the call.  Also the VP of Sales randomly decided to let go 2 of the 4 corporate marketing people which provided the budget I needed to hire a dedicated marketing person to my team.  A win for the business all around.  A loss for the marketing director.  

Anyway, we need the instagram account.  I emailed her.  She happened to be out today but she had forwarded me an email.  So instead of just bulldozing what we need I wanted to see if she would accept the opportunity to be helpful.

Hey xxxx,
I wanted to run something by you.  I know you are out but I’m hoping you’ll get this and can comment.  We see an opportunity to improve our visual social media by incorporating Instagram for the event tonight.  This is something that I know you are in charge of and respect that.
 But in our event tonight it seems like visual imagery will be the best method for communicating via social channels.  We will be the imagery of the event.  So we were hoping, if you agree, to open up an Instagram account.   Let me know.  I’m available to speak if you’d like as well.  

It's funny actually. Because I thought of asking my boss or going right to the pres.  Nah.  Let's try and go direct and see if we can create a positive channel of communication.  

2 hours later she emails me back.

I am sorry but I cannot address this from where I am.

The kicker.  She copies her boss, the VP of Sales.  I love these guys.  She's gone.  There's not a collaborative bone in her body.  If this were her idea it would be done.  Now I don't want to nit pick, she's on vacation.  But it's something we need so take a step forward, be the boss and  say, 'hey it's something you need so why don't you let your marketing person set it up and start us off.'

She's got such.........okay I'm done.

Anyway.  I told my marketing guy, 'go ahead and create an instagram account for the company.  I'll take the heat.'  Yumm.  

Ton's of action on the account.  We're taking images, video, posting it, people are interacting and responding.  It's awesome.  The whole night my marketing guy is chatting with people at the event.  Gee someday I wonder if a department will have freedom to create and build the department it needs or if corporate oversight will always create the mind numbing and heart constricting mindset and decision making. 

Marketing is so much more fun when I can say yay or nay.  I haven't worked with a marketing director I like.  Not sure I ever will, at least at this company.  It's okay though, with my own guy we're getting things done.  It's just stressful.  He doesn't like her either.  Just not a nice person.  (She's a type 1, in the average range)

Well, we'll see in the morning what things look like on Instagram.  And then I get to break the news what we did.  Probably will take this through my boss or bring up in my weekly meeting with the pres tomorrow.

Sometimes heaven is a little painful

Had my semi monthly Executive meeting today.  The meeting went really well till the very end.  Not great when the whole meeting goes really well and at the end goes really bad.  Kind of makes me think I should have skipped that last topic till next meeting and just brought up a lighter subject.  Problem was I didn't have one ready.  (mental note for next meeting)

So what happened?  

Had the projector set up and had taken them through how an industry leader just included us in a huge press release.  It was picked up by major news sources and will be read by thousands.  Ohh the guns are a blazing.  Afterwards, went through how a hot new strategy was moving forward better than expected.  We're humming along in the meeting.  Not bad for 10 minutes preparation.  

The meeting was going as planned, everyone in the room was energized!  Then pulled out some icing.  New technology samples for everyone to touch and fell.  The samples looked great and certainly were impressive.  I discussed how I was going to use these samples to communicate with our largest client to expand their capabilities and grow additional revenue.  The news just got better and better.  We were rolling. 

I looked at the clock.  12 minutes till the hour is up.  My thought.  

'I should use the time I have with them.  They'll appreciate me trying to use their time wisely.'  

So to end the meeting, and I knew I was bringing up a subject that I was not totally worked through yet, I let it out.

I began, 'I have been thinking about the difference between a division and a department.  And it makes sense to me that many things we are doing are more difficult because we are functioning as a division and I think we should function more as a department.  There are likely pro's and con's to either direction.  But it's interesting to me that I've been seeing this clearer and see the real differences. I think the reporting structure has a lot to do with it.'

Now I thought I set the table for the discussion fairly well in tone and content for a discussion.  I was sincerely looking to share a thought and get some thoughts in return to help clarify what will be the best direction for the business.  Unfortunately the response had nothing to do with a discussion at all.  It was a reaction and it was immediate.  It all started with a smirk in the face and then it all came out.

