Yes, we are going to discuss some hot successful women, but now that I have your attention, today’s subject is really sales ethics. Was that a giggle I heard?
Like coming down off an incredible sugar high, Sunday night TV was lame. NFL wild card weekend was over (Yay, GIANTS!), no college football bowl games either on TV.
Looking for an hour or so away from our keyboards and Crack-berries, my wife and I channel surfed a little before 10:00 PM eastern. This writer’s guild strike is killing us couch potatoes! Rather than grab a book – like we should have – we settled in with the pilot of a new show on ABC – Cashmere Mafia.
Stylish, set in NYC (the nice settings), and billed as the network version of Sex in the City, which my wife and I loved sharing, we thought this looked promising. Hmm, Sunday night with these new Fab Four might be relaxing.
I will say that it was more Sex in the City and less Desperate Housewives – a good thing. You can Google it yourself for a full review, since that’s not my intention. I do, however, want to zero in on one plot line that just disgusted me.
One of the main characters is Mia Mason, played by Lucy Liu. In an opening scene, her boyfriend Jack, played by Tom Everett Scott, proposes marriage to her sweetly, and she accepts. The two of them are high powered magazine execs working for the same publisher but different publications and seem very much in love: A sure-fire hint that this won’t continue.
Moments later a CEO-Chairman type emerges through the office building turnstile announcing that the two are dead-locked in the race for the open publisher position – the position to which these two report and both covet. How are they going to break the logjam? Well, big boss states that whoever sells the most advertising for their publications for the present quarter wins! A Sell-off. And there's less than a week left in the quarter.
Okay, this should be interesting, something I can relate to as a sales guy myself. How will the two lovers reconcile their feelings for each other with their ambitions? Will the loser stay on and report to the winner? Can their nascent engagement hold up? These are the questions the writers most surely wanted the viewer to guess at going into the commercial break. I know we were.
Well, it seems I naively left one out! Which of these 30-something beautiful and successful people will stab the other in the back (REPEATABLY!!) to win the prize?
Long story short – instead of going after her own clients, Mia either steals or sabotages Jack’s for her own gain and win’s the prize. From Mostly Movies: “When he complains she points out that she wasn't invited when men made the rules, so she's got to fend for herself.”
Nice.
And this is his fiancé!?!
SHE SHOWS NO REGRET.
Predictably, he leaves her.
Ok, she looks sad about this unintended consequence of her actions, but there’s no exploration.
Sidebar: What if David Mamet had wrote this? At least with Mamet in Glengarry GlenRoss, viewers and the writer are in synch that some of these folks were scary slimy. But we don't always get that kind of respect as network TV viewers, do we?
Sidebar 2 For Tom Everett Scott’s sake, I hope he not only leaves Mia, but the show. He was great in “That Thing You Do.” Go back to movies, Tom!
So, let’s set aside the personal side of this story and explore the Sales Ethics and business sense of what went on here. Again, stifle the smirks.
1) Mia proved she can close business that someone started. Woo-hoo! I hear stories all the time about so and so being a great “Closer”. Many of these folks have another nickname during economic downturns – they are called Unemployed. A truly great sales person can seek out their own opportunities and close them for top dollar with self respect and the respect of her peers.
2) Mia proved she can wine and dine and flatter a prospect. Ok, not a bad skill. Who wouldn’t enjoy spending casual time with Mia (Lucy)?
3) BIG ISSUE FOR ME: Net-Net the publishing conglomerate lost because of this contest. Instead of both sellers selling huge deals to different customers, they went after the SAME ONES! I one instance Jack is pursuing a large auto manufacturer for a big spread. We are lead to believe this is his idea. She steals the client for her publications, instead of pursuing her own advertiser.
One woman’s gain, another man’s loss. BUT big publishing conglomerate loses! Hmmm, are there any rules of engagement - in business or in love - here?
If you think this crap happens all the time, and aren’t bothered by it, maybe that’s why you chuckled after reading my opening. No, not the part about hot women.
Think about it.
Is there a ballgame on tonight?
