Category Archives: Career

Your Role as Supporting Actor

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I was recently on a flight with Oscar winning actor J.K. Simmons.  That is to say that Mr. Simmons sat one row in front of me and across the aisle on a two hour, late night flight.  After we disembarked, I approached him.  We exchanged pleasantries, I told him that I really enjoy his work, he replied that he would continue to do his best, and we parted ways.

As Mr. Simmons is renowned for his work as a supporting actor, the encounter had me thinking about the “supporting actor” role that sales engineers often play in opportunity pursuits.  With a nod to three of Mr. Simmons’ engaging performances, consider the following films, situations, and the critical role that you can play:

“Up In the Air” Be the person who thematically pulls everything together. Help your team and your customer stay focused on the overall intent, business and/or technical problem that you are trying to solve, and the outcome that you are truly working to deliver.  It is easy for a team to get off track and focused on non-essential aspects of an opportunity pursuit or to over complicate solutions and situations.  Brainstorming and considering as many perspectives as possible is important, but someone always needs to bring the team back together to re-establish focus or you will never win.

“Juno”  When situations get challenging, be the person who calmly steps up and engages where someone or something is needed.  If your team is meeting and someone says “great idea, but who is going to do that?”, raise your hand.  It may be an existing post-sales situation that needs rectified in order to restore the customer’s confidence; it may be a relationship with a decision maker that needs to be established; or it may be a prototype that demonstrates a novel approach to solving your customer’s problem via a little known capability.  Besides solving an immediate problem, you will become known as a team player whose principal motivation is a positive outcome (as opposed to whatever motivates the “notmyjobmon” crowd).  You will also learn a great deal and develop new relationships that may change your life.  Or at least your career.

“Spider-Man”  Be the dissenter.  Play the devil’s advocate.  Not to be a jerk or feed your ego, but to ensure that the team is absolutely certain about the details of the opportunity, the customers’ needs, etc.  I have seen scores of opportunities delayed and a few lost because no one was challenging the sales team and the customer with all of the “whys”, “hows”, and “whens” needed to move a business forward.  And once you’re done asking the hard questions, provide some comic relief at the appropriate times to alleviate some of the stress amongst all parties.

Sales leadership and having a postiive impact on a customer’s investment decsion takes many forms.  Whether playing a lead or supporting role in the pursuit of new business, those constantly looking to make the greatest contribution tend to enjoy the most success.  It is far too easy for the sales engineer to fade into the background and relegate themselves to merely answering any technical questions that come up.  Embrace a critical supporting role and when the end of year/quarter/month “awards season” comes around, you will find your name among the winners.

Mom and Pop Management

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Several times each year I have the privilege of discussing various management topics with MBA candidates at the University of Iowa’s Tippie School of Business. It is always invigorating for me, as many of these students are relatively new managers and often come armed with specific situations for discussion. It is thrilling to not only see the leadership potential, but to also see so many willing to step up and take responsibility for the work of and the development of others (i.e. they have chosen to be in management). In my most recent session, I was asked about the art of motivation. Specifically, how to maintain some level of motivation amongst employees from multiple generations. I replied with an obvious, cliche-ridden answer about how employee motivation is a very challenging management responsibility due to the individual nature of employees, the human psyche, what motivates one individual may not matter to another, you have to know your employees, blah blah blah. My answer was enough to keep the discussion going, but I could not help but think that I was missing something. As I thought about it more, I decided that the concept of effective motivation is grounded in a duality of sorts – between hard and soft; specific and general; internal and external; or between that which can be clearly defined in the now and that which is undefined that may happen in the future.

In short, managers who are most effective at motivating their employees have a firm grasp, at the individual employee level, on how to manage their organizations like a “Mom and Pop”. I am not referring to “Mom and Pop” in the sense of “a small retail business, usually owned and operated by members of a family” (thank you dictionary.com), although such proprietorships are certainly managed this way. Rather, I am referring to managers who can help employees identify Moments of Momentum (MoM) and Points of Progress (PoP) in their jobs and careers.

