Budget Leadership of Sales

Here's a screenshot of a 'work' conversation that just went viral.

How do you feel for Jake? And what do you think to his boss?

As the lad bringing it to the attention of the world rightly notes, this is indeed an indicator of truly 'budget leadership'.

He concludes;

This is such budget leadership.
It really, really is.
You can't be running a business where basically everything just falls apart simply because one of your team has had the gall to get on a plane to go on their holiday.
You can't run a business like this.
It's just not tenable long term.
People are going to get hacked off, people are going to start leaving, and it just gives this sort of appearance of chaos, which is just unnecessary.
Right?

I'm firmly with the one commentor who remarked, 'that absolutely nails it' . As in, useless.

Whilst the precise nature of the presentation above may or may not be a sales deck, if this encapsulates what can (or even does) go on in your selling effort, you need an intervention, sharpish.

I have sadly witnessed just this brand of chaos. And away from the vacation interruption with general out-of-hours sales office contact too.

We've all done 'big' decks. Bringing in some manner of data from elsewhere. You need a contingency. As goes the pivotal Gene Hackman Heist 2001 film character line, "I wouldn't even tie my shoelaces without a backup plan".

I myself remember the relief long ago when some map data was duly embedded before I flew off. Yet had ensured that was also provided, accessible separately with a colleague primed and ready to act if required. And hey-ho, they were. When someone wanted to 'amend' figures.

Beyond the specific tactic of this instance, there's the overall strategy to consider. Panicked holiday encroachment is a clear signal among many related symptoms.

Last minute merchant-ing. Lateness. The famed 5Ps (poor preparation precedes poor performance).

You must not go there. It will kill your Sales.