'Of course you should be functioning as a department.  You divorced from this company and if you're going to come back you need to come back all the way and do things our way!  You know 3 years ago when you started down this path I knew you were wrong.  All the difficulties you've caused.  This business would be so much more profitable.  It should have stayed a part of the company.  That was a mistake.  There was no reason for you to separate out like that alienating yourself.  And now, now you want to come back.  You'll need to come back clean and you need to come back all the way.'

Wow.  Slow down.  I didn't know what happened.  One minute we're flying on good topics and then next we're bringing up sore pain points from the past.  Old wounds not yet worked through.  I definitely wasn't expecting that.

He continued.  (while he continued on this 'rant but little rave', I was thinking this guy is partly right and partly wrong.  Another thought as well, was that he's so wrapped up in his world he has no clue what he's talking about.  He meets the same people over and over again and he's a in a box reaching out.  He doesn't have a clear picture. 
 
Then he continued, '3 years ago you made a decision to do this and it was wrong.  You know you have caused a lot of people heartache and difficulty.  And it was unnecessary.  Totally unnecessary.  I don't think you're on board all the way or ready to come back either,.  And you won't be able to come back if you're not 100% on board but you better be.  That's what needs to happen.  You need to do things our way.  You need to jump in with both feet and be ready to do things our way.  

And he concludes, 'no one in the room is going to disagree with this.'

Pause.  Breathe.  Pause.

I mean I'm not the enemy over here guy.  Remember me.  I built a multi-million dollar business from nothing.  (not by myself of course).  Put the ball on the tee and wack it.  What did he want from me in that moment?  I stated something so incredibly obvious to him that he needed to bring up frustrating points about the course of how the business got built? 

My response is pretty much a blur needless to say.  Whatever it was I did say it definitely wasn't fantastic.  The good thing is that I didn't put up a fight or defend or attack (too much) in response.  But didn't stay cool enough, didn't stay quiet enough.  The best medicine I could have given him there was silence.  

The pres jumped in defending me left and right.  Same with the CTO telling a story he's told over and over again how I broke out of customer service, how he disagreed, till years later he finally sees that I was right.   

I need to share though.  It did bother me.  It was disappointing to hear the most senior exec member be stuck in the past.  Very uninspiring for the future.  This is the 2nd time in 3 meetings that he's lashed out on this topic.  There's clearly stuff going on.  Maybe some has to do with me and my group and most of it probably has nothing to do with us.  If I could psychoanalyze the situation a bit. 

He's been quiet all these years and now is his opportunity to vent?  Not a quality communication process happening here between middle management and executive management.  He's summarizing into very simple, aggressive statements that he believes are unequivocally true.  Yet, in most cases the topics he's commenting are debatable.  Right and wrong?  Not sure that exactly comes into play.  This was a business decision.  It wasn't wrong.  Did it have consequences? Absolutely but it also had its rewards.   He's buckling this down too far.  Oversimplification is under comprehension.  He's just not seeing what it took.  Guns were a blazing in those years.  We were just starting out and the 800 pound, 100 year old company didn't quite have the spice, flex or innovation in its bones to make it happen so I did.  Why are you upset about that?

Important to note:  This person (type 8) is very passionate and he cares very much about the company, it's important for me to remember that. He handles all the financials for the company.  And the last bunch of years have not been good.  The financials of the business unit I'm running as well are not awe inspiring either.  Certainly not where the executive team wants them to be.  When I think more deeply about this,   He cares a lot.  He doesn't like to create financial statements that look like these statement look.  He does nonetheless, of course, and he does it objectively but he doesn't like to see the numbers look this way.

So this hurt.  I think the decision I made way back when to do things in the way I thought the business needed to function was correct and solid given all the circumstances.  Looking back he wants to assess and find the holes where all the problems are?  That hurts.  Hey the middle manager who doesn't do everything right, sounds like a nice dumping ground for executive frustration and little backed up bitterness.

Had some ideas on next steps with him.  It'll be good.

You know you're a middle manager when...

You have a meeting with the executives and you are the only one in the room who is not on the executive team.

The business unit you run is only run by you when an executive isn't poking their nose in.

....

Saying no to the executive bunch

I've been trying to get one of our big executives to go on a trip to experience real 3D production.  Everytime he cancels.  I know intellectually that the man is busy, I know that he means well and that clearly he intends to go when he says he's going to go.  But 0 for 3 is a wipeout.  If I've booked an appointment with an executive and he cancels on me 3 times he's going to need to be in touch with me if he wants to meet with me.

