It is true that many professionals are losing their job. Hopefully it will not happen to you.   If it does happen, your ultimate goal is to be prepared and be the professional.  Losing one’s job does happen.  Have your bases covered.  If you do lose your job… lose it “Like a BOSS!”

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At some point in your life, you may have to endure the act of “getting fired.” Obviously, there is no positive light when this is happening, yet it does happen in the world of sales.

One of the most common reasons has to do with performance.  Performance issues happen to sales professionals of all colors and backgrounds.  They can be particularly vexing for the Black professionals because the stigma that getting fired carries coupled with racial preference and racial prejudice issues can severely limit future hiring opportunities.

You may find a few articles and publications that talk about what happens when you get fired. Rest assured that for a sales professional, this does not have to be a “death sentence.”  Most people, sales professionals included, associate their livelihood with their identity, and can be devastated if they are terminated.  Additionally, changes in your relationships with co-workers, many of which you may classify as friends, can be just as shocking.  This is especially true with the suddenness of a sales termination.  This is less important than the impact on your psyche and your family, but significant.

There is no way to ‘get fired’ gracefully as you have are not in control.  Your reactions to the activity can be calculated and professional if you follow some of the suggestions below.

Always be Prepared for the Unexpected

Termination does not have to be a “death sentence”, yet it is a separation by any terminology.  You should always be prepared no matter how well you are doing in the job.  Since losing your position can happen for of a number of reasons, including the company ceasing to do business, you should have this plan in effect even if you are doing well.

It is normally, for all professions, a “sudden” act that may catch you “off guard”.   For this reason, I prescribe to a steady state of readiness.  Let me explain that this is more of an attitude than anything else.  Recognize that you have no ability to know for sure, but may be able to predict when it will happen.

What is more important is that you treat your situation with planning and preparation.  I also believe that you should take care to recognize that you may well be under contract.  If you are not under contract/agreement you need to recognize general ethics that I strongly believe that you should consider.

Here are the items you should focus on:

• Your Sales Contacts – Always have your prospect contact list duplicated on some type of accessible media.  Many sales professionals use a company issued phone, PDA, and computer.  Your contact’s information is on those devices, and your ability to recreate that information is limited once you are separated from it.  You have worked years to put it together, take this precaution.  As a sales professional this is ultra-important.
• Key Contact Data - Have [your] Customer Profiles of your key clients up to date, and stored where you can access it—as discussed in(Black Sales Journal 1/20 Deepening Your Customer Relationships Part II). There are many that believe that client data such as this is company property.  I believe that when I have achieved the relationship that gives me personal access to client particulars about their family and social data, that it is my personal property based on my ability to be in the position to get the information in the first place.  A customer who has allowed you to be a “business friend” has not given you clearance to share his wife’s name and their personal particulars with the new sales professional left there to service the account.   It is yours, and it would be wrong to let that information go to someone without them achieving that status.
• Have Your Contracts in Hand - Have access to your sales contracts.  It is important to have your signed copies in your possession, not in your files at your place of employment.  This would include your employment agreement (if you have one), your non-compete agreement, and any non-disclosures that you have signed.  This will tell you what you have agreed to do, especially including employment after termination. There is a possibility that some provisions change if you are separated by termination.
• Know Your Rights re Final Payments - Have a copy of your sales compensation plan handy as well.  This will advise you of what is done regarding your final commissions/bonus payments if you have some coming.  If you have these papers, you don’t leave this most important area up to your former employer.

Some Things Can’t Be Taken Away From You

Remember to document your accomplishments - Keep up-to-date copies of your sales numbers.  Your ability to get a job will be based on your ability to show past sales accomplishments.  Nothing shows this like the real numbers on the actual reports.

I still have information from when I was a sales rep (1979), as well as a sales manager (1985), and all jobs after that as well.  You might wonder why?  The answers are quite simple:

# 1 – You can lie about the numbers, but the numbers don’t lie!

#2 – It’s not what you know; it’s what you can prove!

I kept the information that came in paper form.  You may have to print it, and should do so at the end of every year.  This is far from too much to ask.  In discussions about these numbers I was always in a position of strength.

