Consultation via Email from Buenos Aires, Argentina:
I have been a salesperson for a long time before becoming a sales manager. I assure you that it was very difficult for me every time I tried to change the way my bosses think or every time I came up with an idea.
Consultation via Email from Buenos Aires, Argentina:
I want to consult you:
What can a professional salesperson do who works in a multinational company and wants to change the mentality of their supervisors and local managers so that our products do not lose their position in the national market?
Example: I am using this medium to cooperate with new ideas that improve our positioning in the local market, what to do?
Greetings, FABIÁN
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Dear Fabian:
I dare say that the answer to the question What can a professional salesperson who works in a multinational do and wants to change the mentality of their supervisors and managers? it's nothing!
It is extremely difficult, though of course laudable, what you are proposing, and I fear that your efforts will be fruitless.
I have been a salesperson for a long time before becoming a sales manager. I assure you that it was very difficult for me every time I tried to change the way my bosses think or every time I came up with an idea. It was as difficult for me as when I was a manager to accept the proposals, ideas, and innovations that the vendors proposed.
Unfortunately, it is very difficult to escape this rule while one is in that context, in the interaction between bosses and salespeople, and that is why the work of an external consultant is so important who can observe the reality of each company in perspective, and be the engine of changes and activator of the potentialities of management personnel and salespeople.
What I suggest is that you emphasize your own training, your own growth, an analysis of what your goals are as a salesperson, where you are today and where you want to be in 2 years.
Think about the things you can do differently and better to achieve the results you want, without the need for the intervention of others, or the authorization or collaboration of your bosses.
How could you improve your own performance, and improve the local positioning of your products?
As Ghandi said: "Let us make in ourselves the change we want to see in the world."
And while you are considering and working on yourself, putting aside the idea of changing the mindset of your company, show a sincere interest in the views and ideas of your supervisors and managers, learning from them what you can.
If your superiors perceive you to insist on your intention to change their mentality, they will probably accentuate your resistance by opposing almost everything you propose, as a natural self-defense.
You may have already noticed that sometimes your bosses reject an idea that you propose to them. Some time passes and when the person who raised the idea is becoming forgotten, they begin to take it as their own, and shortly after they appear saying that they are going to implement something that is practically their original idea with slight nuances. This is something common in all organizations in the world.
We have to learn from this. If bosses need to think that the idea came to them for an idea or change to be implemented, fine. We must be flexible and skillful enough to make the changes we want to occur and the ideas we want to implement seep into the minds of our bosses without resistance, and we don't have to worry about the "copyright" of the original idea later, and helping those changes take place, regardless of who gets the credit.
As you can see, it is not easy at all, but the long-term payoff is our personal and professional growth.
