36
Journal of Selling & Major Account Management
There’s No Such Thing as a “Red Flag”, they are really
“Tiny Corners on HUGE Red Banners.”
By John Riggs and Jon Adams
This paper is a practical application article that discusses the importance of a manager’s ability to recognize subtle indicators or signals that serve as warnings to potential undesirable future consequences. The
authors comments are based on their 55 years of combined managerial and leadership experience in the
pharmaceutical industry. Two short examples are provided to frame the point and to offer a practical
solution to aid managers in making better decisions and not missing the “Tiny Corners on HUGE Red
Banners.”
Ask anyone what is meant by the term “redflag” and they will likely cite words like warning,
danger, caution, concern or stop. Symbolically
speaking, “red-flag” has become a semi-official
term representing an awareness indicator or
signal that something has grabbed our attention,
both explicitly and implicitly. It is used in a
variety of contexts usually signifying a warning
or often when things seem “too good to be
true”. In practical sales management situations,
once the so called “red-flag” is noticed, it’s too
late to avoid the impending consequences of the
warning.
Whether a manager is interviewing candidates
for an open sales territory, interacting with a key
customer, or making a critical business decision,
their ability to recognize subtle indicators or
signals that serve as warnings to potential
undesirable future consequences is critical.
Additionally, they must also have the discipline
not to ignore them.
There is no such thing as a “red-flag”, only “tiny
corners on HUGE Red-Banners”. In other
words, it is the small, subtle, trivial and trifling
occurrences that managers often disregard that
reveal the imminent consequences to come.
Northern Illinois University
MISSED OR IGNORED
Everybody sees things, observes things, knows
things or learns things that deserve to be
addressed during the decision making process.
Wise decisions are based upon a combination of
data, analysis, intuition, wisdom, experience, and
judgment. Making good decisions involves
being patient enough to collect the necessary
information, being humble enough to ask for
other people’s opinions and thoughts and before
making the decision. In spite of the tremendous
effort sales manager’s place upon making good
decisions, no one is ever right all the time; it’s
the percentage of times they are correct over
time that matters.
Apart from our good intentions, why do we as
managers miss or even ignore the subtleties that
potentially lead to poor outcomes? When an
undesirable outcome presents itself, sales
managers often ask themselves “why didn’t I see
that coming?” And, “how did I not know thus
and so?” The incongruity is that many sales
managers admit to identifying a potential
predictor of the outcome they are now
experiencing, however at the time, they decided
to overlook and ignore it. Thus, the infamous
statements “I knew it” and “I should’ve known”
Application Article
are uttered from the mouths of many sales
managers. Remembering a small clue, recalling a
comment voiced, or replaying a situation
observed all predicted the outcome, however it
was either missed or ignored.
One of the most common causes of missed
clues is lack of patience-being in a hurry. Let’s
face it; most sales managers are reactionary and
busy, causing them not to take the time to
explore details and determine what the source of
a problem or situation is really. Additionally,
sales managers are rarely aware of personal
biases that may affect their decision making.
Individual beliefs, opinions and attitudes can
easily cause a manager to fail to notice very
important indicators of a future outcome.
Lastly, sales managers fall into the trap of
wanting to do it all themselves and won’t ask for
help. Being humble enough to ask for other
people’s opinions and thoughts takes courage,
especially for newer managers.
SIMPLE YET COMMON EXAMPLES
What follows are some actual examples of
missed or ignored “tiny corners” (warnings) and
their outcomes. Our first example is the Sales
Director who conducted a final interview for
one of his Sales Manager’s candidates. Aside
from her arriving thirty minutes late for the
meeting, the candidate was a perfect match
regarding her skills, competencies and
knowledge of the market. Six months after
joining the organization, a consistent pattern of
being late for appointments with customers,
arriving late for company meetings, and multiple
overdue assignments began to surface. The
company began to lose customers due to her
poor follow up; her peers began to distance
themselves from her as she was perceived as not
being committed to the team, and late
assignments caused financial challenges for the
Summer 2009
37
organization due to their budgetary impact. Was
her late arrival for the final interview a key
indicator of what was to follow? Did the Sales
Director miss an opportunity to dig deeper
into a seemingly small occurrence? Hey
c’mon, traffic was terrible on the way to the
interview and a few minutes late is no big deal.
In addition, let’s not discount how incredible
her resume, skills, and market knowledge
were.
