All names & places are fictional...
A bit of background. My business model has been that once I'm contacted to evaluate a sales person or team, I'll get permission from the company that requested the sales meeting to be at their next sales presentation. Part of my evaluation is obviously that of the sales person and their behaviors and actions, interactions and general demeanor. But I will also interview the company personnel that had requested the sales meeting. I always try to do this to get their perspectives of the sales presentation and team. The goal here is to see if the sales person was able to read the room so to speak and adapt if needed.
This was always to my benefit as I could offer evaluation services for their internal sales teams if asked.
I met Lindsay in Calgary while she was giving a sales presentation for a wind turbine infrastructure project for some major above ground mining companies that had migrated to a mostly electric fleet.
I had been hired to evaluate specifically Lindsay's sales abilities, but also that of the collective team at the customer site.
She was a great salesperson. She opened with introductions and mentioned that she was a University of Calgary alum and had gotten her Masters at San Diego State University. That shocked me, since I had gotten my degrees from both places as well.
I felt she mentioned that to bring some familiarity to the meeting to let them know that she knows what it's like to live in Calgary.
After the sales presentation ended, I had interviewed the board members present, and got their overall feelings on how it went, what was exceptional, what needed work, the normal sorts of things. Their feedback was glowing of Lindsay's presentation and her interactions, knowledge of products and services offered and her ability to answer questions. I also asked about her introductions and how they felt about her being an alum from a local college. Most felt that was somewhat reassuring, however there are a few of what I refer to as elitists that feel that if you didn't attend their schools, you're somewhat inferior. They were also quite often energy vampires that drained the room of energy to make sure their ego's got stroked. Unfortunately, that sort of behavior is very commonplace, especially in larger companies.
There was also the added dynamic of a female sales person being harassed or objectified and that was always something to consider. Some women used that as their sales strengths but almost always at the cost of their personal integrity and quite often that of the company they worked for as well.
Lindsay was a rockstar, she got the sale and rated exceptionally high. There were a few 'bro's' on the Company side that said she looked too good to deny her the sale. I made notes of that behavior as well, both to share with the sales person, but also if I were asked to come back and do evaluations for that company.
She had been warm and engaging. She had a smooth and natural flow to her presentation and wasn't easily shook with difficult questions. She was exceptionally smart.
As was my practice, I would sit down with the sales person after the evaluation and give them my feedback, including any critique as well as providing a detailed report back to their company, which quite often included a recording of my out-brief with the person being evaluated.
As I sat down with Lindsay, she was warm and personable and we hit it off pretty quickly. I ran through my evaluation and she seemed genuinely appreciative of the feedback and said that it confirmed some of what she had felt during the presentation.
I mentioned that I was also a Calgary and SDSU alum and her eyes got big. "Wow, that's a pretty interesting coincidence!"
Come to find out we both had business degrees from Calgary, but also had Master's in Business at SDSU. I shared that I had gotten my Master's in Communications there as well.
While we were chatting, I mentioned that I was now based out of Knoxville. She said that she was based out of Memphis, which I found interesting as the company was based out of Raleigh.
Overall we had a great meeting and she was receptive to my feedback and seemed to take it to heart. Not all of my customers were so receptive. Some were combative and I always relayed that to the company that hired me. They deserve to know if the employee they asked me to evaluate is simply attempting to placate them or engaging to make themselves better sales people.
Lindsay and I exchanged business cards and I put my personal number on mine and told her to feel free to reach out at any time if she had any questions. She returned the courtesy on her card.
I had left and went back to Knoxville to start on my next assessment and had gotten a call from the company that asked me to evaluate Lindsay. They wanted a full team assessment at a business in Memphis.
I sent them a quote and they accepted it and plans were made. The only person that would know my role would be Lindsay if she remembered me. I was also informally told that she had been coached to not correct the sales team if she remembered me and my role in being there. That made me feel good, but only because I sort of knew her from my last evaluation.
About three months later I'm in Memphis and got to the corporate building and got to meet the company personnel that will be receiving the sales presentation. They were really receptive to my role and to my benefit asked for my business information for potential future work. Happy customers create more happy customers as a general rule.
This presentation went at best, just okay. Some of the younger sales people were doing all of the wrong things. Over promising deliverables to the customer when it was clear they had no idea of what was being asked. Only to have the actual ask, very clearly articulated. They would say something along the lines of "of course, that's something we do as part of this package." The obvious issue there is poor expectation management and in my experience that issue alone can get contracts canceled. The worst case I saw was when a team of sales bro's had over promised capabilities and time on a contract, only in an attempt to later up-sell. That led to litigation that ended badly for the sales team and their company.
This one wasn't quite that bad, but without some correction, it could eventually get that way. When the presentation was done I asked for some time with the company's team to see what their thoughts were. I had made my introduction and stated that I had been hired to evaluate the sales team. This team in particular was very engaged and asked me several questions about what I would have felt if I were in their shoes. While I always appreciated questions, asking my opinion on the presentation in that manner always gives me pause. I don't want to influence their decisions as if I were an insider, so I politely deferred for that reason.
I had made my introduction to the sales team, who I was, who had hired me, and stated that I had been hired to evaluate the sales team. Before I started my feedback, I asked for permission to record the meeting to provide as an artifact to the company that had hired me. Occasionally I could get a person that didn't want to be recorded and that was fine. I just made note of both the offer, but also who had declined and what their reasons may have been if they told me. Luckily everyone agreed this time. In my out-brief with the vendor's sales team, the lead salesman was clearly put off by my feedback and even threatened me. I took copious notes of date, time, who was present and so on.
The requesting company ultimately chose to not use the vendor and I also included their feedback in my report.
Lindsay sat back and watched it unfold. I had a suspicion that there may have been some rivalry between her and some of the sales team. She clearly had a smirk on her face as I ended the evaluation. I walked around and shook the hand of everyone on the sales team, but the person I had reviewed would have no part of it and subtly threatened me again. I was polite and wished him the best and left the building. I was down stairs in my truck completing my report, getting ready to leave and head back home when I got a call from Lindsay.
"Hi Ken, Lindsay here. Have you left yet?"
"Hey, good to hear from you. You caught me just in time. I'm in my truck. How can I help?"
"We are in a small conference room near the entrance, could you please come back for a few minutes. We have our Division head and CEO on a Teams call."
"Sure, give me a few and I'll be right there. I just need to send the recording to your Division Head."
She sort of chuckled. "Perfect, see you soon."
I sent the report and went into the building and once I got checked in, they took me over to the conference room. I had just closed the door when the salesman I had interviewed started with, "Yeah, this guy didn't even give me a chance to get a sale. He talked them out of the sale because he doesn't like me."
I heard a familiar voice say, "Phillip, how long have you worked for me?"
"Sir?"
"How long have you worked for me?"
