This evening I was sitting at Tyson’s Corner in the patio of a well renowned bar trying to hammer out a deal with a strategic partner. All the tables outside were filled with a lot of people with laptops opened up.
Occasionally, each table would erupt with boisterous yelling and high-fiving. For whatever reason, the women were yelling the most.
You have to be in the DC area on a Sep 30th to understand this all. Today is government financial year ending. All contracting has to be done today or else there is no guarantee for project money for next year. Everytime a table was hearing about a win, they would just burst out in joy.
It is like report card day for all government sales teams!
People who know me probably know that my the arc of my career has taken me from coding software to running services organization to leading marketing to leading sales to eventually being a general manager. Of all those, sales – is still to me – the job I respect the most. And the profession where the difference between the best and the not-so-good is so wide.
That is the job that has the clearest metric – you either got the dollars or you did not – and the least control of the variables – you are too dependent on external factors.
That is why winning a deal unleashes such a primal energy.
Sure, it comes with the cold slap across the face when you lose one. But over a larger horizon, if you are a good sales guy, you win out….
Love the energy. Respect the profession!!