Moments of Momentum (MoM). These occur when an employee understands and embraces a vision for the task at hand, their future, the organization’s future, or the greater good that is going to come from their personal contributions. It is when the employee is mobilized, inspired, has the tools they need, and the organizational support necessary to fulfill their responsibilities to the best of their abilities. These are the moments in which the mission is clear and the employee has made the decision to personally invest their time and talents in pursuit of an outcome. To summarize hundreds of literary, lyrical, and cinematic references, MoMs are when employees capture the feeling to join their band of brothers, walk out on the wire, and win one for the Gipper. Moments of Momentum launch us into action. They are crucial, but they are fleeting.

Points of Progress (PoP). These occur when someone reaches a measurable outcome. It may be a promotion, the completion of a significant project, a “go live” implementation, a raise, the acquisition of a new skill, moving to a new role, winning a sales award, etc. Think back on your own career – I imagine that you can think of a few times off the top of your head when you truly felt like you had moved your career forward in some significant fashion. I can still vividly recall a few PoPs that I experienced after pulling an all nighter to deliver some code or the times that I have been asked to build new organizations. Points of Progress are distinct and definable. They are the achievement of goals by which we mark our careers.

We cannot have one without the other. If employees experience multiple MoMs with no PoPs to show for it, motivation will suffer and employees will become disengaged and disenfranchised. similarly, if an employee experiences many PoPs with few MoMs, they risk losing sight of the purpose of their life’s work and the PoPs will become increasingly insignificant. PoPs are the milestones that keep us seeking out the next MoM and MoMs keep us going towards the next PoP.

Each of us have to define our own Moments of Momentum and Points of Progress, and they will evolve as careers progress. As an employee, it is up to you to find what motivates you and what goals you are looking to achieve. If you are a manager, it is your responsibility to help your employees maintain the balance of MoMs and PoPs such that everyone is producing to their full capabilities for your organization while gaining maximum satisfaction from their careers.

Training Your Way to New Ideas

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I had not experienced passenger rail service in the United States for about 35 years. So last week I decided to take the train rather than fly to another city to spend time with employees and customers. Although the outbound segment was a couple of hours late, I found the entire experience to be a very pleasant change of pace from the endless lines, personal space intrusions, and hurry-up-and-wait nature of air travel. The experience made me think about the benefits of changing our habits or trying a new approach. Not necessarily to make that change permanent, but simply to experience something new.

Taking the train enabled me to do something that many of us find challenging – to actually sit and think. Similar to what Thomas Friedman mentions in his new book “Thank You for Being Late,” it gave me an opportunity to pause, appreciate, and reflect upon several aspects of my personal and professional existence. I am not going to disparage the pace of our business nor the constant flow of information that accompanies our modern lives, as I believe we all understand the need to unplug in order to truly connect with others. Rather, I wish to suggest that we all need to look for opportunities to spend time doing nothing. Even if that means staring out of an Amtrak window as a frozen Midwestern landscape passes by. In my case, it afforded me the time to more deeply examine the Net Promotor Scores from my organization’s latest customer satisfaction survey; brainstorm some methods for my team to bring new ideas to our customers; and plan my team’s coverage model for next year. All while reading (and possibly being subconsciously influenced by) Ben Horowitz’s “The Hard Thing About Hard Things”.

Choosing a more relaxed mode of travel also enabled me to engage with a completely different group of people. Being engaged in B2B sales, we understand how the value we bring to our customers is enhanced by our understanding of the behavior of those customers’ customers. Taking an alternate path enabled me to share an experience with a different demographic and draw additional insights into their needs and behaviors. For example, riding on the train afforded me the opportunity to share a dining car booth with a sales rep who is in a completely different business than mine. I was able to learn a bit about his organization’s engagement and operations models, which will likely influence my own thinking about new ways for my team to engage with our customers. I had an enjoyable conversation with members of the train’s crew and learned how their responsibilities and lifestyle differ from those of my other travel industry customers. I cannot say for sure how sharing my trip with several Amish families directly influenced my thoughts, but it did remind me that American consumers truly come from all walks of life, each with their own needs and behaviors.

