Magnus Marketing Blog

My friend from the JS Group has a lot of opinions, many of which are off base. I am sure she would say the same about me and I don't care. I don't want to post on her blog because I am "old school" and the association would not be within my brand equity.

In a post I won't document - you can find it if you are so interested, she refers to salespeople and some statistics saying that over 50% are distracted, a small proportion have no separate space, and have non-business phone systems. Mind you, her stats were a poll of 200 salespeople - 200 out of thousands of salespeople! She recommends visiting the home office, investing in home office support, evaluating work performance of telecommuters and internal workers.

Well, I happen to be a partial home worker right now. Much of what is written is true, my office is in a converted attic, my phone system was bought from Sears, and my desk was from IKEA. I have no support other than a neighbor and one of my clients.

My performance however is exemplary and my clients are continuing to work with me. They don't care about any of that because:
1. I don't produce results, they don't work with me.
2. I don't meet their goals, they don't work with me.

Let's talk about employee and work situations. Employers who don't provide proper support - one tech guy trying to handle 30 people for example. The noise and distraction of colleagues that are chatting about personal crap or talking loudly on phones. The friend who bitches to you about her boss or the work. Obligatory parties, meetings, and lunches. Stressing because the boss is walking by or watching you. Office politics.

In my converted attic, I focus intently on my work - free of politics, bs, and eagle eyes, free of chatty, sick, and moody coworkers, free of stress...and my work performance has increased!

The only way a salesguy isn't productive is if he doesn't bring in business. If targets exist and a home worker can't achieve it - then he goes. My bet is that even if the salesperson was in the office, he wouldn't be producing.

Maybe she should validate her statistics in the real world and try for a larger sample of people. Oh also, if you really want to know about talent and leadership, talk to me - I interface with many recruiting leaders and have first-hand knowledge about what is going on in recruiting and human resources.

Salesguys are dead, virtual workers need extra management, and talent is an expert area. Best piece of advice: writers write about things they know about.