Black Sales Journal

If you are like many of us, there will be a time in your career that things will go wrong.  You will potentially feel slighted if you don’t  get equal or fair treatment, including important resources like preferred territories, distribution of prized or house accounts, or even issues regarding salary increases or promotions as compared to your peers.

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This problem can be vexing in the sales workplace.  You might feel embarrassed, emasculated, and even paralyzed, yet need to have answers.  Your job is important to you and your family, so you must take care to do this correctly.  It is also difficult because you feel powerless to affect outcomes when you believe management is working against you.

Yes, you feel your options are limited as you are working hard to insure that you keep your job, yet your results don’t always put you in a position of strength.  Frankly, I have been there.

What Are Your Options?

There are some things you can do; yet you need to do them correctly.  I am going to give you an example:

Problem -Distribution of orphaned accounts and prospects to favored sales representatives.

As a sales professional you know how refreshing it is to get customers and prospects that you do not have to prospect for.  Customers who get the introduction to you as their new representative  feel instant credibility based on the organization that you work for and will give you a chance to consummate the relationship by your actions.  That credibility can be very important to a Black sales professional.   I also talk about “the spoils of sales” and how the distribution of business and prospects can help, or hinder.  I made references to situations like this in Black Sales Journal December Post of Preference, Perceptions, Prejudice and Your Employer.  Feel free to take another look at it.

When you are seeing these accounts distributed to other sales executives who have less experience, less product or service knowledge, and less tenure than you have, it can be disheartening.  This happened to me years ago when I was a sales representative.  You may feel powerless, but you should not feel voiceless.

I was pretty good at selling commercial insurance products to medium and large businesses in the Chicago metropolitan area many years ago.  I was also proud of the organization that I worked for 5 years (eventually I retired from virtually the same organization with 32 years).  You can imagine what I felt like when in the midst of various situations where there were several distributions of prospects and accounts and I received literally nothing.

What I did was simple.  If faced with the problem, you should do it as well:

STEP # 1 – Research your sales record and your effort and be brutally honest

Be honest with yourself about your record, which will buttress you case, as well as the situation.  Did you handle a previous situation like this poorly?  Take an honest account.

• Seek Counsel - Find someone (a sales colleague or another sales professional) who is objective that you can seek honest counsel with and really listen to his or her response.
• Review Your Activities - Take positive account regarding what you have received in terms of “call-ins”, and other business, and any other failures.
• Take account - Know what you have done with this type of business, and be prepared to show the facts.
• Know Your Total Performance -Note your total performance, activity and production, and be ready to account for why it should have come to you.
• Be Ready to Prove Up! - Note that speculation and conjecture do not count, it is “not what you know, but what you can prove”!

STEP #2 – Have a frank but professional discussion with the sales manager or principal.

I went to my manager and advised of my concerns.  I was one of two Black sales professionals in a staff of over thirty-five.  I talked clearly, and unemotionally, and stated my concerns.  We reached agreement that I did deserve more.  The facts should speak for themselves, yet you still may not reach an agreement.

You may find that it is still an issue.  I met with the manager again four months later, yet felt the need to hedge my actions and set up a meeting with Human Resources as well.  In my discussion with my manager, I had to make the inevitable statement that I was still bothered and that my concerns were being ignored.

Here is the part where you have to put your self “out there”.  Do not be afraid of the conflict generated from it.  Conflict can be healthy if done correctly.  If you believe the situation, it is what you have to do!

This meeting might seem fruitless to some, yet it is the meeting that gives you the opportunity to say that you may need to look for some satisfaction or discussion elsewhere.  The manager should not be surprised at that point when HR calls to get his rendition of the facts.

STEP #3 – Make Your Case with the Human Resource Manager

Let’s be clear here, you need a party that can be fair and is also interested.  I am not telling you that the HR manager or generalist is an ally, but I am telling you that this individual has a tendency to be fair, and has knowledge about how the company will handle such a concern.

The reason that you had the conversation with the manager first is because that would be the first request of HR, or anyone else called in to help.  It just makes sense.

For HR you want to do the following:

• Define the problem.
• Summarize the conversations with the manager
• Be clear about the disparate treatment or inequities, and be ready to prove up.
• Open yourself up to asking for help.  That help might be having a discussion with the manager, getting clarifications, or even having discussion with the manager’s manager.

What you should not do is:

• Lose emotional control
• Play the “race card”
• Talk about confrontation

In Summary

Whether it is distribution of favors, salary, or other issues regarding equitable treatment, Human Resources is not the end-all, yet they can be objective and provide perspective to both parties regarding equitable treatment. If you believe that it is because of racial discrimination you should be prepared to enunciate it clearly and succinctly with as much evidence as possible.