I realize that I could have done most of the above while choosing air travel, but I likely would not have. Breaking out of my usual routine and experiencing something new woke up my senses and provided a different sort of creative spark. For me, the combination of reading, reflection, and reassessment was exactly what I needed as we head into the final weeks of the 4th quarter and the anticipation of the new year.

Are You Always Reppin?

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Basketball season in the United States finally ended about a week and a half ago. For those of us who prefer the college game and were ambivalently oblivious to the fact that the “winter” sport was still being played even though the heat index was pushing 100 degrees outside, it has been even longer since the NCAA men’s basketball tournament ended in April. Like many of you (c’mon, admit it), I do not recall off the top of my head which team actually won the NCAA championship. Every year when the tournament ends I tend to quickly forget who won unless the victorious team goes by the name of Hawkeyes, Cyclones, or Panthers. Therefore, I forget every year. But what a journey the NCAA tournament proves to be year after year…

The team that made the greatest impression on me this year did not represent an institution of higher learning, but an institution in athletic apparel. Always Reppin’, the Nike motto that graced the warmup shirts of many of the competitors, is marketing gold. Serve it up with Nike’s own “Just Do It” campaign and a side order of Wendy’s “Where’s the Beef?” with Apple’s “Think Different” for dessert.

But what does it mean, really, to be Always Reppin’? And what does an apparel company slogan have to do with those of us responsible for bringing new business technology solution ideas to our customers and helping them make strategic investments? I haven’t done any research on what Nike intended as the slogan’s true meaning or what inspiration any of the teams drew from it. My impressions, however painfully obvious they may be, are that Always Reppin’ has two general meanings – how you choose to portray yourself and/or your organization and how you are building your skills. So, a few rhetorical reminders as we move into Q3:

Are you reppin’ you?  How are you representing yourself in your industry and with your customers? Are you doing what it takes to progress your career? Are you networking with others both inside and outside your industry to maintain a broad understanding of the marketplace? Are you spending time listening to both your customers and your competitors to understand what shifts are occurring in your industry? Are you embodying the spirit, ethics, and values that your organization professes to hold as core virtues? Would your customers agree with your portrayal of those values? Do your customers look to you for new ideas – about both new capabilities as well as new ways to use the capabilities in which they have already invested? How many new customers did you meet in the past week, month, etc.? In general, are you behaving like the true professional that you aspired to be when you got into this business? It never hurts to check your rep(utation) by asking your colleagues, management, and customers directly.

Are you getting your “reps” in?  Are you researching your customers’ business and getting alerts (and actually reading them) from media sources on developments in their industry? Are you spending a significant amount of time every week learning about new organizational capabilities and the application of those capabilities for your customers? Do you understand your company’s reference customers so you can translate how they have successfully leveraged your capabilities? If you are a product specialist, are you practicing the standard demos or developing new demos of your own? Developing new methods to rapidly prototype or deliver proofs of concept? If you are a generalist or more broadly focused sales architect, are you developing sample solution designs and other customer deliverables to help communicate your vision to your customers? Developing sample training plans to help your customers be more successful in implementing your solutions? Developing proactive point of view documents with new ideas that believe your customer should implement? Just like any repetitive training drills, you have to practice verbally, mentally, and physically in order to truly be prepared to help your customers succeed.

Despite my earlier claims of ignorance, I do know that the student-athletes from Villanova University won the NCAA basketball championship on a last second shot. And their achievement becomes a fitting metaphor for what can happen when you keep reppin’, do what it takes to differentiate yourself and your organization, and then take the shot to help your customer win when the opportunity presents itself.