I know I'm a middle manager.  I can sit and sing the middle manager blues all day long.  Open up a bottle of johnny walker black, turn the lights out, kick my feet up on the window sill and have some depressing blues song on in the background and just get low.  This is called getting low.  A friend of mine in boarding school used to call this 'gettin' low'.  From Texas, great accent, tons of money a great guy.  Very funny / dry sense of humor.  He would say 'hey, hey, had a bad day? let's get low'.  Memory lane wouldn't you know, it creeps up on you.

So I'm taking a stand.  The entire executive team committed to each other that they will be solely committed to the 3D business this year.  I hear subtle complaining from above (ie the executives) the revenues are down this year, what's going on?  He's not running this well.  It's not managed well. etc, etc, etc.  Yet, these guys have no skin in the game.  They talk, meet and have verbal commitments that mean very little to me or to the business at large.  Most of them have little or no impact on the business.

Okay.  Imagine that, I've got a little chip on my shoulder right now.  These guys should be invested in the business.  Man running a business inside another business has it's lower points, sometimes it drives me nuts.  Having to work double time on everything to get something done.  When in the core business, ohh the core business.  How things just work, everyone is invested in the process and everything just runs soooooo smoothly.  For us everything is a change, a hiccup, a reprogram, a complaint on this or that, ughh.

So when the executive cancels on me because he's too busy, it doesn't mean he's not invested. It's just a question of goals and priorities.  (looking forward to writing about in a future post).  Ultimately, the way he cancels, either through no notification at all or a very disinterested response is not inspiring.  Of course, my goal is to have him see all this cool stuff and be inspired to do something with the business.  As a middle manager, it just won't cut it if you don't have an executive sponser who is moving the car while you spin the wheels.  Because middle managers spin wheels, they don't move cars.

Middle child....I mean Middle Manager

How might we be best suited to deal with middle child, I mean middle manager syndrome? You've reached a level of excellence, you've got a paycheck that's paying the bills, you've got people reporting to you, you get meetings with big executives, so what's the problem exactly?

Defining a problem is sometimes like saying there is no problem.  If we could perfectly describe the problem then just maybe the problem only exists in our mind.  Or when we describe the situation it doesn't have that umphh that it feels like in the gut.  How can I evolve so that I get out of this rut?

The point to make here is that the problem is not always so identifiable.  If I am struggling with something that's by definition because I am not clear about it.  If I were to say or write what I think and refine it till it's clear on some level it would actually cease being a problem.  It would just be what is.  So how do I get my schmutz (ie the bad stuff) out of my head into some sort of format that will allow me to create progress.  I hate being stuck in a rut.

I don't have any fancy numberings, like here's the 7 abc's to 123's or here are the 4 rules of xyz.  I'm basically just here writing, figuring this out, watch how it unfolds.  Stay with me and you'll see this too.

Now, we need to portray an answer.  We need to communicate a prospective solution to an audience of readers.  How might be the best way to do that?  What if this doesn't work?  What if I write something that is not correct?  I might mislead someone into believing in an answer that is not true.  I might feel rushed that I have to write quickly or else I'll never get this done.  Basically what I'm saying is why should I write this, I don't have all the answers.

The A+ sales person

Struggling with the ability to turn highly technical production people with great personalities into A+ sales people.  It was my strategy initially and this is what it looks like down the road.  It just made sense to me.  In short, in order to open a new branch, the company was just not going to hire dedicated production and sales people to start.  So my idea was to have a split role to get it out of the gates.  Someone who could do it all.  How did I come up with this?  It's what I did and to an extent it worked.  Some question this strategy at this point. Maybe the company would have committed to sales people and production at the start.  Maybe, but that's certainly not what it looked like then.

It's actually a lot to manage.  I find myself constantly guiding and advising.  A role I like but I find works best when in limited segments at the right time.  Long inspiring speeches make for great phone calls but I don't think will turn people into great sales people.

Anyway here we are.  And this is the situation.  Great technical people but not great sales people.  Or even just good sales people.  Something interesting happened in one of the long advising sessions.  And I was asked 'What is an A+ sales person to you?'.   Great question. Had to think about this one.  A few days later I wrote the following on the bus ride home. 

