From the Gatekeeper

In the post, Top Ten Signs Your Sales Rep is About to Leave, I shared my take on the most common symptoms that one of your sales team members is looking to jump ship.

I wondered if other areas of the office had their own “career transition radar” as well. So I asked my favorite gatekeeper, Michele Doucette, to share her thoughts on how she knows when employees are looking for other jobs:

How Your Gatekeeper Knows You Are Looking for a Job

1. In full view of my desk, I will see coworkers start spending an inordinate amount of time out in the hall, on their mobile phone, speaking in hushed tones and nervously glancing over their shoulders to see if anyone can hear. I usually can.

2. Headhunters/Recruiters commence ringing through the main line and pretend to be calling on a personal matter, usually because they’ are responding to a resume posted online. They tend to forget that if it were truly a personal call, they would already have the employees DIRECT LINE.

Same thing goes for having former employees, looking to poach our talent, calling “out of the blue” through the main switchboard—. As they awkwardly stumble through the small talk, I will hear the guilt in their voices just before I send them directly to voicemail.

3. T-shirts with funny slogans on them suddenly give way to pressed shirts and sneakers are transformed into nicely polished shoes. We’ve had numerous former employees who would normally dress one step above a homeless person, show up in a suit, then next day, back to homeless.

4. Employees will break their normal routine by either coming in late or leaving early several times a week.

5. And my favorite, I find a resume on the fax machine or printer. Don’t laugh, it happens way too often.

Thanks MD.

How to Reduce The Schmuck Factor

Anyone who has been in the workforce long enough has had the opportunity to work for, or with, someone who really didn’t fit in, didn’t perform up to expectations, and basically made you wonder if your employer received some sort of tax credit for keeping this individual employed. It is these individuals that we loving refer to as “Schmucks”. We all have Schmucks. If we are honest, we can agree that we all are subject to our temporary moments of Schmuckdom.

Based on the fact that, on average, 20% of the sales people generate 80% of the sales, the “Schmuck Factor” in most sales teams is higher than in the rest of the organization. Ever heard of “20% of Developers writing 80% of the code” or “20% of Client Supporting handling 80% of the issues”? Nope. Its just sales.

From the Gate Keeper

In his book, “Swim with the Sharks” Harvey Mckay states that as CEO of his company he ranks the following two positions as the most key in generating revenue for any organization:

1. Vice President of Sales

2. The Office Receptionist

While the first is pretty obvious, he goes on to explain that the Receptionist, a.k.a. “Gate Keeper” has the power to set the tone of the business relationship. By being the initial contact for the majority of new and existing clients and business partners, their appearance, demeanor, and professionalism can have a significant impact.

In addition to being “the voice” of your company, the Gate Keeper often serves as the “filter” or “tie breaker” when it comes to new hires. If you have a borderline interview, the Gate Keeper can have the swing vote.