Once A Fraud, Always A Fraud

Once in a while I am shocked. Shocked by people's actions. Its honestly a rare thing in these times of suicide bombers, rapists, pedophiles and Bernie Madoffs, but nevertheless once in a while I am, as the British put it so eloquently, gob smacked. On Sunday I received an e-mail from an old friend and colleague in Paris who is hiring a sales executive for the German market. One of the candidates under consideration worked for the start-up we both worked at from the late 90s to the mid-2000s. Here is what my friend wrote:

Are You Sure You Want To Follow Today’s Executives?: Guest Post

Anyone who has tried to sell anything to corporations, and specifically the decision makers inside corporations, will appreciate the fallacy of proof. I remember some years back when I was working on a strategic project with a client in the UK who was looking at outsourcing a part of their operations worldwide. In a meeting with the COO of the company it was clear that leadership wanted to do this because of the perceived value, but implementation was going to be the biggest challenge to making it happen. To ensure success we embarked on a lengthy crusade to 'sell' the concept inside the company and win over the key stakeholders who would be impacted by this change.

Are You Cut Out For A Career In Sales?

Like most people in business I spend a lot of time with sales people and/or selling myself. Often you don't think twice about the person in front of you who is showing you their product or explaining the benefits of their solution. You assume they are an authority on their product and focus on the questions that matter to you - will this address my problem? will it help me? can I/my company benefit from this. Of course you also assess whether the organization selling is right to become a partner to you and your organization, and often that starts with the quality of the relationship with the sales person in front of you. But once in a while I am stone cold surprised by the individual representing a company and its solution because they are just not an effective sales person. And it reflects poorly on their company, its products and its people.