No one can take away your pride – If you are a solid citizen, parent, partner, or friend, no one can take away the fact that you have great worth.  Don’t ever let the removal from a position rob you of your self-esteem.  Keep everything in perspective.

Above all, realize that “nothing ventured, nothing gained.”  If you are giving your best, there is an employer out there who needs you. Your comments are welcome.  Contact me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

I surface this great topic again.  A couple of years ago I started this topic as a result of a survey by an organization called Vault. Vault’s 2011 Office Romance Survey (Vault.com) was telling and I would suggest that any updated version will be just as indicting.  The 2011 report indicated that 59% of all employees have engaged in an office relationship.  If this is close to true, there is a lot of romancing going on.

I would like to try to give you some reasons that Black professional might want to avoid that temptation, especially if you are in the sales profession.

The Office Relationship and the Sales Professional

An office relationship is so common, yet reveals the greatest of pitfalls for any sales professional, especially the Black sales professional.  Any relationship is an investment of time and effort; time is finite, and effort measurable.  A sales professional is evaluated based on success in meeting one’s goals, and when there are shortcomings, the extracurricular activities that are in clear view are then viewed in a different light.  They then become a focus.

The burden of sales is its measurability.  It is the day-to-day, week-to-week, and month-to-month measurability of professional sales that generates scrutiny.  Often there is no one individual who knows when you are working, or…well, dating.  In sales it comes with the territory; since there is no time clock, only results.

With all of this in mind, overt, or supposedly covert dating opens you to potential criticism.  If your numbers are not there, it is assumed that your relationship is getting in the way.  If your numbers are there, it is ‘obvious’ that the numbers could be better.

Couple the above issues with the fact you are Black and very much subject to the perceptions of others and you have an interesting problem.  If those who believe the perception that you are putting romance before sales efforts are managers, it surely will come back against you.

Yes, this is a touchy subject, yet true.   Being Black in a predominantly white organization leaves you open to be subjected to the perceptions of many, most importantly the sales managers and the general managers.  In an atmosphere where you need as level ground as possible, the last perception that you need is that you are acting as Romeo, or Juliet on company time.

Some Simple Suggestions

I would suggest that you avoid relationships in the workplace.  Do I believe that most of you will listen to me?  Frankly, I don’t.  If you are going to date in the workplace, I throw out these few points:

• Know your company’s policy on office relationships – This can keep you from a fatal error.  Yes, many companies have a policy, and you might want to know it before it is used on you.
• Recognize the harassment exposure – Think it over real well.  If things do not go well, anything you say or do may come back to haunt you!  Most relationships are short term and it is the aftermath of a relationship that triggers harassment claims.
• Be extremely discreet – There should be no outward expressions at the workplace or on company time.  You should know that if you discuss it with anyone, it will be ‘publicized’ by text messages, tweets, email, and general office conversation, not to mention cell phone pictures.

• Social Media will work against you – Anything you post, or she posts on social media sites can be evidence of illicit or clandestine activities.
• Above all know your exit strategy – If it is not working out the way you need, how are you going to get out without a nuclear explosion.  It might be good to have that conversation and agreement at the beginning of any office relationship.

It should go without saying that no managers should be dating subordinates but I will throw it in here as well.  Nothing will shorten a career faster that this type of activity.  Don’t even think about it!

Of Particular Note – The Interracial Relationship

As much as things have changed in the last 50 years, of particular note is the interracial relationship in the workplace.  Something that happens almost commonly in the “real world” still brings extreme scrutiny in the workplace.  Thus there is a double jeopardy for the man or woman who has an interracial relationship in the workplace.  That double jeopardy is based on the fact that the Black sales professional could be damaged by an office relationship, no matter who the partner is.  Additional scrutiny comes to bear when the workplace relationship is interracial.

You are at work to make money and to build a career.  Both can be subject to the whims of others in the workplace.  All of you already know that when it comes to your career and your money, the possibility of a short-term relationship could be very expensive.

Your comments are welcome.  Contact me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.