The Sales Archaeologist

One of the four signed photographs on my office wall is of Gordon Ramsey - the expert and sometimes obnoxious chef that tries to help restaurants back into the black. There are some similarities between his work and ours - last night I watched an interesting episode with some interesting dynamics.

There is always someone in the establishment that resists and has something negative to say about Gordon. They don't have any answers themselves but they complain about him being too rude or swearing (not the real issue) they work behind the scenes trying to undermine any changes that Gordon implements and even in the face of overwhelming evidence that the changes are working they stand their ground. These people end up looking really stupid and usually are asked to leave by the ownership.

Last night this person was Max. He was especially troublesome and vocal, he was lazy and blamed everyone else for the issues in the restaurant and he kept pulling the owner aside to complain - finally he went head to head with Gordon and that was it. He was called out and asked to explain three issues and when he couldn't he quit. Thanks God said the owner.

So when you ask for help with your sales organization you can expect to find a Max somewhere in your company. The analysis, the accountability and the questions will inevitably bring this cancerous character to the surface. Interestingly Gordon identified Max as the problem within five minutes by just watching the restaurant operate. As experts we can usually identify issues just as quickly - the real question is will you believe the expert and act on the advise or will you listen to the person that got you into the mess in the first place?