As 3M managers are forced to gets more internally focused, they are losing touch with our markets and customers. Somehow they feel taking 30-40% of a sales reps working time away from actual selling in order to fill out SF.com with questionable leads and wins (all to appease their bosses) drives growth. Lower sales effectiveness>lower sales>lower profits>fewer resources>eventual layoffs.
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Try running a company that manufactures products without a sales team. How do you think you get paid you ignominious ignoramus? You are the reason that 3M is in the toilet bowl because you don’t understand a thing about sales. Sit down Esmeralda.
If you have no job offers, you sell insurance.
On a lighter note, Sales Force just layed off 1,000 engineers.
Sales are like birds.. oh my goodness when you have no other skills you go into sales..
Unhappy people don’t sell well where ever they are in the internal or external sales pipeline , tools don’t nurture growth. People do through knowledge and relationships. Basics are lost 😡
When your leader for msd Canada presents to the executive board that she is gping to meet Canada’s numbers by sales force , sales force ,sales force. They have have lost their ability to lead. No longer is it about sales , data is the most important. 3M values non revenue generating tasks vs sales. The company is going down in flames. Sell your stock!
Ben Affleck quote, slightly modified to fit the situation…
A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client a 3M product or he sells you a reason he can't. Either way a sale is made, the only question is: Who is gonna close?
I agree with your sentiments.
I have worked for three firms (including 3M Company) where management deploys Salesforce and uses it as an instrument to bludgeon sales personnel. The results are overwhelmingly similar: lower productivity, diminished enthusiasm, and ultimately fewer meaningful client relationships, which obviously have a deleterious impact on sales, commissions, etc.
Sales folks are like birds, who must be free from the mundane to do what they do best - SING OUR STORY. Salesforce is a good tool; however, it cannot fulfill the mission to Always Be Closing. That takes people working together educating, pointing out features and benefits over price, and building trust.
I led sales people in different organizations. It matters not what the widget is, but it certainly matters who the people are selling it. Never ending turnover, short falls in inventory, personnel changes, policy changes, and unwarranted price increases will destroy any organization. Sales is about people. Unfortunately 3M leadership has never understood that. And that’s why they’re failing.