Black Sales Journal

Success can sometime be vexing if you are a sales professional. As success and increased income for many sales professionals increases so do the rivals and detractors in the workplace.  Yes, the very things that we all wish for can turn into a terrible wedge and fuel attitudes from slight jealousy to flat out envy.  When this happens, the competition becomes less than productive, and relationships strained.

You are making appointments, keeping them and closing deals.  You string together a series of ‘wins’ that is admirable.  It is all going right.  You receive notoriety for your new accounts and your success is getting you management attention as well as a ‘swelling’ income.

Because it is time, and the money is there, you buy a new foreign luxury sedan, and then the barbs begin.  Your income starts to show your success as you buy some new clothes and join an exclusive club.  “Making it rain” is getting you notoriety along with the accompanying benefits of being the number one sales professional in the unit.

Your fellow sales professionals, and others become critical of you for a variety of reasons.  It is even rumored that your manager, who is of the opposite sex, is interested in you.  You are accused of ‘stealing’ prospects, and you become an island.

It Happens In Different Degrees

It does happen, to different degrees.  I am not suggesting that you suspect it, as much as I am saying that sensitivities abound.

Sales units are not teams, whether they are called by that term or not.  The other individuals in your unit can range from becoming slightly perturbed to something bordering on resentment and hate when you generate success and they are not having the success that they want. Having these types of ‘enemies’ happens as sales professionals, and others sense a disparity in the resources that are doled out, or remaining.  Resources could be something as simple as face-time with the boss down to territories, prospect leads, and a variety of other benefits.

The ‘top dog’ becomes a target for jealousy, innuendo, and sniping.  This is a fact of life.  I will make a few suggestions that will help deal with this.

The Golden Rule

What I am going to say may not be golden, but if you treat it as such, your results will certainly be worth more.  Work on a simple set of principals at all times, not when you find the elusive success.  You will find that they should be practices as opposed to something that you do when you do find it:

• Practice being discreet – no one needs to know your income, or even how much you made on the last sale.
• Be humble – at work, recognize that being humble is a sign that you recognize you did not do it alone.
• Give credit and recognition to others – be honest and open about the impact of others in your success.  If you did it all alone, you don’t have to broadcast it, they will already know.
• Help others – Remember the objective of mentoring, and if you cannot be a mentor, offer assistance where needed.
• Continue the routine – If you are doing all of the above and finding success, continue the routine, and ignore the criticism.  If you are true to the above and doing your best, you don’t need to give anyone the power to deter you.

No one needs to see you dance on top of your desk when they are not having any results.  You can be happy and respectful of others in difficult times without sacrificing your success and gain.

We all have worked with sales professionals who whooped and hollered, and bragged and boasted when they scored a sale.  They even handed out cigars as if they had a new offspring after a new sale.  What they really did was to mock the fact that success can be fleeting.  Those around these misguided individuals are left to draw an interpretation that they are boorish, or that they had never had success before.  To coin a football quote “…act like you have been in the end-zone before.”

There is no reason to not celebrate, just do it discreetly.  You can celebrate with your manager, or with your family or both, as all are beneficiaries.

One Last Word

You may not care about these ‘enemies’, yet you should.  One could end up your manager, or your manager’s manager one day.  This could be important stuff.

A Chinese military strategist, Sun-Tzu (Circa 400BC) said “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” (You probably thought it was Michael Carlene from the Godfather 2 fame who came up with it).  I say this only to indicate that you should engage everyone, even those that feel you have aggrieved him or her.  There are lessons to be learned here.  You can learn from everyone, and you can help everyone as well.  Offering assistance at your specialty (sales) even though it is not common is disarming.

Master the relationship!

Your comments are appreciated.

There should be no negative implications for a topic like this.  We attempt to manage time, territories, expenses, production, and performance outcomes as a natural course in our jobs.  I would hope that understanding how to “manage” your sales manager would be just as important.

“Managing” your sales manager involves important issues such as training, performance evaluations, potential merit increases, territory allocations, participation in sales calls, and the allocation of valuable resources such as prospect distribution, house accounts, and major accounts.

