manage your team
How to Set Yourself Up for Success in Your New Job
THEODORE B. KINNI
New sales managers may see them- selves as arriving on the scene to restore order to chaos or reinvent the entire sales process. And that may be why they were brought in. That said, being charged with bringing order to chaos and improving revenue while raising profitability puts new manag- ers under a lot of pressure to prove themselves in their new positions. “I have a lot of those same feel- ings,” says William Cabot, who recently began a new job as vice pres- ident of sales for a California com- puter chip manufacturer. “I want to contribute. I want to add value. I want to do something that shows both that they made the right decision to hire me and that I’m really going to help drive things.”
IN THE BEGINNING The problem is that getting a success- ful start in a new sales management position requires a more logical and dispassionate approach. Take a lesson from Cabot, who joined the company after almost two decades in increas- ingly responsible sales management positions at his previous employer. “I would have had no credibility coming in too aggressively,” he says. “Com- ing into this job, I’ve gone from a different product to networking. If asked, I’ll offer my opinion, but – until I really know what is going on – I also know I could be way off base.” There is good reason not to rush
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into a new job without proper prepa- ration. All companies are unique – with different cultures, operating stan- dards, and customer bases. Even a new job within the same company can have vastly different responsibilities and parameters. So, what should you do to get a solid start in a new job? Start by sitting down with your new boss. “It’s important that you understand your boss’s expectations. In my case, that’s the CEO’s expecta- tions,” Cabot says. “My CEO knows there is a learning curve in terms of being involved and being the one who takes 100 percent responsibility for all aspects of sales. We’ve talked about a gradual transition period where he will put more and more responsibility onto my plate. I think you have to have that level of under- standing with your boss.”
LISTEN UP
Next, listen up, pick some brains, and get your bearings within the com- pany. “You need to be very open to listening before you act to really get a good handle on what is going on,” says Cabot. “Sometimes you come in and what may seem apparent may not really be the case.” “You have got to get yourself well
grounded,” he adds. “I like to under- stand the dynamics of the situation in terms of the structure and the people. How is the sales organization inter- facing with the rest of the company?
Are all the right linkages there? And the customers – what are the oppor- tunities and challenges there? What works? What doesn’t?” To get answers to those questions, Cabot tries to spend the first 90 days in a new job orienting himself. “I usu- ally spend my initial period in a job sitting down with people in the sales force. I let them get a chance to know me, how I operate, what my general expectations are. At the same time, I’m getting a lot of input from them as to what they’ve been doing, how things are working, what is going on with the customers, what is going on with the company, and where their challenges are. Then, I go to the key stakeholders in the functions we are critically linked to and do something similar. Along the way, you begin to get a pretty clear picture of what the key elements are that will drive your business and what the issues are.”
CULTURAL IMPERATIVES When Jim Abruzzio started as na- tional sales manager for an industrial manufacturer, he found that gaining a clear understanding of the culture of the company and the context of his appointment were critical. The com- pany is a 100-year-old family-owned business and a leader in its markets. Abruzzio was hired after his predeces- sor – a highly regarded executive who had been with the company for almost four decades – had passed away. “So you can understand that, when you come into a well-established com- pany culture and replace someone who was a legend in that business, there are things you can prepare for and there are other things that you just can’t,” says Abruzzio, who worked previously for a plumbing fixtures company. “I knew some of it simply through associa- tion with certain rep offices. But, when you walk in, I would say that nine times out of ten it’s 180 degrees.” Like Cabot, Abruzzio sat down with his boss on his first day on the job and “got him to verbally – and also in writ-
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Managers
Alert! Start strong with these lessons.
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