It Is ALWAYS Personal

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The recent passing of American actor Abe Vigoda has conjured multiple tributes referencing his famous line from Francis Ford Coppola’s timeless 1972 epic, “The Godfather”. “Tell Mike it was only business” and other derivatives of “it’s not personal, it’s just business” may fly fine in Mafia films, but in real life, it is ALWAYS personal. Yes, you and the individuals at your customer are engaged in a business to business environment. And yes, you each represent your respective organizations in the interest of providing value to your customer’s business. Although that may be the foundation of the relationship, suggesting that the business relationship is not personal for all involved is both naive and short-sighted. Let’s examine this along three categories of personal interest.

Time

This one should be simple enough to understand, as it is the one thing that we can never get back. The customer spends time evaluating, learning, acquiring, implementing, and supporting the solution that you have recommended. They likely do not get paid overtime. They may miss meals at home or other family events to get the solution delivered on time. They may get called at odd hours or have to work on the weekend to deal with an unforeseen availability challenge. The list goes on and on. As a sales engineer dedicated to a successful customer outcome, your time is also spent on all of the above. Additionally, there is an opportunity cost of choosing to pursue this opportunity with this customer rather than another. Time spent in a long sales cycle, successful proof of concept, and solid business case can go to waste if the customer still chooses a competitor or chooses to do nothing at all. The opportunity cost of lost time that could have been spent pursuing an effort with another customer can be frustrating and negatively impact a rep’s willingness to pursue subsequent opportunities with the “lost” customer.

Financial

Since we are talking about a B2B relationship, it is true that your customer is never truly investing their own money (excluding stock holdings and other equity). It is their shareholders’ or their company’s owners’ money. However, that does not and should not change the significance. Your customer has been trusted with a budget by their superiors and that capital is to be invested wisely in the interest of their business. That responsibility often is and should be taken very personally by the customer. Your customer’s ability to bring in a project or department under budget may also be directly tied to their own compensation, which obviously makes the relationship very personal. Similarly for the technical seller, winning the customer’s business has a direct impact on your personal financial situation. Whether you are on a direct commission or bonus incentive plan, you make more money when you are successful in representing the right solution such that your customer makes an investment. Your success with customers also has an obvious and direct impact on salary increases, winning sales contests, trips, and any other leadership awards that your company offers.

Reputation

Here is where it truly gets personal. The experience that you provide your customer throughout the sales cycle is a direct reflection of your level of professionalism and that of the organization that you represent. Again, even though we often assume in a B2B relationship that decisions are made purely based on the quality and ROI of the solution, it is your behavior that will often determine whether the customer chooses to invest with you. This impression will remain with the customer whether you win or lose the current opportunity. It will have an impact on any future business that you seek from this customer and any future business that your company pursues if the individuals from this customer move on to other customers. From the customer’s perspective, the success or failure of their project goes beyond the financial responsibilities discussed above. Their career path is impacted by the choices they make and their ability to be effective. Their decision to invest in your solution therefore becomes very personal in that they need to be known as someone who makes sound choices for their company. No one wants to be known as the person who invested in an inferior solution, a solution offered by a supplier on shaky financial footing, goes over budget, fails to deliver on time, etc.

We, both supplier and customer, should always strive to keep our relationships focused on business value and positive customer outcomes. However, we cannot ever forget that we are human and our business decisions, no matter how objective, always have a personal impact.

If You Didn’t Write It Down, It Never Happened

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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”.

Midyear Maintenance

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Like any recurring good habit that can be marked by time, the middle of the year is as good a time as any to ensure that the professional image that you are presenting to your customers and your industry does not become stagnant. So block off an hour or so to…

Update your resume. I am constantly looking for candidates to join my organization. And I am constantly surprised by the number of professionals, regardless of the stage of their career, who either need a few days “to get my resume together” or provide me with something that hasn’t been updated for years. I don’t want to engage in any discussion about the effectiveness of different resume styles, lengths, etc., as I am more concerned with the basic act of keeping it updated. I will, however, urge you to avoid bad habits such as including a superlative-laden “career objective” section that says nothing about your abilities, focusing on jargon-filled responsibilities rather than results, and spending a lot of space listing out every acronym and technology that you have ever touched. Your resume should be saved as a PDF file that can be readily sent to an interested party (no one likes to be annoyed by the opening of Word or Pages just to read a document, particularly given the increased use of mobile devices). And be sure to include a link in your resume to your LinkedIn profile, because the next step in your midyear career maintenence is to…

