The title above comes from a major plot device in Tom Clancy’s prescient 1994 thriller, “Debt of Honor”. It has come to be one of my favorite business & management cliches because, as with most cliches, it is true. I have found that it provides a compelling answer to a common question – “do you want me to drive new investment from my customers, or do you want me to report on it?”

An attractive aspect of the technical sales profession is the freedom. It is exciting to spend time with customers, understand their business needs, and help them apply technical solutions to those needs. The best sales engineers are self starters who are willing to step up, proactively engage with their customers, and find creative ways to solve business challenges. Another characteristic of such individuals is that they often de-prioritize administrative and reporting responsibilities. Sometimes to the point of completely ignoring them. There is no “balance” to be struck between driving new business and reporting on what new business is being driven and how. Rather, the latter should be done in support of the former. Many want to focus solely on their business outcomes such as revenue target attainment, profitability, or new customer acquisition, and ignore discussions about the behaviors and activities that enabled them to achieve those outcomes. Or not achieve those outcomes, as the case may be. Such behavior on the part of the seller can often lead to poor relationships with their management and get the offending rep tagged with the career limiting label of prima donna.

I don’t want that to happen to you, so let’s have a discussion about reporting. The primary and obvious reason for you to execute your business reporting responsibilities is because your management and your company require you to do it. If that is not enough, here are some other reasons that may or may not be so obvious:

• If and when you leave this position, you will want to leave a foundation of what you are working on, current opportunities, status, etc. in order to most effectively transition your role to your replacement. Unless you are into burning bridges. If you are transferring to another position in your company, the timing of your transition may in fact be determined by how easily your current responsibilities can be given to your replacement.
• If and when your current manager leaves their position, you need a foundation to start conversations with their replacement. Imagine the impression you will make with your new manager and the command of your territory you can show by having everything in order.
• Customer commitments, vacation, and other aspects of this very fluid profession may mean that you go for some time without a one-on-one cadence discussion with your manager. Having updated documentation gives your management the status that they may need to answer questions from THEIR management. Similar to the two points above, never underestimate the value of making your manager’s job easier.
• No matter how successful you are, there will be some point in which you will fall behind in pipeline or making your revenue plan. In those times you are going to need to ensure that all of your activity and reporting systems are accurate and up to date. If your output is not meeting expectations, you need to demonstrate that you are doing everything else correctly and the results may be indicative of conditions beyond your control.
• Taking the time to record the next steps in an opportunity pursuit forces you to truly consider what options you need to be considering for your next step(s). It also sets the stage for any coaching conversations with your management or collaboration discussions with your peers.
• In our age of instrumentation, your organization is likely looking for measures and analytics to better understand the efficiency of the sales function. Keeping your information updated ensures that your methods, deliverables, successes, and failures are represented in the broader operation of your business. You should do your part to improve the overall organization. You will be impacted by any job role changes that are driven by such analysis.

You don’t have to be a history buff to understand why if you didn’t write it down, it never happened. Whether keeping your CRM updated to build a more complete profile of your customer, accurately forecasting your opportunities, driving companywide efficiency efforts, or simply meeting your management’s expectations, the answer to “do you want me to do my job or report on it?” is an unequivocal “yes”.