Schwag in your bag

If you’re a Sales guy or gal, you know all about schwag. What kind of schwag is in your bag?

I remember when The Sales Guy returned from his first conference after our son was born. And, you guessed it, The Sales Guy tossed some schwag in his bag for our newborn. This was special schwag. The Sales Guy scouted out the cute, limited edition, stuffed raccoon with t-shirt from the moment the booth girl put the mammal on the counter.  At the time, I thought it was the sweetest thing that The Sales Guy was missing his newborn [and hopefully me]. As it turned out, because The Sales Guy is a sales guy, he turned the situation into a negotiation!  Took two days for him to work the deal and trap the coveted Ricky Racoon!

The Sales Guy seems to go to fewer shows these days so we’re running low on pens, post-its, coffee mugs, etc. And what the heck happened to those awesome light up yo-yos?  This winter, our entire family rocked schwag.  We communicated daily on my company’s pre-rebranding post-its. The Sales Guy modeled weekly his company’s issued dress shirt. We showed our son we loved him on Valentine’s Day viasticker schwag. Even our first snowman sported baseball cap schwag!

Here’s the crazy part about schwag. It takes a lot of creativity (and often money) for schwag to have any schwagger and do the needful. It must drive Marketing teams crazy to hear stories like ours.  They spend all this time figuring out just the right schwag to get attention, show off the brand, etc. And, then, people like us abuse the schwag. I have no idea who Ricky Racoon was “representing” nor do I care. The part I love about schwag when it finds its way into our home is that it means The Sales Guy has been thinking about us when he was on the field. 

Smarter than the Wife

If you read my last post, then this one should make you smile. Accredited folks smarter than me are also making the point that you have to put the right people in the right positions on the field: 
http://www.profilesinternational.com/solutions_sales_talent_management/sales-effectiveness.aspx

Goal! Next season..

He did it. The Sales Guy eeked out the win in overtime. Smashed his number for the year.  The crowd went wild.

And now he's back on the fields to play all over again. The fields have changed though. The Coaches decided it's time to shake things up (again.) And, as coaches and owners do time-to-time, they are asking the team to play different positions on different fields (territories, that is.)  This time, it's not just about the stadium changes. They are asking the team to play multiple positions.  I have a slight issue with that.

The hunter and farmer roles have become one.  Not sure if The Sales Guy's organization has attempted this in the past and it'll certainly be an interesting game to spectate but I don't get it. And what I take issue with is it happened overnight.  One day they are hunting and the very next day, just because of a calendar change, they are hunting AND farming. As The Sales Guy's Wife, I have to be honest and say I didn't notice any late night pumping iron or makeovers going on so that he was ready for this 4/1. He barely had the Gatorade gulped down from the overtime win.

So why exactly do organizations make changes like this? I honestly believe it has zero to do with what is best for the customer and much more to do with saving money and reducing headcounts.  And, perhaps they just don't get it... send a career fullback into a game last minute and tell him/her to score a goal and chances are you aren't going to get that.  Send a career right wing into a game last minute and ask him/her to protect the net and stop all goals and you probably aren't going to get that. Your midfielders have the best shot at shifting back and forth between roles but, guess what, they are trained and conditioned to do that.

The interesting thing here is organizations who make calls on-the-fly like this are ones which seem to underestimate the power of pristine customer relationship management and perhaps care less about customer satisfaction. And perhaps ones who have great faith in their teams to become midfielders overnight. Not saying The Sales Guy's organization is one of those. I am just saying the less devoted time you spend on relationship management, the more likely you may be to have customers at risk. And, the more time you ARE doing relationship management, the less time you are spending on the next new takedown. And, perhaps, I've lived this type of change both in the workplace and on the soccer field.

I don't doubt that The Sales Guy will work his tail off and do well. And I'm sure his teammates, who have also been successful in the past, will do well too.  Let's see how the customers react and what the numbers show as this all unfolds.