This is not anything nefarious, yet is respectfully making sure that you get the attention you need, and in some cases the space you need to do your job to the fullest.  It also would be designed to give you resources you need in a competitive atmosphere to be the premier sales professional in your unit.

As a Black sales professional, you are quite visible.  You need to be calculated in your performance, and how you frame that performance.  Your manager should be active with you as well as an observer in your performance and work activities.

Relationships

The most important relationship you have at your job is the one you have with your manager.  Your ability to ask questions, seek assistance, and suggest improvements should be natural.  Likewise, your ability to get feedback, accept criticism, and be generally evaluated should be a given.

This relationship is a give and take.  He or she is still the boss, and you have expectations of each other.  You need to work at this relationship if you are not the premier performer.  The premier performer has his/her results to support the relationship.  Until you get to that status, you need the manager a little more.

‘Fair Game’ Tactics

Here are some ways to effectively manage your sales manager:

Communicate Upward – Keep your sales manager knowledgeable of your activities, and the status of major clients and prospects.  Your managers should always be kept abreast.  Sales managers communicate upward to their managers regarding major prospects and clients, sales projections, and goal attainment.  The last things they want are surprises.  By communicating these things frequently, it will keep them from making projections and claims that cannot be met.

Request Assistance and Sales Manager Presence – Request your sales manager’s help for profile and difficult prospect/clients.  Remember, you will be in the boat by yourself to get the attention or negative attention depending on the results.  Sharing the attention when you win is better than ending up with the sole negative attention “spotlight” if you blow it.  You can more easily manage your sales manager if you make him or her look good.  Have the sales manager attend calls that you need help on, but also calls that put you in a good light.   You can choose calls that display the strength of your relationships, showcase your strong technical abilities, and calls that reveal your technical sales ability.

Be The Expert on You – Your manager can have as many as 12 direct reports, and the responsibility for getting results from them, and a particular territory.  He cannot possibly know you, your accomplishments, and your strengths, the way you want.  It is easier for the focus to be on your weaknesses.  You must be the expert on you!  Know the following:

• Your goals vs. current production
• Your upcoming prospects and their status
• Know your ratios (prospected to quoted, quoted to sold, etc See Black Sales Journal 2/28 – How Many Prospects Do I Really Need? for some specifics)
• Know as best you can your status versus the other sales professionals

Know Your Sales Manager – Knowing as much as you can know about your manager without being invasive is good business.  It will help you understand the motivations and better be able to answer questions and complete tasks.  Know where your manager went to school and the composition of his/her family.  Know his/her previous jobs, and what motivations are present.  A sales manager who was formerly a financial person may have a focus on the numbers and metrics, and you should know this.  The more you know, the better off you are.  Know the background and feel comfortable discussing it with him/her.  You will notice that the manager will be flattered.  Information from Linked-In, or your company’s website can help you here.  You may even use Google for this purpose.

Volunteer with a Purpose – Every manager needs some help, and you should be prepared to give some assistance and learn in the process when it benefits you.  I certainly am not suggesting that you be ‘oily’ and kiss “you know what”, yet when you can add something you should step-up.  Those that don’t step-up will probably get the items they would not have chosen.

Always be Prepared – Repeat after me “I will never go into a meeting with my sales manager and be unprepared!”  This is important.  When you go in to any meeting with this most important relationship you have at that company, you should go in with a solid agenda.  No rambling and no scrambling but a meeting with a purpose that you requested and are in control of. Have your questions written down, and stick to your appointment time.  Your manager will realize your efficiency and effectiveness.

Always Perform

Here is where you start to make the distinction between you and your counterparts.  To be most effective at this, you need to consistently produce sales results.  It is a given that you need to be in good standing, yet it always helps to be exceeding goals and be a sales leader.

If you do this, you will be “shining” the light on yourself.  This type of self-promotion is totally ‘legal’.  Make sure your managers sees what is necessary and knows your value.  This is something that you can do without seeming like a “weasel”.

‘Manage” this relationship wisely.  It can make a difference in your compensation and your future.

We appreciate your comments.