I live in a complicated work… when people know that I teach “Sales” (please bear with the quote marks, you’ll see why) often they think that I can teach them how to sell, or that I can teach them how to organize a sales department or that I can help them defining a go-to-market strategy… and I can do all of them, and you see how within the term “sales” (understand the quotes yet?) so this post is a clarification of the different aspects I see in “sales” (last time there are quotes, I promise):

• Sales as a strategy: this is the Go-to-market strategy part… people would ask me, how can I sell this XXX (fill in here any product or service)? I see this question more as a Marketing, and eventually Go-To-Market question than a sales one, as in the answer I would have to use marketing concepts, such as segments that are targeted, the positioning of the brand… good resources for answers to this questions are: “Transforming your Go-To-Market Strategy” by V. Kasturi Rangan and “What is Marketing” by Thomas Bonoma.
• Sales as a function / department: people would ask me, how do I set-up a sales department, organize my team, hire people… to sell XXX. This is the kind of questions we answer in the sales courses I teach at ESADE and in other business schools. Once the marketing questions have been answered, and the Go-To-Market strategy is clear, we have the foundations on which to build a sales strategy (as in how to build the sales function) and a sales organization. The best resource, in my humble opinion, to find answers to this question is the very complete “The complete guide to accelerating sales force performance” by Zoltners and Sinha.
• Sales as persuasion: finally, people also ask me, how do I convince someone to buy XXX from me? To answer this questions I have to use concepts of persuasion and “sales techniques”. I usually dislike “sales technique” books, as I usually find them shallow and not evidence based… I would recommend “To sell is Human” by Dan Pink, and “Influence” by Robert Cialdini.

This was just an “off-the-top-of-my-head” post, more on this soon, as is the topic on which I make a living.

In these pages I will be writing about what matters to me, hoping it will be of interest, and maybe help the people who read it.

First, I’ll be writing about what moves me as a lecturer in the Marketing Management Department at ESADE Business School. Passionate about helping companies and entrepreneurs carry their products to the market and set up a proper Sales Strategy. Developing a thesis about Key Account Management (KAM) Effectiveness. Fascinated by innovation, technology and all the new ways to do things better.

Also, I am an active (likes to work out) father of two, living in Madrid and enjoying the city as a training ground. I run and bike in it, not as often as I would like, and struggle to find a pool that will conquer my heart. The best thing is to take the family in these outings.

Finally, as a man / dad / husband / citizen / academic, I think a lot about my role in society, and there will be some ramblings on this issues too.

Enjoy!

Last night I finished the book “Lost Connections. Uncovering the real causes of depression and the unexpected solutions” by Johann Hari. At the same time, I had become aware of NBA campaign, at the ads during the playoff matches, creating awareness about mental health (here on Youtube). Also, I have been confronted by depression, both at a personal level, myself (therefore my interest on this book) my family and my friends, and also in my job, where I see colleagues and students struggle with anxiety and depression.

Reading the book triggered a question, how responsible are companies and business in the prevalence of anxiety and depression in the western world (18,1% of the American population, according to the ADAA, 350 million people worldwide according to the WHO)?

In industrial or modern societies (as opposed to traditional societies, such as the ones we find in less economically developed countries) most of us work for a living, we spend most of our lives working, what we do, and what happens in our work environment affects how we defines ourselves. Working has substituted almost all the other forms of social connections that we have had in the past, and that still less industrialized or less modern societies still have (religion, tribes…) as seen in the Amish chapter in the book).

According to Hari, there are nine lost connections which are responsible for depression or anxiety (disconnections from meaningful work, from other people, from meaningful values, from childhood trauma, from status and respect, from the natural world, from a hopeful and secure future). Among those, five of them (disconnect from meaningful work, from other people, from meaningful values, from status and respect, from a hopeful and secure future) are very related to our work lives and to what happens around our work environment.

Also, among the “reconnections” he prescribes in his book, there are some who are relevant to how companies and business are run: obviously reconnection to meaningful work, but also overcoming addiction to self, as according to what Hari explains in his book, a capitalistic consumption society drives us towards focusing on extrinsic values (own more, have more, be more) which lead to depression and anxiety.

I think that business should examine their role in developing mental health in the society, as a way to become more responsible citizens.

In the decades since the ENRON scandal in 2001, companies have become much more aware of their impact in society (reference) the “triple bottom line” (financial, but also social and environmental) has been adopted by some companies (you can find a good summary by The Economist here)… following the direction of asking companies and business to be better citizens, maybe a mental health aspect should be added to the social element of the triple bottom line.

Companies should start asking themselves, first how do they make their employees feel, whether the culture and the practices inside their facilities contribute to vital aspects of mental health such as feeling respected, feeling empowered, providing them with meaning and helping them feel their future is secure.

And second, companies and business should also ask themselves how they feel the consumers to which they address their products and services feel. Do their communication campaigns feed on their insecurities? Are they fueling the belief that by having more, they will feel better?

My guess is that if those questions were asked, a lot of the answers, for most of the companies, will be negative… which would put companies and business at the heart of the “depression epidemic” in the industrial or modern societies. I believe they can no longer turn their backs on this reality and that they should react before it is too late. A depressed society is a dying society, which will bring the companies and business down with it… if not for their responsibility as citizens, companies and business should react to this for their own sustainability and start thinking about their role in the mental health of the people around them.