Clients From Heaven, Bosses From Hell
Long story short, our company got a new VP of sales, and the guy… doesn’t suck. Like, he’s actually really cool, and really interested in the company – and the people who work there. I’ll call him Dan.
One afternoon, several months after Dan is onboarded, the sales team (me included) is invited to lunch. Of course, there are ten of us, so we break into three cars. I’m in the car with Dan and another coworker on the trip to the restaurant, and the coworker speaks up.
Coworker: “Dan, I have kind of a weird question.”
Dan: “Shoot.”
Coworker: “What was one of the worst experiences you’ve ever had at a job?”
Dan: “Oooooh, that’s a good question, but I actually have an answer for you.”
He proceeds to tell us that one of the previous companies he worked for got bought out, and of course, the bigwigs didn’t care about the company, its employees, or anything but the bottom line, and how much they were making.
One afternoon, Dan gets to woo a client. This client is BIG (think of a large number and add a zero or two to the end), and Dan is very excited to show off a bit.
Dan knows protocol: he tells his boss, the boss tells HIS boss, and so on. Everything is approved, and Dan and his boss and the client go out for a relatively extravagant day: golfing, dining, a bit of shopping for the wives… it totaled up to roughly $5,000, Dan tells us, but it was worth it, because the client LOVED it, and vowed to be a client until the end of days.
A week goes by, and Dan gets a phone call from his boss, saying one of the members of the board of directors is calling… and it’s the actual head of the board.
Dan proceeds to tell us how he got verbally abused by this person, saying that that five grand? Out of the question. Never spend that kind of money on a client. EVER! It wasn’t worth the trip Dan and his boss made to Arizona; it wasn’t worth the meal and the conversation and the conviviality with the client. It was five grand that was spent on frivolity, according to the head of the board of directors, and to never, EVER, do that again.
After my coworker and I picked our jaws up off the floor, Dan proceeded to tell us that that wasn’t even the worst part.
The worst part was his boss, and his boss’s boss threw him under the bus, and said the trip hadn’t been approved. Dan obviously had emails and paperwork that disproved all that, but it didn’t matter: Dan was now a pariah, and never again would he get a company card.
Dan told us that it was the last straw, so he left. He couldn’t deal with a company that didn’t care about its people, or its clients, and that he was thrilled to be with people who were actually, y’know, kind, and thoughtful, and would dig to find the issue if there was one, especially if it pertained to money and clients.
We told him we were very happy to have him with us. He relayed the story again at lunch, and all of us banged the table, saying it was much more awesome that he was here with us, and while he wouldn’t have an unlimited spending account, if he wanted that client happy, he could d*** well make that client happy!
