From my experience of 12 years in sales and marketing, that too in consumer facing industries such as FMCG, Alcobev, Luxury Retail and Real Estate, I have come to firmly believe that sales men (gender agnostic) are born, not made. The commitment this revenue generating function demands, from all fronts of life, is nonpareil. To ace in sales, you constantly need to plan ahead as performance today has a domino effect on achievements tomorrow. So, the PRESENT always compromises in anticipation of a bright and promising FUTURE. And so does your personal life, your time for yourself. But then, the imperative question one needs to answer is when exactly to take a step back and internalize as to how much is too much?
I would take a leaf out of my own experience in sales, as a Branch Sales Manager in Delhi (Alcobev). As a region, Delhi contributed just around 8% to overall beer sales in the country but was a critical market as being a UT, beer was very cheap as compared to neighbouring markets of UP and Haryana. It thus served as a seeding ground for taste fixation and brand traction in other markets. However, the density of outlets in Delhi was lowest amongst all metros. For salesmen, that meant arduous number of hours traversing fewer outlets, doing sales chores. During those days, I used to stay 42 kms away from office (one way). There were days when after doing my field visits, I would have clocked around 155 kms by the time I reached home. That meant reaching home, having dinner and dozing off for you had to be super human to even think of doing anything else. And to top it all, most sales people (in FMCG, Retail, Real Estate etc.) work over weekends as well (Saturday for sure). And this was 6 days a week X 52 weeks a year with an exception of month ends and year ends where it was 7 days a week, 16-18-hour days! All this while, you are fighting competition, keeping ever de-manding customers and bosses happy and still ensuring retail dominance!
So where does work life balance fit in.
The answer lies with YOU. To “Reach for better” across all walks of life, one must learn:
How to choose his/her battles carefully. Not everything needs to be won. Some battles are better lost
That peace of mind is always better than a satiated ego. Live today to fight to-morrow
Most important of all – learn to say NO
People who would stand by you all your life are the ones you leave at home; nothing matters more than them. Select few lucky super humans have managed a successful career and a blissful family life alongside. Unless you are born with a silver spoon, don’t even attempt it, for you would end up besmirching both. In most of our cases, we are hit by crisis on both fronts but to douse fire professionally, we draw water from the well called family till its water table hits a dramatic low and we realize it wasn’t worth the effort.
Let your report card reflect how successful you have been with your personal equa-tions for end of the day, all this mad rush is towards that end.
Author Profile:
A B2C marketer all his life, Deepak beseechs and professes performance marketing. Having worked in India and emerging markets, Deepak loves the articulation a market-ing campaign requires to connect with the lowest common denominator in the market. Taught to believe that marketing is more of applied sciences, his thirst for logic and prudence supersedes the creative liberty that his campaigns might demand. Addicted to collecting perfumes, he secretly desires to be an Aromachologist studying the inter-relationship between aroma and aided psychological influences.
Work-life balance in sales. How much is too much?
Work-life balance in sales. How much is too much?
From my experience of 12 years in sales and marketing, that too in consumer facing industries such as FMCG, Alcobev, Luxury Retail and Real Estate, I have come to firmly believe that sales men (gender agnostic) are born, not made. The commitment this revenue generating function demands, from all fronts of life, is nonpareil. To ace in sales, you constantly need to plan ahead as performance today has a domino effect on achievements tomorrow. So, the PRESENT always compromises in anticipation of a bright and promising FUTURE. And so does your personal life, your time for yourself. But then, the imperative question one needs to answer is when exactly to take a step back and internalize as to how much is too much?
I would take a leaf out of my own experience in sales, as a Branch Sales Manager in Delhi (Alcobev). As a region, Delhi contributed just around 8% to overall beer sales in the country but was a critical market as being a UT, beer was very cheap as compared to neighbouring markets of UP and Haryana. It thus served as a seeding ground for taste fixation and brand traction in other markets. However, the density of outlets in Delhi was lowest amongst all metros. For salesmen, that meant arduous number of hours traversing fewer outlets, doing sales chores. During those days, I used to stay 42 kms away from office (one way). There were days when after doing my field visits, I would have clocked around 155 kms by the time I reached home. That meant reaching home, having dinner and dozing off for you had to be super human to even think of doing anything else. And to top it all, most sales people (in FMCG, Retail, Real Estate etc.) work over weekends as well (Saturday for sure). And this was 6 days a week X 52 weeks a year with an exception of month ends and year ends where it was 7 days a week, 16-18-hour days! All this while, you are fighting competition, keeping ever de-manding customers and bosses happy and still ensuring retail dominance!
So where does work life balance fit in.
The answer lies with YOU. To “Reach for better” across all walks of life, one must learn:
People who would stand by you all your life are the ones you leave at home; nothing matters more than them. Select few lucky super humans have managed a successful career and a blissful family life alongside. Unless you are born with a silver spoon, don’t even attempt it, for you would end up besmirching both. In most of our cases, we are hit by crisis on both fronts but to douse fire professionally, we draw water from the well called family till its water table hits a dramatic low and we realize it wasn’t worth the effort.
Let your report card reflect how successful you have been with your personal equa-tions for end of the day, all this mad rush is towards that end.
Author Profile:
A B2C marketer all his life, Deepak beseechs and professes performance marketing. Having worked in India and emerging markets, Deepak loves the articulation a market-ing campaign requires to connect with the lowest common denominator in the market. Taught to believe that marketing is more of applied sciences, his thirst for logic and prudence supersedes the creative liberty that his campaigns might demand. Addicted to collecting perfumes, he secretly desires to be an Aromachologist studying the inter-relationship between aroma and aided psychological influences.
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