The Lack of Blogs
Lets just suffice it to say, I work (ed) for a company based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The initials of the company are T.S. and over the course of my nearly one year with the organization, as a business development manager, I have had FOUR sales managers. Again, I state: I have only been with the company for 11 months and in that time, I have had FOUR sales managers. This does NOT bode well for ANY organization, let alone one that has delivery and support issues.
So anyway, in the interests of complete disclosure, I have not had the best numbers in the organization...however, I also did not have the worst. In fact, this month, the first month of the Third Quarter, I had two deals lined up that would net over HALF of my quota for the entire quarter. One deal in particular was rumored to be the single largest Multi-Factor Authentication deal the company had ever sold. This deal had taken me over 6 months to put together and at the last minute, the parent organization, a multi-Billion dollar insurance firm had gotten involved AND was interested in our solution. So I was on Cloud Nine. Everything was right with the world and I was heading to Iowa to ride with the greatest cyclist in the world AND to contribute in the fight against cancer.
So on Friday, just before I leave with my Brother for Iowa, I get a call from my Sales Manager, L.H. down in Dallas. She lays on some heavy guilt that she can't believe I am going to be actually gone "for a whole week." I reiterated to her that the one deal that was closest to close was now in legal/contract negotiations and that I was out of that loop. I also reminded her that I had already had my home office phone forwarded to my cell which would be with me the entire journey, so if anything came up, I was reachable. She backed off a bit, making some stupid statement like "Sean, I need to know that you are committed to this." I said "Yes, I Am." and that was it.
So, the ride starts on Sunday and I get in a good 52 plus miles. Monday was a grueling day, 82 miles of Iowa hills. A LONG day in the saddle. At some point, late in the day, she called me and I missed the call. I DID get her voicemail, around 8pm (CT) that night. So I decided to call her in the morning, which I did and got her voicemail. I left her a message and asked her to call me when she got the message. I saddled up and joined the rest of my team for the kick-off of Tuesday's ride (Day Three).
About 30 minutes into the ride, my phone rings and I tell my teammates that I will catch up with them. I answer the call and she doesn’t waste any time but cuts right to the chase: "We are going to have to let you go."
I was numb. I was on vacation. A vacation I was using to improve OTHERS lives and they can’t wait to fire me until after I get home from the trip. I expressed my consternation with the way it was handled and she said she "...needed someone to work that territory."
The twist:
At the end of June, despite not having had the best quarter of all my peers, my CEO, P.S. and I had a phone conversation which L.H. was on as well. In that conversation Pete, erm, P.S. said "You didn’t have the best quarter, but I still believe in you and I am going to continue to invest in you. You have this quarter to hit your number and then we will re-evaluate." Less than 3 weeks later I was being fired. So I have little doubt that P.S. (the CEO) was as involved in the decision as was Laurie...erm...L.H.
The bottom line: The CEO's word is entirely worthless. His thrashing around over the last year, replacing sales managers, hiring and then firing staff without them having a legitimate opportunity to actually achieve their goals...ALL his erratic behavior is just indicative of a person in command who has zero idea what he should be doing.
Sad really. The company and its solutions are pretty decent. But I am confident that he will drive even that into the ground.
Sorry for the lack of blog postings, but what are you going to do. Being fired on vacation definitely takes some of the wind out of your sails. Or is that 'sales'?
LIVESTRONG! But I guess dont "WORKSTRONG"
Sean
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