Channel into Direct does go
Graham Bunting
Helping you establish a Partner Channel - Leadership coach and interim business leader
Like me, you may sometimes wonder why people make the decisions that they do, and I think that one of the well known NLP presuppositions covers this incredibly well:
The map is not the territory - Essentially, our own internalised perception of the World is only the way we have recorded a situation and need not be the same as somebody else's recollection of the same event or indeed what actually happened. I think this helps to at least begin to explain the decisions we see being made that perhaps don't always make sense to us.
What prompted this thinking is the fact that the sales arena can be seen by some as a very complex one but others would say that selling is selling - a clear example of the above presupposition.
It is, for example, really easy to become drawn into making sweeping statements about people who come from a certain background in sales as being unsuitable for a new and "apparently" different role – for example, a salesperson who has spent a long time in a small company might be overlooked for a sales job in a large corporate organisation, and of course vice versa. This does imply that the individual is not skilled appropriately for the role, but I don't believe that this is necessarily the case. I do not subscribe to that position at all, as I have witnessed many successful transitions from small business direct sales to large corporate indirect sales and the same in reverse, as well as people successfully moving from direct to indirect sales and vice versa..
So why does this barrier exist at all? That's difficult to say, other than to suppose that the experiences of the hiring manager or key influencer have dictated that the transition has previously been unsuccessful. Ultimately though, for me, whatever the sales role, its all about the people, and I do strongly favour Warren Buffett's view that there are probably only 3 things that matter, intelligence, Integrity and energy and a check on "will they fit in" with the team. Ultimately for me it all begins with a good attitude - after that anything is possible.
Graham, great points you have raised here, but your main point about “Presupposition” is probably applicable in everyday life, work, business, and politics. We all live in our own perceived reality, which is made up of our experiences in life including our parental influence, society we were grown up in, as well as education and work experiences. We are the mirror that reflects our past and as such we all carry prejudices (presuppositions) that are indicative our experiences. Our perceived reality is made up of prejudices (both positive and negative). These prejudices make us open to some views (and people) and resistant to other views (and people). Our thoughts and concepts that make up our perceived reality are formed by our environment including our parents, schooling, work colleagues, friends we associate with, newspaper we read, and social media circles we interact and are exposed to. Of course none of us like to admit that we are prejudiced but the reality is that we are prejudiced positively or negatively on all subjects. We take our views on subjects and look for affirmation, which are facts that fit our narrative and make us feel right minded and righteous (yuk, how I hate that word). Righteousness in essence is the extreme form of perceived reality, to the point that we have convinced ourselves so much that we think no other view is valid and all else is evil! These prejudices (or presuppositions) make us behave and react in a certain way towards people of different gender, religion, colour, language, culture, etc. Hence our attitude in employing people is only an extension and reflection of our perceived reality.
A technologist with the desire to help channel companies adopt best of breed technology, whilst maximising their margin.
8 年Great article here Graham Bunting