Update your LinkedIn profile. In my recruiting efforts, I am equally amazed at the number of incomplete or nonexistent LinkedIn profiles. I tend to think of it this way – if someone has chosen to take the time to create a professional profile on LinkedIn, then why did they choose to do it in such an unprofessional manner? Is this an indicator of other unprofessional behavior that I should be concerned about? Do they have a habit of leaving activities incomplete or not following up? Is this the sort of person that I can trust to engage with my customers and present themselves and our solutions in the best possible light? As a customer, can I be sure that this individual will be thorough in exploring the needs of my business bringing me the appropriate solutions? Gaps in employment, ignoring education, and merely listing one’s current title/employer are the most common infractions. Your network and potential network is using this to learn about you, so you need to let them know what sort of professional you are. A final tip – I enjoy the music of Rush as much or more than the next guy, but that doesn’t mean that I should use a picture of Neil Peart in my LinkedIn profile (ok maybe on his birthday). The same goes for your pet ferret, your kids, or your favorite photo from that infamous frat party of yesteryear. LinkedIn is NOT Facebook.

One thought on length – given the space allowed, I recommend LinkedIn as the place to store the most complete picture of one’s career and experiences. The resume should be somewhat shorter, more focused, and include statements of results in order to capture the reader’s attention. Prospective hiring managers are going to look at both anyway, so you may as well use them both to tell your complete story. And that story is complete when you…

Update your “dust jacket” bio. Now that you have updated the details in your resume and LinkedIn profile, summarize it. Shrink it down into a maximum of four or five sentences describing you as a professional. Add a professional photo of yourself and save this as an editable document (Word or Pages). Having such a document at the ready will come in handy whenever a customer, colleague, or other interested party is in need of a brief introduction. It might be included in proposals, whitepapers, or other customer deliverables; organizational summaries that your management may be building; speaking engagements at your local college; or presentation opportunities at customer or industry conferences. Think of it like the brief author bios that appear on the dust jackets of your favorite books.

As a responsible adult, you likely take your car to the shop, visit the dentist, and get your home HVAC systems inspected on a regular basis. Your career deserves the same sort of attention. Consider adding this resume updating exercise to your other monthly or quarterly activities such as printing the account information and passwords from your password management software and storing them in safe place, printing out all of your contacts’ information from your e-mail or contact management system (remember, paper NEVER crashes), and updating the business results that you will eventually be submitting into your employer’s performance appraisal system at the end of the year.

Interviewing the Interviewer

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“Whenever someone asks me to define love, I usually think for a minute, then I spin around and pin the guy’s arm behind his back. NOW who’s asking the questions?” – Jack Handey

In a past post I provided some ideas that technical sales managers could explore with candidates and the types of questions that candidates should be prepared to answer. To turn the tables a bit, let’s explore some questions that sales engineering candidates should be asking as they explore roles with an interviewer. These go beyond the standard responsibilities/expectations/pay/benefits/career questions that you should be asking and will help you discover additional details about the prospective employer’s business and how you can help them expand it.

What do your customers tell you when you lose a deal?

This is important because it will get the interviewer to talk to you about some of the realities of their business. In addition to evaluating your capability to execute a specific role, the interviewer’s job is also to sell their company to you. Therefore, they may have a tendency to spend most of the time talking about the ideal situation or focus only on the positive aspects. Getting a thoughtful description of some of the more challenging aspects of the business will inject some reality into the discussion. It will also help you think about ways in which you can address the challenges once you become an employee.

What do you think I am going to find the most challenging in my first 6 months and how do most people address those challenges?

