I am going
through a personal crisis right now in my job.
I have been told that we now have a rule that says that anyone just by
leaving a message for a customer “owns” that account for 2 weeks. That means that the customers I have worked
for the last five years to develop, if they do call me back direct due to the
level of service I provide, yet anyone has left a message for them, the
message-leaver gets credit for the sale instead of me.
I was told that this won’t really affect my sales much. Yesterday I lost $4k to it (which is a great sales
amount for one day in my line). It
focuses on an area I am weak (smile-and-dial) and devalues an area I am strong
(customer relations).
I am so
angry about this that I’m completely distracted. It’s consuming me right now, and as I think
it through, I am feeling several emotions for a variety of reasons. I feel fear because 26% of my sales came from
these call backs, and I would not be near my goal, in fact I would fail without
it. I feel anger because I feel as if I have
been cheated, like this isn’t fair, but also because I feel entitled to those
customers. When it comes right down to
it, it is the entitlement thing that really gets me going. I don’t agree with the rule on philosophical grounds,
I think it undermines any focus on the customer, product knowledge, and sales
skills; just dial and leave messages.
Here’s the
problem I war with right now. I am not
entitled to anything. I have said over
and over that my Master has blessed me with sales this year. Now it is time to put up or shut up about
that. If it’s true, then what I’m
struggling with right now is my right to myself. I am fighting within to reframe my
perspective of these sales, and I’m losing at the moment. This is where my “flesh” and “passions” are
still strong and alive, and must be crucified (Galatians 5:24). I don’t want to give them up, it feels right
to let them live. But I am
self-righteous, self-justified, and champion a cause apart from my Master. I must die, and so must these desires.
The justice
of this rule is not my fight. I’ve made
my case, and I’ve been told I have to take it.
Now the fight belongs to my Master, and I have to accept that He may
decide to use it to draw me closer to Him rather than vindicate my
position. I hate that and struggle
against it, but it must form the vortex I cannot escape from. I must succumb, because my life depends upon
my demise. This sense of entitlement and
self-righteousness must die, specifically, I must crucify them. It is my responsibility to kill them. I can’t just back away and let them die of
inattention. I must nail them, piece by
piece, strike by strike, to the cross of Jesus.
I’m not done
whining yet. I feel it even now surging
up in me, justifying myself in my own eyes, imagining conversations I know will
never happen. I feel the emotion
coursing through me, and I can’t sit still, I can barely focus on writing. But I know what I must do, and I know I must
do it as soon as possible. “I am not
entitled to these sales” is now my new chant.
This must become my current spiritual discipline. Chambers makes a very good but difficult
point this morning. He says, “It is the
good that hates the best, and the higher up you get in the scale of the natural
virtues, the more intense is the opposition to Jesus Christ.” It feels so wrong, yet I know is the best
thing for me. Pardon me while, I begin
mumbling my chant. I have to go to work.
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