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Cure All

Ran into this quote while looking for something completely unrelated:

“If you go out there and start making noise and making sales, people will find you. Sales cure all. You can talk about how great your business plan is and how well you are going to do. You can make up your own opinions, but you cannot make up your own facts. Sales cure all.”

It made me think about a conversation I recently had with someone I used to work with a while back. He is in sales. During the time we worked together, for a variety of reasons mostly not under his control, I never saw C close any deals. I have seen him in action with vendors, partners and customers and would rate him a good sales guy yet the objective reality is that he did not close anything during the time I worked with him. I did not have the heart to tell him I have no proof point to base a referral upon even though I think he is hard-working and has good instincts as far as sales. 

On the flip side, say I thought C was crazy difficult to work with and  generally unlikable but the fact was that he has closed many a deal. That would indeed cure all. I could refer him around to friends in companies he wishes to target and tell them like it is - they would need to judge if C is a culture fit but I could vouch for the fact that he had closed deals at a certain run rate. The rest is detail for the prospective employer to vet.


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