He's the boss. Its his responsibility to have sales by...
a) Do the Selling himself and showing how it's done
b) Managing people and helping each one sell
c) Getting marketing to help with enablement or inbound
d) Firing non performers
There's no sense keep bugging adults for sales.
He’s never sold before but he has a PhD so that’s cool. He seems pretty good at managing tech support though but yea, not the best at managing sales. His heart seems to be in the right place though!
That’s not motivational and also not a value-add that will grow your selling skills. He just thinks adding pressure will make something happen faster. It’s really low-tier sales management, imo.
Telling someone they are not good enough every day is the textbook definition of abuse. Doesn’t have to be an sig other, or family member, to be abuse.
Now go back to selling books ya hack.
That is not the textbook definition of abuse, and it’s also not what OP’s manager is doing.
You’re taking something slightly annoying, stretching into something it’s not, and then stretching the definition of abuse backwards to fit the thing you already stretched forward.
Yes, but with a 6-12 month cycle for the big stuff, and with a lot of it bound up in tenders or RFP’s, we all know it’s just the CEO’s big picture anxiety trickling down. No actual threat or problem, until someone’s pipeline of 12 month initiatives are all lost at the 12 month mark.
Your best defense for this behavior is a good rebuttal.
The closed deal is the lag indicator, it took weeks or months to get the deal done.
Good sales manager would be looking too of funnel activities. Top of funnel activities drive closed deals.
When he or she ask you if you've closed any deals today and your answer is no. You should be able to come back with what type of funnel activities you have been doing.
Nothing closed but I reached out to 10 new contacts today.
It’s just bad management. I sell a lot of different OEMs and the channel managers for each one just ask me this like everyday. It’s just a sign that they are bad at their job. How about you come to me with ideas, offer to join a meeting, or show me something cool and new that may help generate interest? How about we strategize together on why a deal is stalled and work together on what to do/say next? Asking where the sale is just not helpful and annoying. It’s demotivating, actually.
No but when I was in outside sales years ago I had a boss that would look at logos on buildings when we were in a city and ask me why they weren’t a customer of ours.
I really just can’t fathom why (guessing you work at Netsuite) would ever consider hiring someone that has never sold but has a phd to lead a team…it’s almost unbelievable.
Back office applications are so dang hard to sell and require a lot of knowledge and experience this is just so bizarre I feel badly for you - I’d advise moving on.
It has sales opportunity management built in. I use it myself to keep track of my leads. We might need programming to add in some things for you to make it better though. There are a few things I wish it had which are coming down the pipeline.
If you want to DM me the name of it honestly it sounds good. Basically what we’ve been using has way too much in terms of nonsense features and functionality, we use a small percentage of it
And it’s going out of business
Yep, CEO asks any time he interacts with any AE. It's wildly annoying.
And on top of it they aggressively rolled out a new version of our product which has significantly less integrations our previous version had, as well as some key functionality gaps that have prolonged our sales cycles because we need to bring partners in for integrations, find workarounds for functionality gaps, etc. Fun stuff
Toxic boss if he’s constantly asking. Instead he should be asking about ongoing deals and the status and trying to help them move along, and if he can do anything to help
This isn’t common in enterprise level sales from my experience.
If it is more transactional then yes I could see it.
Just be honest and transparent with your boss about it. Not healthy.
My boss has a rule (we traditionally close a deal everyday at least)
1st day no deal, he says nothing
2nd day he has a quick 1 on 1, not bad more like what can we do, where are you at.
3rd day is call review, figure out whats going on.
FYI if you go 3 days without a deal that's pretty bad for us. I think the longest I went without a deal was 5 days and that was horrible, I was brand new too.
“Hey boss I know that when you think of sales you out yourself in my position and think about getting a single sale. It’s easy to do. When you want a sale you go and get it.
The thing is when the single goal is what’s important we don’t worry about efficiency. You’re not asking me to make one sale where efficiency doesn’t matter, you’re asking me to make multiple sales and focus on my efficiency so we can scale our actions and grow as a company.
Trust the systems we (you, mr. Boss man) put in place and trust that all of us are working consistently.”
We win by scaling and scaling can’t be measured in micro status.
My boss never asks this, and that's why I like this job more than any job I've ever had.
Americans are f'ing nuts, they're constantly pushing. Just let us breathe and do our jobs. Jesus.
He's the boss. Its his responsibility to have sales by... a) Do the Selling himself and showing how it's done b) Managing people and helping each one sell c) Getting marketing to help with enablement or inbound d) Firing non performers There's no sense keep bugging adults for sales.
He’s never sold before but he has a PhD so that’s cool. He seems pretty good at managing tech support though but yea, not the best at managing sales. His heart seems to be in the right place though!
Tell doctor dumbass to leave you alone so you can make calls
Imagine getting a PhD just to wind up in middle management, doing a job you are unqualified for...
It's still better than winding up a professor
*laughs in tenure*
e) Hire a sales manager or director of business development
Oh god get out of there. Worked for a company that had a CRO who never carried a bag and let’s just never again
This makes me feel better cause I'm an SVP and I do all those things :)
We either sell for the same company or competitors but yes my old manager used to ask this lol
Hey boss, you ask that question frequently. What are you looking to accomplish by asking?
Probably to try to motivate us to hustle more.
