A Difficult Sales Decision

It’s a beautiful Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. and the sales rep has a difficult decision to make. Years of practice and training have culminated to this moment, and the rep considers his options. One wrong move could easily ruin the whole day, so the rep takes a deep breath before finally deciding:

He’s going with the 5 iron.

Yup. We are golfing this afternoon and no, as the boss you shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t even make your radar. So long as the rep has put in the time to earn this employee benefit, your only reaction to the half day out of the office should be “How’d you hit ‘em?” even if you push the words out through gritted teeth.

The ability to set his or her own hours is one of two major factors when someone considers a life in sales, the other being money. You, the manager, probably won’t like this. The pressman and finishing will flat out hate it. But they are going to have to take solace in the fact that the sales rep shanked the 5 iron into the water, because this freedom comes with that job.

Salespeople, be cool and subtle with this privilege and don’t overdo it. No one wants to hear about your day in the sun. And make sure you only tee ‘em up when your sales are up.

Managers, be supportive of the rep by keeping the “Must be nice” comment to yourself. Sales reps are different. Sales reps are special. Good ones are hard to find. Better to deal with the devil you know.

Would write more, but I’m teeing off in 30 minutes. Sales are booming!

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