So, to me, an A+ salesperson::: 

-        Knows the difference and value between selling hours and non-selling hours of the day (9-4 is selling hours).  Therefore research or other side projects are not done during this time.   This is time to follow up on leads, calls, meetings, think about next step, plan a next step, update CRM, etc

-        Knows who is going to spend money and who is going to waste their time.  It’s not that the relationship with someone who is not going to spend money isn’t valuable, but at a certain point there is a difference between a relationship and a client.  Clients pay our bills and give us a career and allow us to build financial peace, relationships give us hugs and handshakes.  Of course relationships with people may turn into clients, but we need to measure our time in these investments and ensure our time is spent wisely.  Spending time with ‘relationships’ that may or may not have potential, undoubtedly takes away time from interactions with potential or existing clients.  An A+ salesperson will know this difference and be able to make the right decision whatever it may be for that particular scenario.  He’ll know too.  Because if the proposal or pricing didn’t get done quickly or on time and instead time was spent in a variety of other activities, this would be seen as a mistaken decision that should be learned from.

-        They plan their day before they walk in the door.  An A+ sales person will never check their email as the first thing they do, they will always be clear about what today’s mission is and make sure that that mission gets achieved.  (ie develop 5 new prospects for equipment, catch up on all my data into CRM, ensure I get back to a specific client with a proposal, etc)

-        They take the time to learn how internal paperwork works.  It’s not a chore, rather it’s a way for things to run smoothly so they don’t have to deal with it every day.  If it’s done right, the paperwork will work for them in the long run.

-        Doesn’t complain about internal resource issues.  Always working to find a way around it to make it right for the client.  Internal resource issues are everywhere and are always at best a distraction from moving towards goals.

-        Knows that each meeting with a potential client should be moving that sale 1 step closer to being closed.  If the client meeting ended and it’s not closer to closing the business that’s on the table, the meeting was questionable in its value.  Maybe the relationship got better, but if it was a business meeting, then tangible business value must come from it.  If it’s not clear, than it’s because its not wholly there.  Maybe in some form or another but it’s not crisp, it’s not powerful, its not focused. 

-        If they know a particular client needs their product or service they will find a way to get a meeting.  Regardless of how many no’s they receive.  They will write a poem, knock on the door, call different people, they will get in the door.  With respect and persistence, professionalism.  They love the hunt.

-        Driven by dollar signs.  I couldn’t imagine that an A+ sales person was not driven by money.  It would be so perfectly clear to them that this is the ultimate purpose of being in sales.  To make more money.  To make as much money as you decide.  Sales provides a career where you can make, literally, as much money as you want.  There is no cap.  Most jobs on the planet are not this way.  An A+ sales person knows this and knows that if his product or service is exciting and people want it, he’s going to sell it to as many people as he can.  Because that’s the opportunity he has in front of him.

-        Will not get wrapped up in internal politics.  They will take an ego slap and not react.  At least not to a group.  They will realize how little internal politics will increase their sales revenues so therefore it’s just completely avoided.  Not because they are trying to avoid it, but because they are literally functioning in way, in a mode, where internal politics are irrelevant to them.  They are so focused on the goal that this fades into peripheral vision.  And no one can change the priorities of an A+ sales person except themselves. 

-        Never miss a follow up call.  When the reminder says its time to call, they call.  Maybe its bad news and the client isn’t interested anymore, maybe its something else, but the A+ salesperson wants the info because they don’t want to waste their time on a prospect who’s not interested in buying what they are selling.  Not interested at all, not interested right now.  Great thank you.  I appreciate that, ‘would it be okay to touch base in 6 months?”  client says yes / no and they move on.  They put a note in the crm to call in 6 months.  Next. I’ve got things to do. 

-        An A+ salesperson will makes cold calls, warm calls, they will develop relationships with everyone, always good relationships, but they will know how, when, where to spend their time.  They know that selling time is valuable and there are many distractions to it.  The world at large wants you to get stuck into paperwork, online reading of news articles, playing with new technology, etc.  The A+ salesperson sees right past this.  He knows that’s what everyone is doing, to varying degrees of success without a doubt, but he knows and therefore he’s not going to get stuck.  He knows that to be A+ is rare, and is definitely the road less traveled.  He doesn’t mind walking alone when everyone else is doing or going along with something else.  He sees the target dollar number he needs to hit.  And knows there is only one way to hit it and be the A+ salesperson.  Dedication and commitment to achieving it.  He’s not mad, he’s not impatient, it’s a decision.  Where is spend my time is valuable.  My time is valuable.  My time is more valuable than I will ever truly know.  I want to spend my time as wisely as I can. 

