Salespeople drive everyone else in the company crazy. It seems that, with few exceptions, we have a disgusting relationship with everything related to the organization. Whether for territory planning or simply to complete expense reports. Everything is inconsequential to be with clients or prospects. In reality, prospects are better than customers because it’s a new opportunity. Prospects are bright and buzzing and therefore catch the attention of just about every salesperson I know.
Our paperwork is generally a sketchy mess, getting timely reports is like pulling teeth, notes and to-do lists are often scribbles on scraps of paper, and there is a genuine belief that most requests from management that are not orders are a complete and absolute. waste of time. Salespeople are, in fact, like herding cats. For most people in the organization, salespeople are the epicenter of frustration. And yet, they disarm their detractors with a mischievous grin, oblivion of their rampage, and a charm no snake can resist.
The source of the greatest frustration and unanimous opinion of our disorderly conduct is generally our arrogant attitude towards the petty details that are needed by virtually every other department to complete the deal we discover. Coupled with what appears to be a delightful life of endless fancy dinners, exotic travel, free cars and gas, and more luxuries than anyone in accounting would even remotely consider necessary, it really only compounds the frustration. We just drive everyone else crazy as they continually chase us.
All of this seeming disorganization is deeply embedded in our DNA chain, and despite repeated attempts to organize ourselves, strategically and on track, we will inevitably continue to be in a semi-state of near organizational collapse.
But there must be a threshold of compliance in matters of both land use planning and planning needs, as well as other core issues related to the role. It will bring a measure of harmony to the masses. We all know that there are five million jobs that salespeople hate to do, and because we hate them, they take longer to do.
We need to change our motivation for these projects to something more in line with our DNA structure. But how?
I was known for not doing my expense account, until I was pestered to the point that I couldn’t put it off anymore. And honestly, it’s stupid because it’s actually my own money that I was spending and then the company would pay me back, by submitting a complete and accurate expense report. At the company I was working for at the time, this was an issue between me and the company controller. I guess “The Doberman” finally got tired of coming after me for my reports, yes reports, I was three months behind, because my sales manager, who also owned the company, slipped a note in my mailbox saying if I didn’t If it is not completed within five business days after the end of the month, my expenses will not be paid. The “Doberman” had done what I think is known at Harvard Business School as Finking on me.
Naturally, the gauntlet had been thrown. It was time for revenge and he was determined to teach the “Doberman” a lesson. What drives accountants crazy? Things that don’t add up drive accountants crazy. So I sat down and painstakingly filled out three monthly expense reports, each with a smart reduction of $1.69. He knew the “Doberman” would need to find the discrepancy. Bwaaaa. It is in the nature of him.
Nothing was said and in due time I received my refund. As I closed each month, it became a personal challenge to find a way to save $1.69 on my spending account. I started waiting for the end of the month and then gradually started filling them up as I went. As the months went by, the excitement of keeping this going led me to make sure every minute detail was uniquely included in the report. I knew he would be looking for me to make any mistake.
There was never a word spoken between us, but it was clear from the looks that it was “game on.” And we both loved it. He liked the challenge of trying to find the sixty-nine dollar and I loved trying to hide it. When I left the company a year later, the “Doberman” gave me a card that said, “I’m going to miss you so much!” And inside were $1.69 coins.
The many tasks that we resist doing in the world of sales are building blocks for everyone else. And, in truth, we’re going to have to do them anyway, so why not use the creative juices that curse us to find a more compatible reason for making them? Of course it is a mind trick, or an internal competition that we organize, but it makes the task much more pleasant for us. And just maybe, it will start to erode that view from the stands that we are disorderly in our conduct.
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