A Warning About Going in to Sales

I started a sales job on the exact same date that another rep started. He washed out in about 90-days and I was promoted to VP of Sales. How can this happen to two people who start on the exact same day with the same set of resources? And, in this case, he came from a hated competitor with years of industry experience and I had no relevant industry experience. It was our backgrounds. He came over from a Sales Engineering role, and I was a career sales leader.

The differences were stark. While we both had moments when the phone felt like it weighed 500 pounds, I still picked up the damn thing and made calls. He didn’t. While we both hated the disappointment of being told “No!” I dealt with it and kept grinding. It killed his spirit. While we both found internal challenges that made selling difficult (sound familiar), I overlooked them. He bitched about them – constantly. And, while I was closing several deals per month, he was not.

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What are you waiting for? Those deals won’t wake up on their own!

I’ve seen this happen before, and I always warn the sales engineers, customer managers, subject matter experts, and any of those folks who work with the sellers to be extremely careful when considering making the move to sales. Here’s why.

Sales Engineers and those who support sellers are often called in to help midway through the sales process. It is their technical savvy that really wins the day and helps close the deal. When they are engaged, they are typically presenting to the decision makers. The table has been set. The SE walks in to the room, let’s the seller kick off the meeting, and takes it from there. At that point they wow the audience with their prowess, years of experience, and customer best practices. It is not unusual that this presentation tips the deal in your favor and you get the deal. And, because the SE doesn’t have the word “sales” on his business card, the customer actually believes him!

But the sales rep gets all the credit and most of the associated earnings. Over time the SE becomes disenchanted with his role and rightly so. After all, he is the one that is getting these deals done. If it weren’t for him, you probably would have lost to a competitor. So, since he knows the business like the back of his hand, and obviously he can sell, he makes the move. And more often than not, fails. Here’s why.

That incredibly smart, talented and gifted SE has absolutely no idea how hard it is to get the sale process to the point where he was traditionally brought in. He has no idea how many calls, how much disappointment and frustration go in to the earliest parts of the sales process. And without that knowledge, he is totally ineffective.

Sales appears to be really easy when you participate in the process. But it is hard as hell when you are the seller trying to make it happen. Do not under estimate the challenges that come with setting the table. There is nothing easy about it. So if you are in a role like that and are thinking about sales, think hard. The job is not as easy as you think.

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