dang it....one of my good buddies at work got the axe

[rudeguy]

I just found out that one of the good guys at work got fired. If our metrics aren't what corporate wants, we get the boot. Its the nature of the beast and we all know it...but it sucks when its someone nice like that.

Worst part of the sales game I swear...

 

[lxskllr]

You do sales? I thought you were some kind of help desk. I could never do sales. I have to really believe in a product to sell it, and there aren't /that/ many products I truly believe in.

Sucks about your buddy....

 

[RaistlinZ]

I tried a few sales oriented jobs for about 5 years. Hated it. Trying to up-sell people into stuff they don't really *need* is not a fun way to earn a living. It felt like I was selling a bit of my soul after a while.

 

[CRXican]

I couldn't do sales. Collections on the other hand I can handle.

 

[rudeguy]

I've been in sales since '99. I put the nerd part of me aside when I'm at work.

And EVERY product has upsides and downsides. Sales is all about showing the positives of your product and downplaying the negatives. But that's the easy part. Every big corporation has metrics they want you to hit. Some things are common sense like average handle time or close rate but then there are some really stupid ones that corporate focuses on. Sales is just a numbers game.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I've been in sales since '99. I put the nerd part of me aside when I'm at work.

And EVERY product has upsides and downsides. Sales is all about showing the positives of your product and downplaying the negatives. But that's the easy part. Every big corporation has metrics they want you to hit. Some things are common sense like average handle time or close rate but then there are some really stupid ones that corporate focuses on. Sales is just a numbers game.

Got to keep those quarterly bonuses coming. Sorry about your friend. Take the pay cut and kiss the corporation goodbye. Cuts happen in the private sector but, at least they don't require you to sell your soul.

 

[Eli]

My girlfriend worked at Wells Fargo and HATED it for this very reason. She hated trying to sell people things they did not need.

Not to mention their sales goals were outrageous. Each banker would have to open two new accounts every day just to meet the goals. Two per day!

After her first quarter, she was yelled at for getting 88% of her goal. Shouldn't they at least wait for 2 quarters to see what the trend is? It was bullshit.

She said to hell with it, even though it was potentially a good career.

 

[rudeguy]

Got to keep those quarterly bonuses coming. Sorry about your friend. Take the pay cut and kiss the corporation goodbye. Cuts happen in the private sector but, at least they don't require you to sell your soul.

I'm not selling my soul. This corporation actually gives me a ton of freedom to help customers, decent bene's, decent pay and the people are beyond awesome. The good thing about sales is that there is always another job. My buddy will be fine, I'm just sad/upset/pissed that it happened.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I'm not selling my soul. This corporation actually gives me a ton of freedom to help customers, decent bene's, decent pay and the people are beyond awesome. The good thing about sales is that there is always another job. My buddy will be fine, I'm just sad/upset/pissed that it happened.

Yep, right up until the time you don't meet their "metrics."

 

[Scoobuh]

I have the opportunity to go into sales when I graduate... It's apparently where the money is in the engineering field, maybe it will be worth it. Lots of travel will be fun for the first few years but I could see it getting old fast.

 

[GT1999]

My sister does sales. She had me review her resume this week. Must tell you how much she loves her job...

 

[rudeguy]

Yep, right up until the time you don't meet their "metrics."

Oh....I don't. No one does. If you are, they come out with new ones that are even harder to hit. The game is to focus on the ones that are the focus at the time. Its been the same at every place I have worked at. Find out what numbers are important to your boss and focus on those. If you do that, you will be fine.

Some call it drinking the Kool Aid, I call it going with the flow.

 

[rudeguy]

I have the opportunity to go into sales when I graduate... It's apparently where the money is in the engineering field, maybe it will be worth it. Lots of travel will be fun for the first few years but I could see it getting old fast.

Most sales guys bounce around a lot. Doing the same gig at the same place will get old real fast. I wish I could travel, that would be awesome. Closest I'm going to get is the trip to Mexico next spring if I keep my numbers up.....

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that sucks. I hate how lot of companies are rediculously hard on the sales people / service reps, when really, they are the ones that are bringing money to the company. Cut em some slack! The company I work for is pretty bad too, the last collective agreement pretty much shafted that whole department. Pay cuts etc... they take like 600 calls per day and they are way understaffed.

While IT has it's downsides sometimes, in general I have to say it's fairly a good spot to be in. It's a bit more laid back. If it was not for my crazy IT manager, my current position would be awesome. Sadly, he greatly poisons the work environment. Just have to deal with it.

 

[rudeguy]

Wow that sucks. I hate how lot of companies are rediculously hard on the sales people / service reps, when really, they are the ones that are bringing money to the company. Cut em some slack! The company I work for is pretty bad too, the last collective agreement pretty much shafted that whole department. Pay cuts etc... they take like 600 calls per day and they are way understaffed.

While IT has it's downsides sometimes, in general I have to say it's fairly a good spot to be in. It's a bit more laid back. If it was not for my crazy IT manager, my current position would be awesome. Sadly, he greatly poisons the work environment. Just have to deal with it.

Sales is a blast if you can deal with the stress. Our teem meetings always go sideways and end up talking about something that would make HR blush. We are also very much a big team. There are 150+ sales guys/gals at my center alone and we back each other up, support each other...its just a big family. Our bosses and our boss' bosses also stick up for us way more than you would expect. I've been in round tables with our director and she doesn't sweat the small stuff at all. She knows that corporate has expectations but also knows that none of us are superhuman.

But then again I do take an average of 50 calls a day, about 10 of those are totally irate people who called up just to yell at me. I take at least a couple calls a day from people who lost their jobs and are really hurting. The assholes don't bother me nearly as much as the family who are calling in trying to do something to keep their phone on. One chick had a little kid with cancer and her phone had gotten shut off. It had been physically disconnected so I couldn't do anything Those are the ones that really make me want to be a ditch digger somewhere

 

[Jadow]

one of my good buddies at work got totally drunk and started ranting and raving to a 20 million dollar a year customer calling people bitches and you name it.

well he's gone now, and haven't heard from him in 4 months.