Always note that your previous record with HR, and your current sales record are all in play in this discussion.  But…if you are being treated unfairly, you should find comfort in discussing it without a focus on race as the possibilities of discrimination, if any is obvious, will be on the mind of a good HR manager or generalist anyway.

This is a sensitive subject with a heavy impact on the lives of sales professionals.

I look forward to your comments.

In the last post we started the discussion, Deepening Your Customer Relationships (See that at the bottom of this page) regarding how to gain customer intimacy.  We talked about the importance of a Customer Profile and the type of information that you could house there.  I had a sales professional write me in the response section and state “…you discussed the Customer Profile, and began to explain it, yet you probably should have given an actual copy.”  I think that person was right!

I am going to give you a copy of a simple template for the customer profile as well as delve into some ways that you can get the information to fill in the profile.

The Customer Profile

As we discussed last week, this is not the Customer Profile that I expect to be in your employer’s database.  Remember my previous statement about whom you are selling your products and services to.  You are selling to an individual, not a company.  The act of forming the relationship over time is made easier by recording your information on this profile and using it wisely in cultivating and strengthening the relationship. You will see this over time.

Here is the Profile template. It is simple and to the point.  I am attaching it as a PDF.  It will will serve as a guide and can be altered  or be used “as is”:  CUSTOMER PROFILE PDF.  Tailor it to your own usage and format.  Make it yours.

Getting the Information

I am going to make some suggestions for harvesting the information as well.  Remember these important points:

• Private Information – No customer wants to have a database out there for a vendor’s use which house information about his/her family, his educational background and preferences.  This is your information!
• The Best Source - The best source of information would be the customer.  We will briefly discuss ways to get that it.
• Other Sources – The more information that you can get from sources other than your customer, the less intrusive it will seem.

Breaking the Ice

Your quest for information begins with the act of “breaking the ice.”  You are the quarterback and you will set the tone for the meeting.

I always started off a meeting with a new buyer by creating a relaxed environment.  The normal pleasantries of weather, traffic, and the state of business were beginning topics.

I would then execute the sales call.  Once business was completed on the call, I would start a conversation with information about me, and then seek information about the customer.

Who am I?

Information about me – I would allow the quick verbal resume to get slightly personal including where I reside, and how long in the area.  I also included how many children I had, and in most cases where they were going to school.   The verbal resume would include my length of time with the company and my years of time in sales.  My objective was to let the buyer know that:

• I am a sales professional
• I am a person who enjoys what I do.
• I have staying power
• Behind me is a family who is important to me

Yes the quick introduction was purposeful, and intentionally personal. Buyers want to know something about you….something that they will remember, something that they can share.  You will be amazed as how it makes a connection.

Who are You?

Now it is the buyer’s turn.  I am willing to bet if it is a good day, he/she will deliver many of the points in the same fashion as you.  You should take specific note of them as you are now looking through a window that might only be open for a short period of time.

Once they had laid that out for me, I felt comfort in asking if the buyer was a native of the area. Which leads to which school he went to, and does he support the Giants or the Jets, or the Bears or the Packers.  With a laugh here or there, we have covered much ground that I can use later to strengthen the relationship.

My most completed profiles would include favorite restaurants, probably because we had a business meal there, and what the customer enjoyed in terms of alcohol.

The Customer Profile in Action

On a cold December 20th several years ago a customer gave me a gift.  It arrived by UPS, and I was flattered.  I did not think we had reached that level yet but it was a fine gesture that I needed to respond to.  The customer profile showed enough information regarding where he liked to dine as well as his hobbies.  In return I got a modest gift certificate from his favorite restaurant and a fishing hat for his upcoming late spring fly-fishing trip.  This information was from my notes.  That fine former customer still keeps in touch.

As your relationship continues, a business entertainment lunch at a local restaurant will give you an opportunity to further your profile in a more neutral setting.

Don’t Force It

As stated in my most recent post, you need to serve up some of your personality so things can get more personal.  If someone wants to keep it strictly business, you will need hope that over time you can get the buyer intimacy that you seek.  Don’t force it.  Be natural and be prepared to “get closer” in the future once the buyer is reluctant at this time.  As the relationship matures he could be more accepting.

A deep enduring relationship happens when there is an exchange.  Be personal and personable.

Above all know your customers intimately, at least the important ones.  I hope this will provide the start.

Tell me what you think.