My First Sales Manager

Friday evening brought some sad news when I heard that my very first sales manager had passed away. Over the weekend I reflected, a great deal, on what I learned from him, much of which I carry with me to this day.

But first a little context. When I joined his team, I loathed him with a vengeance. This wasn’t the era of Salesforce or digital/virtual updates; this was the era of sitting in his office for our team meeting at 8 a.m. every Monday. My boss would go around each of us individually and ask us to report, by product category, what we had sold the previous week. He would then mark up our performance on a bar chart, which he kept on his office wall. Let me tell you - if you weren’t performing that room was a really uncomfortable place to be.

As a recent graduate, he took a special interest in me borne out of his scepticism that I understood much about business life or selling – to be fair he probably had a point. I remember during one particularly barren phase he insisted that I was in the office every morning at 8 a.m. and that I showed him my diary so he could validate appointments that I had made. To do that he wasn’t averse to picking up the phone and calling the customer to check that the meeting had actually been agreed! He also regularly accompanied me to customer meetings and gave me pointed feedback during our debrief, in the car, on the way back to the office.

Though some of his methods would be frowned upon in 2024 there is no arguing that they made those of us that paid attention successful.

So, what did I learn from him?

·????? Fail to plan – plan to fail.

·????? Always be closing but always be prospecting too.

·????? Don’t waste your time with time wasters.

·????? Hard work brings rewards.

When, a few years later, I moved on from his team and subsequently from the company, we lost touch. It was only a year or so before I set up my own business that by sheer coincidence our paths crossed again. Based on that interaction we arranged to meet up once a quarter for a sandwich, a coffee and a chat. By this time, he was retired, and I saw him in a completely different light. Not only was he a great source of genuine encouragement but also guidance - even when it related to those things which I didn’t particularly want to hear.

One of the final things I said to him – greeted by much laughter on his part was,” All those years ago I hated having you as my sales manager but now I’m grateful that I did”.

“Ah Graeme,” he replied.. “appearances can be deceiving”.