Me and Nick (@GlazingGuru) often speak on the phone. When we speak, it usually involves Nick having a rant about something! This time it was about dedicated sales staff, or rather a lack of!

To be fair, the reasoning behind his rant is very justified. The main gripe was that no matter how much help and sales tools you give to some people, they will just not couple that with real effort and dedication to the job. I said that unfortunately this is an inherent trend within the whole industry, as his comments are unfortunately common.

I think the problem of un-dedicated sales staff is a problem both with those that are employed and self employed. But why is it that some sales people just don’t put the energy and attention into their job compared to others. I said to Nick that some sales people will just not put as much energy into their position as they don’t own the business or not high up enough within the business. Think about it, the higher up you climb within the business, the more you have to work for and keep going. If you’re near the bottom, you’re less likely to feel like you’ve got something to work for.

It sounds quite negative but that is how it is I think. So if you believe you’re not an important cog in the works, why put the most effort in? Now at this point I would like to point out that not all sales staff are sloppy, effortless drags on double glazing companies. There are some absolute gems out there that really do give it their all every day of the week, no matter what position they hold within the business.

I suppose what I’m trying to highlight are those typical ‘double glazing salesmen’ who are in the job just because it’s a job and not a career path. They are unfortunately all too common in our industry and have done, and continue to, do considerable damage to our industry. It is those lazy, unprofessional staff that don’t follow up leads, sell product options that don’t exist, make false promises, use hard-sell tactics, don’t look after showrooms and have a generally bad attitude that have contributed to our industry’s reputation of being a bunch of rag tag half arsed con men who don’t really give a shit.

So why do people like these actually find their way into these jobs and why are they STILL in their positions. If I had a bunch of sales people that let my showroom go to rack and ruin, didn’t follow up my company’s leads, didn’t put the hours in, was arrogant, I would be getting rid as they would be doing more damage in the long run than good! As hard as times are, we have to get rid of this sort of dead wood and try harder to find the more dedicated and professional staff out there. Our businesses deserve it and the wider industry deserves it. But are they rare? I don’t think so, I just don’t think we’re doing a good enough job to get them to us.

Got a feeling Nick will probably want to correct me on some parts of this ;-)