Conference ilbbak::us_sales_service

146.0. "A Salesman's Prayer" by HOTWTR::THOMPSOKR (Kris with a K) Fri Jul 31 1992 20:10

    		(Cross-posted from HUMANE::Digital  Note 2027)
    
Dear Lord, help me in these troubling times at my company.  Help me 
see the light and the end of the dark tunnel and help me to remain 
positive in a sea of negativity.

Help me find product information so I can respond to my customer's 
questions quickly, completely, and competently, rather than the 5 phone 
calls and 2 days it typically takes.  Keep me from saying "I don't know 
but I'll get back to you" no more than 3 times a day.  Give me one source 
of product and pricing information, Lord, not 12.

Give me competitive products at a fair price to sell and I'll do the 
rest.  Oh yeah, the products should be easy to understand and sell, too.
Teach management the value of advertising and teach me the proper
response when my customers say, "Digital sure has great products.  You 
know, if you would just advertise more we could buy more because manage-
ment would then feel more comfortable with a decision to buy DEC."

Leave me alone and let me do the job I was hired for.  Put people - heck, 
Lord, make it a culture - in place that ask every day,  "What can we do 
to sell more?" and "What do the customers REALLY want?"  Help other 
Digital functions understand sales as it is at other companies. (I 
realize the word "appreciate" would be too much to ask for, Lord, so I 
would settle for an "understanding" instead.  After all, I work for 
Digital, the company that is embarassed about selling.)

Good God Almighty, please eliminate the systems and the culture that are 
counter-productive, redundant, and inefficient.

Teach me patience and understanding in dealing with DECies that are 
incompetent and lazy.  Show senior management the debilitating effects 
these people have on the morale and motivation of others.  Teach 
management how to discipline - even fire - people who take advantage of 
Digital's laissez-faire culture.  Help management learn how to give a 
real, honest performance reviews.

Help us understand why some people get paid for essentially sitting at 
their desks and do nothing to help generate revenue.  Help those that 
were hired for a job they were not qualified to perform to find work 
outside the company and support them, as it was not their fault they were 
hired.  Stop the departure of the "good" people and expedite the 
departure of the "bad" people.  You know who they are, Lord, just like we 
do.  

We pray to eliminate the bickering and politics that exists and help 
management see the paralyzing effect this has.  If you find management 
still bickering and politicking instead of making business decisions to 
save Digital, eliminate them, too, oh Lord.

Protect others in Sales from going though what I did, including 5 
managers in 18 months and a late-Q3 budget increase of 30%.  Help Digital
sales management learn how to properly recognize and reward people.  Help 
me keep a positive attitude, Lord.

Teach management to make decisions quickly and to communicate with
clarity and vision.  Also, please put a sales guy (someone that actually 
sold) near the top, if not in charge.  Not someone like slick Chick but 
someone like our dear departed Dinucci.  He was a regular Joe.

Forgive those salespeople that talk too much.  Teach them brevity.  

May those in product management and marketing that insist on using 
DECspeak instead of English have their tongues sandblasted.  Teach the 
teachers to speak clearly so we can clearly sell.

I don't need to make a ton of money to be happy, Lord, but please pay me 
the same as my peers in the industry, or help me understand why I make 
60% less than them when they sell fewer products and have an easier time 
doing so.  Shoot, Lord, there are reps at Sun and Oracle and SGI and 
Joe's Computers that aren't as good as me and are making THREE TIMES MORE 
than I am.  Help right that wrong.

Help me motivate myself when management doesn't know how, which, 
unfortunately, is often.

Help Mr. Palmer in his new role and encourage him to move quickly.  We 
need vision.  We need leadership.  We need action.  And we need it now.  
Encourage others to support him or show them the way out.

Please help me fathom a $2.8 billion loss.  And guide management to make 
the necessary cuts, deep enough to be effective and to be the last time.  
Give management the courage and the conviction to eliminate jobs that 
don't have any real productive function.  Provide guidance to management 
to understand that we are running a business and not a socialist state.

Give me tools to help me do my job.  (And while you're at it, Lord, give 
me a quote system that is *actually* productive and whip the AQS 
supporters with Sales Updates until they bloody understand the absolute 
nightmare this system puts us through.)

Please help us develop a measurement system that does not lead to 
conflicting behaviors across functions.

Above all, help us move forward in a positive, collective spirit.

Lastly, Lord, give me a work environment that is positive and challenging 
and filled with bright, motivated people.  Help the rest to leave the 
company.  

Bless the unemployed.  

Amen.