Remember...I've got feelings!

Actually the title is not about me, but it could be! We all know that the last year has been a very trying one for all people, not just those of us in the promotional products, but those all around the country. As an executive of one of the larger distributors in the US I have been caught up in what most people have been doing, aligning costs with the sales revenue.

Yes this includes the fun stuff (I say this 100 % sarcastically) of making budget cuts, laying off people, reducing benefits, etc. I have been involved in countless projections of sales and profits and more analysis than I care to think of. It has not been fun but it has been a necessary evil that has had to be done.

One of my responses to the economic challenges of this year involved me drastically cutting back on some travel during the second half of the calendar year. This seems to make sense…right? Again if there was a good reason to fly to the east coast or the west coast I would be on a plane tomorrow. We all still need to go about our business, unless we are closing up shop and this is certainly not a factor with our company. But again in an effort to be fiscally responsible we cut back on some discretionary travel trips.

As I write this I am returning from a sales meeting in Ohio attended by about 25 of our sales reps. I will let you know that we have almost 400 sales reps around the United States, most employees but some 1099 status folks who are compensated 100 % on straight commission. At this meeting we had a mix of long time seasoned veterans (some with over 30 years with our company) and some exciting new hires who had aligned with us recently for a variety of reasons. I would like to say that they “saw the light” and realized we were the place to be but for one reason or another we seem to fit their needs!

After a day and a half of teaching, listening and learning I was overcome with the realization that these people are real and that these people have feelings. For the past several months of analysis and projections I have been seeing their names and their sales numbers, volumes, commissions, profits, etc. on reports. Mind you I have known some of these people a long time so that this week was not my first introduction to them.

The overwhelming reality that I faced was that while I have been reviewing budgets and projecting future sales and expenses these folks have been trying to live and get by day to day in many cases. As a salaried manager with bonus opportunities and a vested interest in the company it is not as if I am just skating by with absolutely no impact on my income. I have been affected but not to the extent that the sales people on the street have experienced. I saw and heard cases of 20, 30 and 40 % losses in income. Again I knew this because I see the reports however this week it touched me more than a name on a piece of paper!

Have I been stuck in the ivory tower? Yes I think I have!

I think at the end of the day, as a person responsible for managing the business, many decisions that have been made would be the same. What I do think could be different is the way you arrive at the decisions and the manner in which you communicate them could be more compassionate.

Whether you own and run a small distributorship or a supplier or a large national firm does not really matter. Perhaps in a larger company it might be easier to “forget” about the personal side of the business if you are not interacting with the reps on a daily basis. The bottom line is that salespeople have feelings! They want to be heard! They want to be appreciated!

I have a special line that I use in our company at certain times. In those situations where someone is complaining about the actions of a particular rep I attempt to get to the core of the issue and see what happened. Sometimes it becomes apparent that a person would rather complain about the salesperson than remedy the situation. It is at that time that I will say in a very sobering tone straight faced as I can be…

”well maybe we should consider eliminating all of the sales reps. I think if we did that things would go much smoother around here. Don’t you think?”

We all know how ludicrous that this sounds. We all need salespeople! They are at the heart of our who we are and what we do. Nothing happens until something is sold!

The wake up call that I got this week was to never forget the salesperson on the street and what they go through. Stay in tune with who they are and what they do! Spend some real face time with them. Listen to them! Find out firsthand what their challenges they are encountering and discuss ways to overcome them together.

If we can remember to do these things, especially at times like this, our companies will all be better off. We need each other, management and sales, more than either side will admit but it is true!

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Don’t worry! I am not going to break out singing like Aretha Franklin. Of course, if I could sing like Aretha I do not believe you would find me in the promotional products industry.

I write the word respect as the heading for this blog because it is that time of year when we need to stop and think before we speak sometimes. Believe me when I say that I have to do this every day. This is the peak season for orders and business even in a year like this. Peak orders mean peak problems. Peak problems mean peak frustrations!

I also bring up the good old fashioned, tried and true “golden rule” that says “to treat people the way that you would like to be treated”. Before someone thinks that this is a message from the home office to all the sales people in the field let me very clear that this is a message for everyone, including myself!

I struggle to compose myself many times during this season but what I have to keep coming back to is the fact that we are on the same team. We should be working to a common goal of satisfying the customers by delivering the product they requested in the condition and of the quality that they requested by the date they requested. Sounds simple? Heck no…we all know that! You can have a spirited (I use this rather than the word heated…it sounds better, doesn’t it?) discussion one minute and then hang up only to have to answer the call a second later to speak with someone who knows nothing about the call that you just had. It is critical that we greet this new caller with respect just like it was the first call of a bright new day. Answering the call with “what do you want now” is certainly not the way to set a positive tone.

Again this message can be appropriate for all of us. Inside, outside, support staff, executive management…..we should all heed this advice! Have you ever taken out your frustrations on someone on the phone even though you know that they are only the messenger? I have and most times after I have done it I recognize that this poor person who just got the brunt of my anger, that she did not create the problem. Or reversing roles, have you ever found yourself telling a salesperson right after their order was cancelled due to no fault of their own, that they should get over it and move on? Remember most sales reps do not get paid if they do not get an order!

So when you find yourself in that position where the top of your head is ready to explode…yes I know, everyone knows this feeling…we should all attempt to take a deep breath. Hold off before clicking the SEND button on that message. Consider saving it until the morning. If you wake up and read the message in the morning and it seems good then go ahead, click and send. Many times I think we will see that it needs some softening if it is to be received in a constructive manner by the party at the other end. This brings me to my next pet peeve…

To call or not to call…

Does anyone use the phone anymore? I know that I fall into this trap as much as anyone. Recently when walking through a department I noticed it was eerily silent so I remarked that “it appeared pretty slow”. Oh my goodness did I get an earful! Almost in unison they proceeded to tell me that they were swamped. How could that be as I heard nothing?

The fact of the matter was and is that so much of our communication today is done via email. I acknowledge that we have announced at meetings loud and clear to all who would listen that this is the preferred method of communication. We say this because it is quick and easy to track! It helps to provide all parties with documentation of the correspondence. It is also NOT perfect!

Emails do not always get noticed! Emails do not always get delivered! It is hard to pick out an urgent problem from a list of 62 emails in my In Box. The point to be made here is that there are times when an actual phone call is more appropriate. Have you sent a few emails and they have gone unanswered? This may be a great time to make a call and, if nothing else, let the recipient know that you had sent two emails inquiring as to whether or not they were received, and then attempting to resolve the problem on the phone once and for all. Do you need the corporate office to help out ASAP? Perhaps a well placed phone call to one of the support staff will elevate your request up and above the 61 emails ahead of yours in the In Box?

Today with Spam Filters and Junk Email being handled by 100’s of different internet providers, all with different rules, we know lots of emails get blocked. Most companies cannot control what gets through and what gets blocked.

The bottom line here is that while electronic communication is efficient and fast that there are times when resorting to the good ole phone works best. Keep this in mind! Let’s not be afraid to speak with each other. Some messages are much easier to communicate in the spoken word rather than the written word.

These are my words of wisdom for this month. Now if I can only practice what I preach!

Thanks for listening!