I Think Very Highly of You

"I think very highly of you."

Those are the kind words DC, our intrepid CEO, tossed my way yesterday. Over the past couple of weeks he has taken the only two potential clients in the pipeline away from me (remember, I am a sales guy on commission). Nice.

That is, of course, not the whole story. As we are now almost three years into the business, and as we have had a product for sale for three months now, and as we have not sold a single subscription, fingers are starting to be pointed my direction. It is obvious that the reason we have not been wildly successful is that I have not been doing my job. That's okay, I can take it.

The answer: simple. Bring in one of the investors (who, understandably, wants to protect his investment) as a sales guy and give him all of the clients currently in the pipeline. Yippee.

Another might think they had been screwed. Another might want immediate compensation for the loss of assets (surely clients are assets in this situation). The fact is, I didn't have any of these thoughts. It might sound evil, but my first thought was, "Finally, a chance at redemption".

I fully expect the new sales guy to fail (even if he succeeds in making an initial sale, we are selling a subscription service and I fully expect a quick cancellation).

Now I might be wrong. I might have misread the whole thing. Perhaps the new sales guy will get the product out there and all will be roses. I suspect not.

The best case for me (not the company, my sympathies are not with them) would be for the investor to try, fail, then wonder what he got himself into. I would love to be a fly on the wall at his first presentation.

Was I screwed? Only if the prospects actually sign up, like the product and pay handsomely. If they do that, then the new sales guy/investor deserves the commission (though I will, of course, make a case for shared commission). If not, then I lost nothing and gained time to write this. Leaving you, dear reader, as the beneficiary.

At least he took a moment to take me aside and say, "I think very highly of you."

Arrgghh...