Similar to above, this question will drive a frank discussion of the realities inside the business. It will help you understand what you need to be prepared for. Assuming you are offered and accept the position, you will be better prepared to address the challenges that arise. Having some examples of how others address those challenges will enable you to consider their experiences as you formulate your own approach. This question would be most effective when asked in conjunction with one requesting a description of a typical day in the life at the company. If you ask this question, you should also be prepared to answer any follow up “what would you recommend?” questions that the interviewer throws at you.

What makes you stay at this company?

This will provide you with some insight into the viability of this company as a long-term employer and a glimpse at the company’s culture. Does the interviewer list specific attributes of the company and experiences that they have had that resonate with you? People love to talk about what they do and what they have done, so try to draw specific fulfilling experiences out of your interviewer. Your personality and career goals may be completely different from those of the interviewer, but you should still get their perspective as a starting point. Their attitude towards the company will also give you an idea of their management style, which is particularly important if they are the hiring manager to whom you will be reporting.

How much time can I expect to spend with you once I am hired?

Assuming that the interviewer is also the person to whom you will be reporting, this will help you understand their approach to managing their team. Are they going to be more of a hands on player/coach with you in the field or will they assign those details to a trainer/mentor and spend most of their time focused on administrative responsibilities? Do they have so many people reporting to them that they can only afford to spend a small amount of time with each employee? There are benefits and detriments to many management styles that I will not go into here, but asking this question will better prepare you for the sort of working relationship you are going to have with your new manager.

I noticed in reading your annual report/10-K that you are seeing a decline/development in ProductLineX in MarketSpaceX (or some similar question that was inspired from your reading of their financial statements and corporate communications)?

Obviously if you are interviewing with a public company you will have read through their most recent annual report and SEC filings. So use your newfound knowledge of the company’s strategy and results to ask some questions about segments of their business, target markets, growth prospects, etc. Since you are interviewing to become one of the most important employees in the organization – one that drives new revenue for the company – you should be very curious about the perception and penetration of their products in the marketplace. Your interviewer’s answer to this question will help you get a better understanding of how you are going to personally fit into the company’s strategy. It may also lead to a specific conversation about pipeline and future product development. If the company is privately held, then you should be able to derive some idea of their market position(s) and growth prospects from industry reports. Finally, if the interviewer has no idea what you are talking about or is completely unfamiliar with their company’s official filings, you may not want to go to work for them. This is particularly true if the interviewer is also the hiring manager to whom you would be reporting.

As a manager, I find the types of questions that candidates ask to be excellent indicators of how successful they are going to be in my organization. Those who have taken the time to research, prepare, and inquire about many aspects of my business typically end up being the most successful, as they tend to ask similarly provocative questions of their customers. Always remember, the sole purpose of the interview is to get an offer. These questions will help you get a better idea of whether you want to accept the offer and what you can expect after you do.

Your Three Q1 Imperatives

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For most in our business (and for many of our customers), a new fiscal year has begun. With that often comes changes in go to market models, sales coverage plans, management structures, priorities, and many other organizational aspects. This often leads to a great deal of consternation and “noise” in the system that creates distractions and can keep you from immediately pursuing success in 2015. So to help you get your head above the fray, here are my top 3 focus areas for your consideration:

1) Close out last year. And I mean right now. If you owe your manager documentation on last year’s performance, get it turned in today. If you need to send feedback on your colleagues to their management, get those praises aired now. (You should have been documenting both of these throughout 2014, so final submission should not be very arduous). If you thought that you would address any lack of hygiene in your CRM, forecasting, or reporting systems over the holidays but ended up spending that time with the kids on the new PS4, get those applications updated before the sun rises again. Even if it means pulling an all-nighter to get these tasks off your list so you can focus on the future.

