"When I Am Wrong, I Am Wrong!" - 02/10/21 Edition
Stephen Says Column

  Dear Stephen,

 I love reading your column each week in BoF. Your perspective on our industry is authentic, and your common sense solutions are always great. I am an HR executive with a big furniture manufacturer in the Midwest. Never thought I would be writing you, and my company does not use your services. My boss thinks TVG has poached too many people from our company!
 
 I am writing to tell you that I respectfully disagree with a sort of theme I have seen in your “Ask Stephen” column this past year. I doubt you will print the letter because it is a criticism of you, but I want to share my thoughts with you anyway.
 
 I noticed you have said or implied more than once in different ways that “good salespeople are the last to lose their jobs” or something like that. You are more or less saying, without saying it, that companies have used the pandemic as an excuse to just fire the old and tired salespeople and to take the opportunity to get rid of what they perceive as overpaid and/or underperforming reps.
 
 As an HR professional I can tell you that is simply not true. Especially at our company. We have had to have job cuts, yes, from the factory floor to the executive suite, from the sales force to even here in human resources. No department was left untouched, but never based on age or income. These are excruciating decisions for our managers in the field, on the floor and in the HR
 
 department where I work. Employee’s we have downsized receive outplacement services and a generous severance. Nobody and no company likes to fire anyone, especially in times like these — a once in a hundred years pandemic.
 
 This past year we had to take the same steps as many other companies. First we had to do pay reductions, then eliminate bonuses and then only as a last resort downsize, or right size, depending on your view of the correct word. Many senior employees and some outside salespeople were offered the option to stay at an adjusted compensation or a buyout if they resigned. Yet just as many people let go were “hardest, first fired.” We tried to be fair and logical. The smart senior people opted for a lucrative buyout. Good for them.
 
 I do not think it is a one-size-fits-all when it comes to why salespeople in particular lost their jobs. We were not “cleaning house.” I point this out because you are not helping these people when they go to find a job elsewhere. Usually you are right on target with your knowledge of HR and the workplace but in this one area all of us in my department disagree with you — big time. Stephen, please reconsider your stance and do not chalk up every salesperson that is out of work as some over-the-hill loser. I am still a big fan of yours, or I would have not written this letter but keep an open mind, and thank you for hearing me out.
 
 Around here we say “You write the column we love to hate!” And you are mostly always right!
 
 Signed,
 Agree to Disagree!
 
 

 Dear Agree,

 
 Thanks for reading, and thank you even more for writing. Hmm ... I hear you. And, of course, I will print your letter.
 
 I do agree job cuts in our industry are across the board. From the executive suite to the factory to outside field sales. My own observation from the resumes we have received, candidates we have recruited or the salespeople I hear from is that most of the workers in outside sales have tended to be more senior. Yes, I may have implied companies used the pandemic as an excuse to clean house. Yet I can see it your way, and you are correct in pointing out it would be wrong for me to suggest all these outside salespeople who have lost their jobs are not good at their jobs or underperforming.
 
 I re-read some of those columns over the past year, and I think you are right. I may have suggested good salespeople just do not lose their jobs; OK, OK, I didn’t just “suggest” it, I stated it in more than one column. Maybe the ones who lost their jobs were just smart enough to take the package and want to start over somewhere else, or leave sales altogether. Hey, when I am wrong, I am wrong — and I thank you.
 
 You happen to write at a time when I just finished my favorite new book by author Adam Grant. I strongly recommend “Think Again” (Viking) to everyone. It’s about the ability to unlearn and rethink. Every single manufacturer and dealer should buy a copy for their employees. Or go buy it yourself.
 
 When I worked for Haworth many years ago, I remember Dick Haworth sent each of us a copy of the “One Minute Manager” by Ken Blanchard. The book was the size of a pamphlet but it stayed with me and was the mantra of the ‘80s. Today it is “Think Again,” and our industry needs to be reading it in 2021.
 
 You are 100% correct: There are viable, vibrant outside salespeople that accepted lucrative packages not because they are lazy or poor performers, but they are smart people making the best business decision for themselves and their families. They should be given every opportunity to interview for that prime sales job. And yes, there are now many new outside sales jobs. Everyone seems to be hiring again. LinkedIn is flooded with jobs in our industry.
 
 So thank you for calling me out on a big misconception I had and was perpetuating. Like I said, when I am wrong, I am wrong. My gratitude goes out to you for helping me to “Think Again” about why some salespeople are out of work. Keep reading and write to me after you read my friend Adam Grant’s book and let me know what you think. My view was not serving me well, or my readers, the salespeople your company let go, and most important, the new salespeople you may want to hire who happen to be unemployed. Stay tuned!
 
 Stephen
 

 You can send your workplace questions to Stephen at: StephenSays@bellow.press
 
 Questions selected to be answered, will appear in this column. Please use the Subject: Stephen Says for all emails. Stephen Viscusi is a bestselling author, television personality, and CEO of The Viscusi Group, global executive recruiters located in New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter @stephenviscusi, Like Stephen on Facebook and follow him on LinkedIn.