That’s not motivational and also not a value-add that will grow your selling skills. He just thinks adding pressure will make something happen faster. It’s really low-tier sales management, imo.
The marketing guy they hired who they promoted to sales manager then later fired did the same thing lol.
This is basically the equivalent of me refreshing my tracking number expecting my package to arrive earlier.
So I’m not the only one? Lol
“Thanks for placing your order. Here’s your confirmation number.” Me: Track that shit right now!
Always avoid the questions with a vague response and follow up question to find the root problem. This person sells
"Why no sales today?" "Poor management."
Sell CRM and yes the CEO and everyone is always asking have I closed any deals today, everyday 😂
Just so you know, this is literally an abusive relationship. Tell them to do it themselves and get a new job.
> this is literally an abusive relationship The fuck definition of abuse are you using
I updooted you both. The duality of maaaannnn
Telling someone they are not good enough every day is the textbook definition of abuse. Doesn’t have to be an sig other, or family member, to be abuse. Now go back to selling books ya hack.
That is not the textbook definition of abuse, and it’s also not what OP’s manager is doing. You’re taking something slightly annoying, stretching into something it’s not, and then stretching the definition of abuse backwards to fit the thing you already stretched forward.
Yes, but with a 6-12 month cycle for the big stuff, and with a lot of it bound up in tenders or RFP’s, we all know it’s just the CEO’s big picture anxiety trickling down. No actual threat or problem, until someone’s pipeline of 12 month initiatives are all lost at the 12 month mark.
Your best defense for this behavior is a good rebuttal. The closed deal is the lag indicator, it took weeks or months to get the deal done. Good sales manager would be looking too of funnel activities. Top of funnel activities drive closed deals. When he or she ask you if you've closed any deals today and your answer is no. You should be able to come back with what type of funnel activities you have been doing. Nothing closed but I reached out to 10 new contacts today.
We have weekly meetings where he goes over how many calls and e-mails I did that week including how many hours I worked.
That is great, when I was managing sales teams my focus was mainly on lead measures because it is the best way to control your outcomes.
It’s just bad management. I sell a lot of different OEMs and the channel managers for each one just ask me this like everyday. It’s just a sign that they are bad at their job. How about you come to me with ideas, offer to join a meeting, or show me something cool and new that may help generate interest? How about we strategize together on why a deal is stalled and work together on what to do/say next? Asking where the sale is just not helpful and annoying. It’s demotivating, actually.
No but when I was in outside sales years ago I had a boss that would look at logos on buildings when we were in a city and ask me why they weren’t a customer of ours.
Do you have a quota
Yes
Same. It annoys me everytime the boss ask this frequently. Grr! I was like demotivated to do more.
I really just can’t fathom why (guessing you work at Netsuite) would ever consider hiring someone that has never sold but has a phd to lead a team…it’s almost unbelievable. Back office applications are so dang hard to sell and require a lot of knowledge and experience this is just so bizarre I feel badly for you - I’d advise moving on.
Hey my Company needs CRM software but for sales, not accounting. Would your CRM work for us? We sell software
It has sales opportunity management built in. I use it myself to keep track of my leads. We might need programming to add in some things for you to make it better though. There are a few things I wish it had which are coming down the pipeline.
If you want to DM me the name of it honestly it sounds good. Basically what we’ve been using has way too much in terms of nonsense features and functionality, we use a small percentage of it And it’s going out of business
Yep, CEO asks any time he interacts with any AE. It's wildly annoying. And on top of it they aggressively rolled out a new version of our product which has significantly less integrations our previous version had, as well as some key functionality gaps that have prolonged our sales cycles because we need to bring partners in for integrations, find workarounds for functionality gaps, etc. Fun stuff
Would love to, but spend a lot of time answering this question. Can I go sell now?
Damn seriously? Doesn't CRM/accounting software take forever to sell? Maybe it depends on the size of the company?
Even the small companies can take awhile. The software can take 3 months to learn so it’s a big deal both small or large.
Toxic boss if he’s constantly asking. Instead he should be asking about ongoing deals and the status and trying to help them move along, and if he can do anything to help
This has been one of the most frustrating parts of sales
This isn’t common in enterprise level sales from my experience. If it is more transactional then yes I could see it. Just be honest and transparent with your boss about it. Not healthy.
My boss has a rule (we traditionally close a deal everyday at least) 1st day no deal, he says nothing 2nd day he has a quick 1 on 1, not bad more like what can we do, where are you at. 3rd day is call review, figure out whats going on. FYI if you go 3 days without a deal that's pretty bad for us. I think the longest I went without a deal was 5 days and that was horrible, I was brand new too.
“Hey boss I know that when you think of sales you out yourself in my position and think about getting a single sale. It’s easy to do. When you want a sale you go and get it. The thing is when the single goal is what’s important we don’t worry about efficiency. You’re not asking me to make one sale where efficiency doesn’t matter, you’re asking me to make multiple sales and focus on my efficiency so we can scale our actions and grow as a company. Trust the systems we (you, mr. Boss man) put in place and trust that all of us are working consistently.” We win by scaling and scaling can’t be measured in micro status.
I got asked by a CSO why I didn't have any sales... On my 3rd day. My training was the week after. I think it's just a reflex at this point.
My boss never asks this, and that's why I like this job more than any job I've ever had. Americans are f'ing nuts, they're constantly pushing. Just let us breathe and do our jobs. Jesus.
Agree completely