He did it. With his bare hands. Crushed that measly little number. Like it was just a number. And then April 1 came. It felt more like February 2 (aka Groundhog Day.)
When the Bruins won the Stanley Cup, the celebration went on for days, months and, oh my gosh, it’s almost been a year. The Sales Guy got to celebrate for approximately one hour (not even enough time for the backyard fireworks) before he got the news that the great job he did was being rewarded with a territory realignment. And, of course, we’re talking about the removal of a portion of his territory. Groundhog Day 2012 feels a lot like Groundhog Day 2011.
No tact involved in this form of eminent domain by the way. Straight up delivery of the news. “Sir, the government thanks you for taking care of your land but we feel as though someone else can make better use of it. They need the help.” I’m being as nice as The Sales Guy’s Wife can be here but, come on. In an elite class for 2012 of, oh say 2 or 3 people on an entire sales force, and you strip the rug. I guess that is what happens when you can do more with less.
Good tact, IMHO, would have been to at least have the conversation about, “What the heck did you do Sales Guy this year to rock this world? We wanna know so the sub-par player we’re about to give this domain to can kill it like you did.” I hate to make an example out of this kind of management but, remember, my passion and day-to-day as an enabler of sales through my own work is to deal with this kind of thing. Feeling a little like a bird watcher here myself, mr.manager, can’t you see the forest through the trees? You took a territory away from a top performer so a lower level performer can mess it up if you don’t help him or her FIRST. I just hope you are paying attention to the day-to-day activities for the next several weeks so you can catch the wrong moves quickly before, oops, the same rep is missing his number with even more ground to cover.
Looking forward to following this adjustment of the plan and cheering on The Sales Guy for another year – or just a little less. Tick tock!