-        He knows that most people drop their goals.  Some for good reasons and some for bad.  He knows.  I’m not letting go.  Like Tom Cruise in Top Gun ‘I’m not leaving my wing man’.  No matter what.  I know what the mission is and no hero stuff.  I’m on this.  I got it.  No silly hill will stop me or get in the way.  This is a goal that I set.  This is important.  Way more important than anything that temporarily jumps in front of me.  The A+ sales person knows that real commitment is something you do every day.  Just like marriage.  You don’t get married once.  You get married every single day you’re with your spouse.  It’s a recommitment, every day.  Every day.  That’s a commitment.  This is what an A+ salesperson is thinking about.  I committed to being in sales yesterday and I’m going to commit again today.  I see the opportunity and my commitment will get me there.  Everything else will work itself out without me.  I’m married to my goals right now.

-        How do I make my life significantly exceptional?  How is it possible for me to have financial peace? Financial success?  An internal feeling of what I’m doing and where I’m going is correct?  Yes building communities and building people up in their lives is important.  It brings a lot of meaning and value to life and to what the A+ sales person does.  But it’s categorized.  It has a time and a place.  If it’s all the time or takes a priority over business goals that were agreed on than this is not balanced.  This is off balance.  The A+ sales person would see this as the priorities are mixed up. Number one is to achieve the business goals for my job.  Along the way he finds peace, flexibility, free time, loyalty, learning, meaning, build people, build communities, etc.  But it’s earned.  It’s not always.  It’s the reward, it comes later in the process.  Why? Because it should.  That’s the order that it should and needs to go in.   Responsibilities come first, than play time.

You are a star

You are in the lights.  They are so bright.  Hard to see the audience actually, a little blurry out there.  Getting hotter under them too.  Shvitzin, been up here for 20 minutes.  Things are going really well though.  Phew.  I was nervous about this one.  

Traveled for 8 years twice a month, cried more tears than your wife or child and you are now faced with resolution.  Nice.  You begin your speech and it goes off without a hitch.  The cheering is so intense it begins to get rowdy.  Mom and family are cheering.  You can see them, right there in front.  Hi!, you give a big wave.  The whole corporate team you've supported for the last ten years is cheering with everyone else.  You're a star (at least the thought runs through your head)  Everyone loves you.  This is great.  A great moment to remember.

You've given the speech of your life.  Now it's over.  Big build up to this one too, huge success. A lot to be excited about.  Ton's of meetings.  You coordinated the daylights out of this thing. You didn't miss inviting anyone.  Everyone gave their nod of approval.  Awesome, you did great and you followed the rules.  Woop there it is.  You genuinely prepared for this, didn't squeeze it in last minute, working wonders and it reached rocket ship heights of success.  A whole new outlook for me.  Lots of excitement in the air.  No more thin ice to walk on.  Everyone will be so excited to see you tomorrow.  Wait, I'm working from home. 

Of course I earned it.  No one could possibly say anything about me working from home after a day like today.  I'm sure I'll have phone calls to make.  I better check on the team, I've got projects to work on.  Emails, man, that email box just doesn't quite.  Yeah,I'll be busy.  

Wait.  I better email Mr. O. (my boss)  Just in case someone comes looking for me.  Then it could be they walk by his office and say where is whoodey today?  He of course says, Gee, I don't know.  Gee.  That wouldn't be good.  I'd probably get a phone call to the effect of 'great job last night, so glad that went well for you.  Everyone over here was really happy with your performance.  I understand that you need to be home today, makes total sense. See you on Monday."

He made the point.  Eh.  That's ridiculous, maybe he's really a nice guy.  I should let him know I'm going to work from home.  It is proper respect after all. 

Man.  Have we got work to do.  Stuck in middle manager hills.  Up and down, up and down.  How do we build this average job into something that's got legs.  Something that gives juice to going to work?  Middle manager heaven.  Ahh.  That's what it's all about.  Turning the ordinary into something no one has ever seen before.  How can I make the ordinary (middle manager) into something no one has ever seen before (heaven)?

Well giddy up.  That's what we're here to do, in baby steps of course.