Black Sales Journal

It is true that many professionals are losing their job. Hopefully it will not happen to you.  But if it does, you ultimate goal is to be prepared and be professional.  Losing ones job does happen.  Have your bases covered.  This post will show you how.

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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 sales professional because the stigma that getting fired carries coupled with preference and prejudice issues can severely limit hiring opportunities.

You may find a few articles and publication that talk about what happens when you get fired. Most of them make sure to mention 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.

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.

Prepare for the Future

This 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 job 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.

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 who is left there to service the account.   It is yours, and it would be wrong to let that information go to someone without 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.
• 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.

Time For New Opportunities

Now you are armed to seek out new opportunities.  If you did what is above, you have the following:

• An idea of your final compensation, and possibly a severance package which will tide you over until you are able to find another sales position.
• Documentation of your sales success. Make sure no account names are showing, as any new employer will be watching to see this evidence of integrity.
• A roster of your key contacts as well as a data sheet on contacts that you consider key enough to have developed Customer Profiles for.  Depending on your non-compete specifics, you want the ability to be back in business again at some point in the future.

A couple of notes that you should consider:

• Don’t sign anything without a good legal review if you are in doubt. Don’t be cheap, get legal assistance if necessary.
• In a journal, record all of the events that have to do with your job loss.  If you make a decision to contest anything, even your severance agreement, you will have listing of events that will give you instant credibility.
• Leave the physical location ASAP. There is no reason to linger, or be told to leave.  If you do the things mentioned here, you won’t need to spend much time trying to figure out how to get your contacts, contracts, and your personal items.
• Be amicable and be cool.  The decision is not going to change, so get the “skinny” on what you need to know, and get going, as there is much to be done.

If you are not prepared in this way, you could spend the rest of your sales career trying to get back up to speed.  Be careful and judicious with your information.  Remember to be smart!  Do not find yourself embroiled in legal scrimmaging by doing the right thing.

When it happens, you will appreciate that you have done these particulars.

Your comments are welcome.

I wanted to share the results of a recent survey by Jobvite, a leading developer of software for job recruitment in social media.  Jobvite’s research indicates a survey of 1,600 recruiters indicated a fact which we all have been concerned about.  The question posed to recruiters was:

Have you ever reconsidered a candidate based on their social profile?

Yes 42%     No 58%

Yes – 42% of recruiters have indicated that they have reconsidered candidates based on their social profile!

Social media can be fun, informative, and enjoyable….depending on who is looking at it.  It can be all of those because it is not the medium, but more how you use it.    Social media involvement is voluntary, and thus the problems that happen as a result of using it are self-imposed ills.

I know some professionals who are wise enough to establish a social media “alias” that will allow them to enjoy social media use and give personal freedom while preserving their privacy.

However you elect to enjoy social media, you will want to remember that you’re “broadcasting” your life, and you need to be prepared for individuals to interpret or misinterpret everything you say or do.

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There has been much press regarding this topic.  The way you handle your social media could possibly interfere with your ability to get, and sometimes keep a job in the digital age. With Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, MySpace, StumbleUpon, Tumblr, and many other social media outlets, even the most devoted sales professional could stand the risk of distraction.

Additionally, if you allow your personal business to be made public, it will come back to haunt you.  Without the careful filtering of your participation in social media sites, you could be making your private life public.

The power of social media is amazing but utter the wrong thing and the ability of social media to go viral could change your life, or at least your employment status.

Using Social Media On the Job

This is an interesting proposition. I was in a group classroom setting in a social media class when the professor asked if any of us knew our employers policy on social media and electronic media. Sadly, 3 out of 20 people raised their hands.  You should have a copy of it if you are engaging in any social media at the workplace , and if you do any social media mentioning your employers while on your own time.  Normally it can be found on your company’s intranet site, or requested from human resources.  In most cases it describes the things that are important, and you will quickly be able to scan it and tell if it is a templated policy, or if it has been tailored for your employer’s needs.

A couple things you do know:

• Avoid criticizing your employer in any social media. It is that simple.  On your e-mails, if on the company email system, I would suggest avoiding any negative references to your boss, your company, or your company’s information.

• Organizations have an ability to track your usage of personal media sites/social media sites in terms of keystrokes and time spent. Make an assumption that they do it! Is it worth losing your job to respond during the workday?

• A preoccupation with social media on the job is widespread. An organization called Nucleus Research of Boston; Massachusetts indicates that 77% of American workers admit to using Facebook while on the job. Think about being the employer who is trying to explain difficult financial performance when it determined that of that 77%, 87% state that had nothing to do with their job duties.

When employees were dealing with predominately e-mail 10 years ago, it was not a big deal.  After the explosion of social media it becomes evident that participation in social media can be very time-consuming.

Many  sophisticated employers have blocked the sites for social media on the job.  In most cases, you will be making entries with your own equipment including your cell phone or tablet.  Be smart there as well.

Using Social Media at Home

Your use of social media in your private life shouldn’t be a big issue. The problems occur when the theater of social media shows you in compromising situations, and is seen by a manager or coworker.

A few examples are:

• A intimate relationship between a manager and one of his direct reports, an act which is proscribed in almost every organization, was discovered when it was posted on one of their Facebook sites.
• A rant about a manager and the employer was posted on Twitter and seen by the manager.  The words, though limited to 140 were “damning” and ended with a ‘reassignment’ of the employee to less favorable duties.
• Entries and tweets that are full of tough language and sexual connotations will haunt you as has happened to many who thought their comments were shielded.

As sated to start this piece, prospective employers and recruiters resort to perusing a Facebook site to determine the ‘personality’ of an applicant.  It might not feel right, yet it happens.  What they are really getting is a listing of the personal activities of the candidate.  When they see you with the bottle of vodka in one hand and something we hope is a cigarette in the other, they may make a decision that is…well let’s just say not in your favor.

One Last Point

Black professionals increasingly realize the need for discretion and forethought in this important area. Why?…. Because there is a general ignorance and curiosity regarding how you live your life because of the difference in cultures.  Show them only what you want them to know, or nothing at all.  Wisely protect yourself, your family, and your career.

You are constantly being evaluated as a sales professional; that is something that you cannot change.  No one needs to be afoul of the rules that govern the workplace or business as a whole.  Avoid transmitting anything regarding your company on social media no matter how safe and secure you think it is.  Additionally, avoid using your personal computer or hardware to “broadcast” anything on social media pertaining to your company, an employee of your company, or your work situation.

Be smart and aware and always be the professional.

Your comments are welcome.