My father, at the time of his retirement, was a highly respected professional in his industry. His position and authority was acclaimed by clients, competitors, coworkers and superiors alike. The reason was nothing great to be honest- just the fact that he had managed the art of balancing his industry knowledge, experience and people skill at work to the very best. Not surprising that even after 5 years of his retirement, people still do some back to him with offers for consulting, guiding or just personal advice.
Recently my father had a visitor- a colleague who had risen from being a service engineer was today heading a service department in the same organization. I usually like to sit around my father at such times as long as my presence becomes a problem in the discussion. Reason; the issues discussed are business adversities and I find it really interesting to learn more from the experience shared.
During the discussion, my father asked the person as to why the morale in the company was low? The other person was a little taken aback by the statement as there was not much discussed on this front. The reason my father gave to substantiate his claim was his meeting someone from a competitor organization saying that the sales persons he was seeing lately lacked the zeal for winning the contract. If the frontline sales team was lacking enthusiasm, the rest of the organization morale was just so easy to imagine.
A few days later, I was sitting with him talking how working has become difficult due to a drop in sales and overall morale going down due to market sentiments. He was quick to point out that such times exist in every business and actually test the mettle of the company of how well it has developed its management during the better times. I agreed to his statement- but also told him how the environment was going unhealthy when top management was getting down to closing deals at any cost.
To stand by my words I gave him a classic example. Our sales and business team was going to clients and making an offer which was competitive. Knowing that the markets were sluggish, most clients were delayed in response. While the sales guys had faith in the offer they had made and were prepared to wait for their bid to pay off, the management was pushing on closing deals quicker. Result, people who did not have much to do on day to day business levels were now actively involved in client meetings.
How did this affect? Well a sales guy was having GM Marketing or Sales Head along with him on meetings- how much ground did his position stand once they flashed their card to the client. What was happening next was the sales guy was automatically eliminated from the equation and all his hard work towards building the deal was simply out of the reckoning. Worst was when the VP Sales was answering calls from large contractors and dealers who wanted to push their credit lines beyond their allocated limit. Reason again was the VP giving out his business cards like a greeting card to boost his ego about knowing people right down the levels.
This was affecting the sales teams majorly. The month of May-June saw nothing less than 8 sales guys resigning from their jobs and serving notice. A large cause for the bunch to be dissatisfied with all this was intervention of the top brass in daily activities which saw the sales team lose face in a lot of ways. End of the day, there were also some people amongst the managers who loved to moot around ‘I got the project, I did it…’ The problem was small by no means as no less than 8 people in sales had put in their papers in a matter of 15 days.
In his usual ways, my father came around and shared an anecdote from his life which was a big learning by far. In his early days, he had closed a deal at a price and the mill owner shrugged his shoulders suggesting- that is a deal for you, I still have the ace up my sleeve, my relation with your MD. He did try to use his contact and contact the MD, but this was the place where a seasoned businessman showed his character. Instead of putting down his sales guy for some personal relations, the MD made a turn coat saying- You are very lucky, the guy was new and he gave up more than what was best possible in the hope of getting the order; if it was me, I’d settle on 2-3% higher than what he has.
The MD later met my father in confidence and told him not to be bogged down by such comments. For the company, it was word and offer from the sales person which was of prime importance and no personal contacts or relations came above that. It was all the sales team ever needed to know to justify how much they were valued.
It sometimes occurs to me how values in a family managed enterprise were more business oriented than what I see sometimes in MNCs. It is surprising how designations in an old school organization never overruled business goals- but somehow they are in a global MNC.
Recently my father had a visitor- a colleague who had risen from being a service engineer was today heading a service department in the same organization. I usually like to sit around my father at such times as long as my presence becomes a problem in the discussion. Reason; the issues discussed are business adversities and I find it really interesting to learn more from the experience shared.
During the discussion, my father asked the person as to why the morale in the company was low? The other person was a little taken aback by the statement as there was not much discussed on this front. The reason my father gave to substantiate his claim was his meeting someone from a competitor organization saying that the sales persons he was seeing lately lacked the zeal for winning the contract. If the frontline sales team was lacking enthusiasm, the rest of the organization morale was just so easy to imagine.
A few days later, I was sitting with him talking how working has become difficult due to a drop in sales and overall morale going down due to market sentiments. He was quick to point out that such times exist in every business and actually test the mettle of the company of how well it has developed its management during the better times. I agreed to his statement- but also told him how the environment was going unhealthy when top management was getting down to closing deals at any cost.
To stand by my words I gave him a classic example. Our sales and business team was going to clients and making an offer which was competitive. Knowing that the markets were sluggish, most clients were delayed in response. While the sales guys had faith in the offer they had made and were prepared to wait for their bid to pay off, the management was pushing on closing deals quicker. Result, people who did not have much to do on day to day business levels were now actively involved in client meetings.
How did this affect? Well a sales guy was having GM Marketing or Sales Head along with him on meetings- how much ground did his position stand once they flashed their card to the client. What was happening next was the sales guy was automatically eliminated from the equation and all his hard work towards building the deal was simply out of the reckoning. Worst was when the VP Sales was answering calls from large contractors and dealers who wanted to push their credit lines beyond their allocated limit. Reason again was the VP giving out his business cards like a greeting card to boost his ego about knowing people right down the levels.
This was affecting the sales teams majorly. The month of May-June saw nothing less than 8 sales guys resigning from their jobs and serving notice. A large cause for the bunch to be dissatisfied with all this was intervention of the top brass in daily activities which saw the sales team lose face in a lot of ways. End of the day, there were also some people amongst the managers who loved to moot around ‘I got the project, I did it…’ The problem was small by no means as no less than 8 people in sales had put in their papers in a matter of 15 days.
In his usual ways, my father came around and shared an anecdote from his life which was a big learning by far. In his early days, he had closed a deal at a price and the mill owner shrugged his shoulders suggesting- that is a deal for you, I still have the ace up my sleeve, my relation with your MD. He did try to use his contact and contact the MD, but this was the place where a seasoned businessman showed his character. Instead of putting down his sales guy for some personal relations, the MD made a turn coat saying- You are very lucky, the guy was new and he gave up more than what was best possible in the hope of getting the order; if it was me, I’d settle on 2-3% higher than what he has.
The MD later met my father in confidence and told him not to be bogged down by such comments. For the company, it was word and offer from the sales person which was of prime importance and no personal contacts or relations came above that. It was all the sales team ever needed to know to justify how much they were valued.
It sometimes occurs to me how values in a family managed enterprise were more business oriented than what I see sometimes in MNCs. It is surprising how designations in an old school organization never overruled business goals- but somehow they are in a global MNC.
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