Today, Joe Ryder is joined by one of his top sales executives to stress the importance of building and sustaining a supportive work environment for your company.
Joe:
“When I started my career as a salesperson, the environment was terrible, absolutely horrendous. The senior salespeople were very unsupportive. In fact, the head sales manager didn’t even look at me, let alone say hello to me, for at least an entire year. Essentially, all of the senior salespeople did not want me to succeed because it meant that time on their work would be less (if I gained resources and was successful then there would be less resources available for them to utilize, and continue to be successful, so they thought).
As soon as I was appointed head sales manager, my first goal was to create a positive work environment with a supportive system. Sales, for any industry, is difficult in itself. It’s a job where you’re constantly being rejected, knocked around, and put down. Your work environment should be similar to a home environment; you want your salespeople to actually want to go back to their workspace after a bad meeting, where they feel comfortable, can recharge, and find motivation. If your salespeople are being treated poorly in their own office, on their home turf, how can you ever expect them to be motivated enough to want to do well and make money for your company?
Just shy of a year ago, I brought in Gerard, a top-level salesperson. Before he joined our team, I was never able to justify whether or not I had successfully created the supportive work environment that I was striving to build. Gerard was the person who was able to finally validate the atmosphere I had created. I mean, you tell them, Gerard— am I right, or what?”
*Gerard:
“100%, Joe. I can’t stress enough how a salesperson’s work environment can make or break his or her job; it’s one of the most important factors. I love it here. The environment is what it should be— supportive, positive, engaging, and even fun sometimes. During the week, I’m excited to get in early and have breakfast, while getting a head start on my work and preparing for the day. Obviously, sales is a competitive field, but when your work environment is positive and supportive, everyone feels motivated enough to want to push themselves to excel, which will result in your team collectively being successful.
At my previous work place, I was so miserable going into work every morning. Most mornings, I would hang out at McDonalds and grab a coca cola until my exact start time at 9:00 a.m.— the less time I had to spend in the office, the better. I never went in early or stayed a second later than I had to simply because I despised the work environment. It was also impossible to keep a positive attitude there. Thankfully, I’ve always done well with motivating myself to be successful.”
Joe:
“Let me also add that Gerard is now one of our top earners.”
With all of this said, how important do you think it is to create a supportive work environment? Share your thoughts with us on LinkedIn and twitter!
*Name has been changed in respect of employer confidentiality.