“You Think It’s My Fault?”

Last week I took a trip to Sydney to do some planning with my company NRS Media, and as part of that trip I took a little time to catch up with some of the contributors that we are looking at adding to Talking Media Sales over the coming months.

With one contributor, I got talking about why Talking Media Sales was set up and who our customer was. I would like to think that by now, as a reader, you are familiar with our positioning.

Here is a refresher -

Media rep for  Radio, TV,  Newspaper or online, usually direct sales and most likely salary and commission based.

They have  been in the job maybe 6 months. They were given what sales mangers call a qualified client list and he swears that there is gold in them hills of names.

Usually some order taker from above has not serviced them for about 5 years or they are just rubbish. They receive no training, sorry, a day or two meeting everyone, who are so busy that they are polite enough, but raise their eyebrows thinking to themselves – another poor rep to the slaughter, but are expected to come back with an order. They learn on the road, if they are tough they survive, if not then there are plenty out there to take their place. It’s  bloody hard and not all that fair.

So they begin to work away, getting totally rejected from clients that have received similar calls from “what’s his name” or they say “Doesn’t John work there anymore? He only called on me last week?” All the time thinking that here comes another one, how long will she last? While all around the stars are the winners, the ones that have been there the longest, often inherited big clients, have not actually done any work, just got a few lucky breaks. There are some nice one there too, but they are the focused ones and are often selfish and hell bent on worrying about themselves.

Some get a lucky break; they might actually have some skills and some drive and endeavor, the sales manger may take some notice of them for a few minutes. It’s actually their job, but hell  where do I find the time to do that they say?

I would like to think that I stick up for that customer, and having been in the position of a rookie direct sales person, Sales Manager, General Sales Manager, General Manager , and owner  of a media company I think I can have some empathy with all of those positions.

So when I heard this story I got a little grumpy.

Take responsibility

A rookie sales person who I will call Jack was called into the General Sales Managers office of a well known TV station in Sydney. The objective of that meeting was to review the sales person’s performance and possible solutions to help that sales persons career – or that is what Jack thought it was. You might be thinking well that is fair enough, but here are a few facts.

Jack started 6 months ago:

He was promised a client list- he got the yellow pages!

He was promised an orientation – he got walked around the station.

He was promised training- he got 2 days with another rep.

He was promised offers to sell and copy assistance- he got nothing.

The list goes on and on. So he is sitting in this turkey’s office and starts to explain his situation, when this guy cuts in and says “You think it’s my fault?”

My answer, not Jack’s:

“Damn right it’s your fault. You are the leader of this team, you are the one person who can have the greatest influence in Jack’s career and you are obligated to give him the best chance to succeed. Given the promises you have not delivered, then yes, it’s your fault!”

We all have pressures, but it’s no excuse. I know the Jack’s of the world, and with some guidance and some direction he could succeed, and be one of the best that a GSM could have on his team.

This situation goes on all over the world, and it’s just not good enough.

I do however know great GSM’s that when reading this would cringe at this person’s attitude.

Will Jack survive? What do you think?

Good selling

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