2) Understand your management and colleagues. This is particularly true if your organization is changing. Knowing your reporting chain, the responsibilities of your colleagues, and your broader organization will enable you to more rapidly and effectively engage all of them to help your customers and pursue your goals. You will need your colleagues in the field with you and your customers as soon as possible. You will need your management’s support to deal with challenges and reward you for your success throughout the year. The faster you engage with both, the more confidence you will have with #3, which is…

3) Focus on your customers. Of course you know that this is always our #1 priority, but at the beginning of a new year we often have to address numbers 1 and 2 in order to give full focus to #3. This includes both your “old” and “new” customers. If your organization is altering coverage models or changing territories, introduce your customers to your successors who will be taking over those relationships. This will ensure a smooth transition and give your customers the confidence that your company, regardless of the individuals assigned, remains dedicated to their success. If you are getting assigned a new territory, dive into the details of those customers. Understand their current relationship and prior investments with your company. Download their 10-Ks, annual reports, and use services such as FirstRain and Hoovers to educate yourself on their priorities and industries. Most importantly, immediately start reaching out, introducing yourself, and getting together face to face with your new customers and lay the foundation for a mutually beneficial relationship. And remember, your customers are likely changing aspects of their organizations as well. So even if you do not have a new set of customers, you may need to begin working with new individuals at your customers.

Successful businesses are always evolving and the beginning of the calendar year is as logical as any time time to implement changes. Don’t let yourself get bogged down by the uncertainty that may be swirling above and around you. If you find yourself getting caught up in the maelstrom, clarity of your mission can always be found by spending time with your customers. Best of luck as you begin 2015.

Who’s Got Your Back?

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We all have career defining moments when we know that we were part of something unique. I was part of a management team several years ago that had it all. We had a regional set of customers across several industries who were growing their businesses as well as their business with us. We had a dedicated group of knowledgeable sales and technical sales professionals who understood our offerings and how to help our customers use them to run their businesses. We had a leader who thoughtfully accepted their role and had a goal to deliberately create something unique. We had a management team that was dedicated to our customers, our employees, and each other. We were aligned with regard to finances & forecasting and were constantly collaborating on new ideas to help us grow our business. We openly discussed our employees’ performance across each of our sub-teams and freely shared praise and areas of improvement for each others’ direct reports. We were a well tuned, world class sales organization that had everyone in sales and technical sales rowing in tandem to serve our customers and grow our business. In short, we had each others’ backs.

As always, business evolves and talented people move on to other roles, organizations, and companies. Even though our merry band of managers has now dispersed (in fact, many of us are now competitors), about every year several of us gather to renew bonds and share in some professional revitalization. Our gathering this year reminded me of the power that organizational trust can have when a management team truly gels. Although we all recognize that our former team was somewhat of a perfect storm as a growing business met a talented sales force and a motivated management team with compatible personalities, everyone still agrees that it was one of the most collaborative and rewarding work environments that any of us have ever experienced. Our approach, enthusiasm, and results were noticed by upper management and we were asked to pilot several new coverage models and employee engagement methods for the company. This further expanded the experiences of the management team beyond merely driving revenue and customer satisfaction and opened up some new feedback mechanisms for employees. To this day, many of us strive to create that same environment within our current organizations, with varying degrees of success.

So how can such an organization be created? Several years removed from this experience, I have come to believe that such an organization cannot be forced. But it can be encouraged via:

  • Strong leadership. Someone dedicated to the principles of servant leadership and who is as much interested in the people as they are the process and the profits. And has specific ideas about how they will lead the organization.
  • Transparency. Each manager must understand their peers’ goals, financial incentives, products & offerings, and employees. From that the management team can develop a desire to help each other – which leads to helping customers and employees to achieve their full potential.
  • A belief in the possibilities. Every manager on the team must have a desire to create some sort of legacy for themselves as a manager. Managers who have a mission to build something unique for customers and employees will look at every situation with fresh eyes and push the envelope with new solutions.

As you close out 2014 and finalize planning for 2015, take some time to consider your level of organizational trust? How well do you understand the goals of your peers? What are you doing to help your manager create a culture that is focused on the success of your customers and employees? Do you have each others’ backs?