In a separate example, let’s consider a “day in
the field” that a Sales Manager experienced with
one of her Sales Representatives. In preparation
for their day together, the Sales Manager
reviewed the typical key performance indicators
for her representative. The rep’s call averages
were above the national level, he was falling
short of his sales quota but for the past six
months he was logging in a lot of sales calls with
customers, and he was very responsive to his
manager fulfilling all her requests. The sales
manager was eager to spend the day with her
representative, as she hoped to meet some of
their key customers, learn more about the local
market, and identify some coaching and
development opportunities for her
representative.
The sales manager was
somewhat puzzled by her observations of the
representative after spending the morning in the
field,. It was after lunch and they had only met
with two customers. They had stopped at
numerous customer locations, however the
client’s were either unavailable, not in that day,
or had a strict policy that no vendors were
allowed. Additionally, the two customers they
did visit were behaving as if they didn’t know
the sales representative well at all. At the end of
the day, the manager chose to provide the sales
representative with some book references to
assist him in “how to see tough customers”, and
also a popular resource on “time management”.
Vol. 9, No. 3
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Journal of Selling & Major Account Management
Her representative was very open to the
coaching and was appreciative to receive the
resources. Nevertheless, on her way home that
evening, the sales manager remained slightly
bothered by her observations, but convinced
herself that it was the Holiday season and
customers tend to have unpredictable office
hours. Additionally, she reminded herself that
her representative was meeting his required call
objectives, and was very responsive to her
requests.
Three months later, the sales representative’s
sales performance was approaching the lowest
in the region. The corporate office had received
several phone calls from customers stating that
they had not seen a representative in quite some
time and were requesting a visit. With a little
exploration, it turned out that the representative
was not completely committed to their job, was
working partial days, and was spending most of
his time interviewing with other companies.
Upon reflection, were there clues or “tiny
corners” on a much larger red-banner the
manager could have explored during the field
visit? She accurately observed many indications
that could have predicted portions of the
outcome; however she chose to ignore them.
POSSIBLE REMEDIES
What can sales managers do to minimize and
avoid late identification of “red-flags”? There
are dozens of sales manager competencies that
offer an answer. Four key remedies were
discussed that have helped coach sales managers
for better decision making and to improve their
ability to foresee future outcomes. Again, the
goal is to learn how to recognize and address
subtle warning signs, or what we affectionately
refer to as “tiny corners on HUGE RedBanners”.
Northern Illinois University
1.
Know your own prejudices.
Be
careful not to play favorites which can cause you
to decide quickly in one area. You must be clear
and honest with yourself about your mind-set,
opinions, preconceptions and favorite solutions.
2.
Avoid common errors in judgment.
Stay away from stating things as facts that are
really beliefs or conjecture.
Don’t
“generalize” from a single example without
knowing if that single example does
generalize. In other words, gather more data.
3.
Don’t make the mistake of hiring
the best person from a poor pool of
candidates. If the entire pool of candidates
is below your standard, start over with another
group of candidates. This is an especially
difficult decision when the manager is under
time pressure to fill a long term vacancy.
4.
Don’t ignore that little voice in
your head telling you something isn’t
right. Effective managers balance between
waiting and doing. Be patient. While many in
management put a premium on doing over
waiting. Don’t be inclined to jump to
solutions based on what has worked in the
past. That little voice is there for a reason.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A so called “red flag” is a cue, warning or signal
that something is wrong. Pilots have gauges and
indicators in the cockpit to inform them of
impending dangers. Physicians use EKGs to
notify them of future cardiac troubles.
Homeowners rely on smoke detectors and
carbon monoxide detectors to prevent life
threatening situations. In sales management,
there are signs that help us to avoid dangers, the
dilemma is that we may choose to ignore them
or miss them entirely. Can you imagine what
Academic Article
Summer 2009 39
would happen if a pilot were to ignore his
instrument panel? Or if a patient’s heart
monitor started to alarm and the physician
didn’t hear it.
Making sales managers aware of the four simple
actions they can take can help them identify the
early signs or “tiny corners” that are often found
on “HUGE Red-Banners”. They must know
their own prejudices, resist generalizing without
enough information, and be sure to listen to that
little voice in your head. It’s there for a reason.
As for hiring, remember that you are hiring
someone to make your business stronger. So if
you’re not adding someone to the top of your
team, but rather to the middle or bottom, you’ve
not helped yourself at all. You’ve only filled your
vacancy.
John F. Riggs, MBA
Doctoral Candidate, Kennesaw State University
610ksudba@comcast.net
(770) 841-2692
Jon Adams
32 years, Pharmaceutical Sales Management
Executive
wcfarm@aol.com
Vol. 9, No. 3