Salesman

I was trying to write about something related to management, but I was unable to condense all my experiences into a couple of coherent paragraphs. Thats when I thought Ill try to pen down certain aspects of my experience in the field and then try to sticth them together and come up with something meaningful.

I was a salesman for two years. 

Sure, the designation on my visiting card tried to tell the customer that I was a knowledgeable engineer whose role was to offer technical support to the customers and to update them about the latest developments in the field; and on the side if that resulted in my organisation bagging an order, it was a plus.

To be honest, it was generally the other way round. I was evaluated on sales targets and my main agenda (As dictated to me by my superior authorities) was to sell, sell and sell.

This is where I learnt my first lesson, my designation on my visiting card. What was wrong in saying salesman or salesperson. The customer knew what I was there for, I knew what I was there for, then why this deception?

Some veteran salesmen told me 'Sales has honour in it, we are the people who bring in the money, who brave the market, who brave the competition, who get insulted and who hold back their emotions to again go back to the market the next day to make a sale.' Most of this is true. It was a difficult life as a salesman who made cold calls, tried to bag orders and who got abused by insensitive customers.

Theres nothing wrong in being honest about a sales role. Nothing wrong in telling the employees that its a high pressure role with lots of stress but one that helps you make quite some money.

As a salesman I was surprised to find that training imparted to salesmen by big companies with bigger 'trained' management professionals is completely unrelated to what the market wants. India is a unique market where trust and relationship matters most in business. An Indian customer does not have the time to listen to fancy sentences derived from a company's vision statement.

The customer has a problem, he wants a solution. If you can offer it to him, how fast and at what cost? These were the fundamental reasons they were talking to you. But, most of the training programmes I attended, concentrated on building a relationship with the customers.

There were even some MBA kind of people who used to instruct salesmen to simply visit the customer's office and take them out for lunch or coffee. They never took the pains to understand that the customer's time comes at a premium. He reports to a boss and he has a job to do. If he wanted to have coffee or lunch, he would want to do it on his own time.

Sure, some salesmen do develop a relationship with their customers like having coffee with them or be on first name basis with them, but thats only if the salesman has been around for a long time and has taken the pains to offer solutions to the customer which worked for him. Simply exhorting the salesmen to develop relationships with customers, bag orders and also ensure they remain satisfied with the company's service all in a limited time frame between two sales reviews never made any sense to me.

The second most important lesson I learnt was, humanity comes at a premium in a sales department in any company. Well, the advertisements stating that the company is a great place to work etc. might very well be applicable, but generally not to the sales departments.

Salesmen are always short of time and opportunities, so every order becomes a do or die situation. No company tries to have a sales department that works on nurturing relationships with customers and develop a sustainable business. Its always sell now, sell forever. Due to this attitude, sales managers are mostly rude. You can't really blame them because their bosses are ruder. Two sensitive issues being travel and leave.

Salesmen have to travel a lot since they have to visit customers, and the company might very well have great travel policies which say train travel upto so and so distance, air travel beyond that etc. but these aren't followed most of the time. Somehow whenever a salesman, especially at the elementary levels in the department is allowed to travel in reasonable comfort, the manager acts like he is doing a favour. Almost as if, you dont deserve to fly because you may or may not achieve your targets this year. Its a little demotivating when you are entitled for certain modes of travel but are forced to compromise just for the sake of your managers ego.

I have seen salesmen beg for leave. And I have seen them miss important occassions in their lives due to this. I had one manager who told me 'If you go on leave, Ill have to pitch in and do some of your work, which I do not want to, since I am a manager, not a salesman, so sorry, your leave is not approved'.

Sure, people do appreciate your performance, but you might not get promoted for winning a big order and you might very well get fired for losing an equally big one, all within 3 to 4 months.

Then there was more MBA lingo, which spoke about 'Entrepreneurship in sales'. First of all, our beloved MBA graduates who have fancy degrees from fancy institutions and have fancy designations with fancy salaries need to understand that, I can't be an entrepreneur if I dont think that this is 'My' company. To think that this is 'My' company I need to be treated first and foremost like a human being with kindness and respect. Its very difficult to be chided or abused on one hand and told to act like an entrepreneur on another hand.

Lastly as an illustration of humanity or the lack of it. I remember my last day at that organisation where I left the building alone. No one came to even see me till the door. I had seen senior managers dropping directors and CEO's to their cars, but there was no one who shook my hands and told me 'You worked here, for two years, achieved your sales targets and contributed to our company, all the best for the future.' That one incident made me feel my entire time in that company amounted to nothing, neither for me, nor for the company.

