One of my favorite television shows over the past decade is the HBO drama The Wire. In season three, episode 11 there is a scene where a hitman from New York (Brother Mouzone) approaches the Baltimore kingpin Avon Barksdale. The hitman is seeking access to Avon’s partner who tried to have him killed in the previous season. The following dialogue occurs.
Avon: “you want money”
Brother Mouzone (BR): “Money?”
Avon: “Yeah, this is business.”
BR: “Business is where you are now, but what got you here is your word and your reputation, with that alone you’ve still got an open line to New York. Without it you’re done.”
Having worked in Enterprise sales at multiple different companies for the past five years and been in the business world even longer, I can think of no better example for what a salesperson takes with them as they move through their career: “your word and your reputation.”
When you ask someone in your LinkedIn network for a favor, it’s your word and your reputation that they’ll consider before responding. When you backchannel someone during the hiring process, it’s the reputation amongst their peers that people are seeking to understand. When you, as a sales professional move to a new company and reach out to someone that bought a product from you at a prior organization, it’s your word and your reputation that the buyer will think about before deciding to engage with you again. As the famous Warren Buffett saying goes: “it takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to destroy it”--just ask former Buffett protege David Sokol.
In my experience those that sacrifice their reputation for short-term gain, suffer serious consequences. I remember working with a sales development rep (SDR) who embodied nothing about the “team.” The most obvious example of this behavior came from pressuring Account Executives to “flip opportunities” so that he could get paid. This person quickly grew a reputation amongst the SDRs as a nefarious, untrustworthy, narcissistic person. Fast forward a few years, and I’ve watched this individual struggle to grow into a closing role.
The same is true for management. Managers who are focused on themselves and their careers and not on the success of those they manage are destined for trouble. If your direct reports feel that you have an ulterior motive to be promoted, become a VP at another company, protect your job, etc. it will be difficult for them to following your lead. After all, how can you follow a leader into battle if you know they’re looking for the safest possible exit for themselves?
Contrarily, if a manager shows their team that they are 100% focused on making them successful, the upside can be tremendous. For example, providing specific coaching that helps people grow by building tangible work skills will help increase employee engagement. If you want a team that is determined to put everything they have into making you and the company successful, exhibit that same level of vigor and tenacity when growing your talent.
I’ve always tried to embrace the idea of being kind and genuine to others. At certain times this involves providing an opinion that people don’t always want to hear. This opinion can sometimes cause brief agitation if the receiver is expecting one thing and you tell them something different, but that’s the value of and ‘opinion’--at least you know where I stand. This approach had always served me well with my customers because they understand and respect my thoughts, even if they don’t always agree.
At the end of the day, as sales professionals, the tools we have are our word and reputation. Let's embrace these tools for the long-run and provide thoughts and opinions that command presence and authority. With this approach we won't always be correct, but we will have “an open line to New York.”