Victor Hugo, the French poet, dramatist, and novelist, once said, “Initiative is doing the right thing without being told.” With this thought in mind, I would like to assert that HR needs to take the initiative in this difficult economic time. It must rise up to the level of greatness it possesses and set its sights on supporting and partnering with the sales organization. The reason for this is simple: sales is the function that generates the revenue that pays the bills as well as the paychecks. If that’s not a good reason for support, I am at a loss for finding a better one. Furthermore, the results will confirm what is clearly one of your CEO’s primary objectives: to create an organization that has greater value today than it did yesterday (if your CEO doesn’t share this value, he or she needs to find another job). Our economy is having significant problems. You could look at the statistics provided by the Fed and argue that it doesn’t look too bad, but you would be fooling yourself for reasons far too complex and numerous to list. On the other hand, if you look at personal and business bankruptcies, friends who are unemployed, consultants who are underemployed, deals that are not happening, and endless technologists who are out on the street, the picture gets a bit more realistic. Furthermore, if you believe all business is personal, then the reality does not get anymore stark than seeing, first hand, the ravaged lives of those caught in this economic morass. People always count far more than data. Companies represented in their most simplistic form can be broken down into two distinct parts:
Unfortunately ó not through design but by default ó those on the development side of the business have always enjoyed the status of favorite child, where as those on the sales side tend to be relegated to the rank of second-class citizens. In fact, according to Ralph Jordan, President of The Productivity Factor, Inc., “Most high-tech salespeople cite ‘difficulties with the internal environment’ as the number-one reason why good salespeople leave their jobs.” Few companies, if any, can afford to lose good salespeople. Retention of the best and brightest is necessary for either function to be successful. With the exception of creatively designed strategic partnerships, sales are most often generated by feet on the street. As a result, these individuals who live on planes or behind the wheel of a car can become, out of necessity, a freewheeling gang of gunslingers. They have numbers to make and, as a result, will do whatever is necessary to close a deal. Most of us know salespeople are motivated by money and recognition. On the other hand, HR can be process oriented and procedurally driven in a way that makes salespeople absolutely crazy. These diametrically opposed mindsets create less-than-optimal conditions for both parties ó and as a result, both parties lose. HR is often ill-equipped to deal with the problems associated with the revenue-generating side of the house, and HR professionals tend to shy away from significant partnerships with sales. This is very unfortunate. I have seen this situation quite often and can understand it for what it is: a total lack of comprehension and respect on both sides, as sales looks askance at HR and HR sees sales as the last vestige of the Wild West. This causes the revenue-generating end of the house to suffer because they don’t make effective use of HR (which really does have a great deal to offer). HR also suffers; they can’t fulfill the promise of demonstrable hard number value to management in an area that is so easy to benchmark and measure. Something in this tenuous relationship needs to change. HR must take the initiative to create sweeping actions that effect immediate change and calculable results. There is not a moment to spare for HR organizations to demonstrate value and set the standard for others to follow ó not to mention the opportunity to make an impact on revenue generation. With this in mind, if you want to improve sales, I strongly suggest you look to implementing change by doing the following:
The above mentioned ideas are by no means the entire solution, but they are a great place to begin. Partnering with sales to support their efforts in being successful is a courageous and valiant response to a clear and present need. The opportunity to make a major difference and be seen for taking the initiative is at hand. I urge you grab it by the throat, step up to the plate and redefine the value proposition that HR is so very capable of demonstrating. I once knew a sales VP who told me that “none of us were worth a damn.” (Rumors of him sporting a black eye for the next few days are simply untrue.) In a perception-equals-reality world, we can ill-afford to be assessed in this manner.