The third lesson that I learn was, people are very important. A dialogue in the popular movie Rocket Singh, salesman of the year said 'Business log hain, jo aapke saath kaam karte hain aur jo aapke customer hain. Jab log khush hote hain, number apne app badhne lagte hain' 

That was true, I have seen great colleagues and decent managers add a lot to my performance. I have seen reasonable customers teach me a lot. I have also seen colleageus who always preferred to step on me and walk ahead to take credit for the work I had done, managers who supported such colleages and customers who used to simply think that a salesman is not a human being and can be spoken to rudely and treated with contempt.

Today, I practise what I learnt then. I try to surround myself with positive people all the time. That makes life easier, and makes me work better.

My two years in sales came to me just after I left college. Just when I didn't really know or understand how the World outside worked and behaved. Those two years did disturb me a lot.

One of the happiest moments in my life in those two years was when I quit my job on a Monday, and sat on bench at a small tea store, sipping a cup of hot tea. At that moment, I had left a well paying job, but I strangely felt empowered. I felt good that I wouldn't be subjected to abuses and insults the next day. I remember sipping that cup of tea and feeling content and happy with a small smile on my face.

Those two years also added a lot of experience. I learnt what business is, how people behave, and how to calibrate my expectations from my professional life. That time gave me a lot of intangible knowledge and added a lot of wisdom.

But overall, it wasn't something I would want to go through and would want anyone else to go through.

To all the salesmen all there, who dont feel appreciated, admired or treated properly. I have seen your side, I was on your side once upon a time and I appreciate the effort you put in every single day, braving the climate, the abuses, the taunts and the pressures to try to bag that one order, which might or might not be appreciated.

I appreciate the days you have sacrificed and the time you have spent away from your family. I admire your determination and maturity to get up every morning, forgetting what happened yesterday and start all over again.

I sincerely hope you get the respect due to you, that more companies and customers are considerate about your time and your emotions and I hope that one day you and your company both are proud enough to print your designation on your visiting card saying....Salesman..

As I age.....

I opened my blog yesterday and realised I had not written anything much for a long time. I was preoccupied and did not find enough time to pen down my experiences.

Today as I read my own blog, I realised how I have changed over the years. Some posts of mine, when I read them again with the benefit of the experience that the intervening years have added stand like mirrors showing me a reflection of how my thoughts have changed over the years.

That made me start thinking how good it felt to age a little. As the years go by they add a lot of experience and wisdom. Some thoughts may remain the same, but the approach changes.

Subtle changes do seem to occur as I grow older. One seems to be when it comes to my energy levels. I noticed that like every youngster just out of college my posts initially seem to be quite passionate. The experiences are described vividly, conclusions seem to be derived after every paragraph.
Today, my energy levels remain the same, but some sort of channelization seems to have occurred. Most of my descriptions were more of passion, some facts and little reflection but today when I think about events which occur on a day to day basis, facts predominate, reflection takes up much space and finally passion takes up a small share of trying to apply what I learnt today, tomorrow.

Today ,I also realised, its nice to grow older. Age brings a lot of empathy alongwith it.

Before, I never used to think about the reason for another persons reaction, or some deep underlying issues in any system. Nowadays I do empathize with people. I do think for a minute about the circumstances and the situations in which they said what they said and did what they did. It helps a lot. Before, I used to be a little idealistic. Even now I am the same but I realise the limitations of every system. Things are the way they are because the system is attuned to that pace or that culture. Change takes some time, but you can keep putting in your efforts.

When I was younger, a long time ago, I used to try to 'blend in' with friends or colleagues. Now, I don't. If I think they are following something good I try to imbibe it, otherwise I am fine being me. I have a right to my space just as others have right to theirs.

Views on friendship have also changed. Movies seem to portray friendships as the most perfect relationships, where friends are your soul mates, support systems, sources for inspiration and so on and so forth.

Not all friends are soulmates. Not all soulmates are friends. A senior at office can be a good sounding board or a soulmate, sharing his experiences and wisdom and helping you learn something related to your job as well as to your life. Friends need not necessarily be your support systems. Some might just find it nice to spend time with you when you are happy, others might like to talk to you when they have problems and need someone who can listen. Friends will keep coming into and going out of your life time and again depending on circumstances. Some are also sources of negativity and must be avoided.

When I was younger I used to think of building a career. As time went by I realised careers are not built. As someone wrote in a newspaper article "A career is an accumalation of experiences".

Initially I used to think all efforts at work are rewarded instantly. Now, I realise it need not be the case. Career progression is quite inelastic. The experience that you accumalate today might bring you rewards after a long time. The efforts you put in today might be appreciated at a later date, when you are no longer in that role or function. Its best to try to keep putting in as much as you can, try to learn from whatever situations you face at work and keep trying to enhance the quality of your output, bit by bit, day by day.

A job seems to be most rewarding when I do it without expecting much in return.

Lot of experiences, various circumstances, situations beyond our control and reflecting on our past, and learning from them, brings a lot of satisfaction and comfort.

Overall, it feels nice to age. It feels good to grow a little older......