I manage projects as an engineer. There are other people in my office that are sales people. They manage projects much differently.
Truly managing a project as an engineer requires identifying risks. That assessment isn’t for the faint of heart. You must find things that could go wrong. Sales people are often distressed by this search. One sales person said to me, "This activity seems so negative."
I’ve always considered reactions like this as stupid. Without risk identification and mitigation, the project manager has lost control. But that’s leaving out the sales person’s perspective.
Sales people are the most measured people in an organization. They can’t escape the specificity of their contract (quota). It defines a precise number for their revenue target and precise numbers for the required product mix. If they exceed the numbers, they make good money. Otherwise, they are pounded with a hammer. And if that doesn’t work, they are fired.
You may think that sales people are slime balls. Some of them are, but most are hard working people who bet that they are better sales people than their competitor. To win the game, sales people focus on being positive about every aspect of their personal and business life.
For instance, John was a salesman who was a member of a group that I played racquetball with every Saturday and Sunday morning. I saw John in the locker room one day and ask him how he and Melony, his wife, were doing. "Great!" he said. He shared with me that Melony was taking courses at the local college and looking forward to getting back into the work force since Mark, their son, was now in high school. In John’s quest to be constantly positive he left out some important news—he was going through a divorce.
Although that example is extreme, it does give you insight into the personality of some sales people. John works hard at crafting a story that is pleasing to the ear. Imagine how threatening the search for risks is to him. It scares him to hear other people talk about things differently than he does.
Sales people will accept risk assessment after the product is sold, but are deeply disturbed about it before the sale. It could disrupt their carefully crafted story. If you have ever heard the saying, "Don’t confuse selling with installing.", you now have a better idea about what dynamics trigger that aphorism.
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