Roger Thomas, Military Sales
The Problem R&D does what they think is best.
The Solution You know as well as I do; change takes time. This is no different. Marketing and Sales have done the right thing and we just need a minute to settle in to the new way … and then sales should start to pick up. But if Scott keeps working against the move to commercialization, the R&D teamwill do the same. Someone’s got to get Scott in line. Military Market The truth is we can get the odd military contract these days – more often than not, upgrades to existing products. In the past few years, they’ve kept us afloat. But the military market isn’t going to improve anytime soon. At this stage in the product lifecycle the technological improvements are incremental, not significant. Cathy Lalonde She’s doing a good job, sure. Values my input; that counts. I’d say she’s liked, not well liked, but liked. Your Future Plans Time is running out for me. I’m no longer at the top on the sales team. Look around, things are changing here.
Marketing Department I’m the veteran on the sales team. Have you seen some of the new hires? They’re barely old enough to drive, let alone negotiate contracts. But who am I to say? Lalonde has a plan and the kids are ambitious. Your Role I’m the key military sales guy. It’s not glamorous but I’ve won and kept dozens of military contracts, which isn’t easy when our side of the business is slowing down. But hey, I’m still working here and the relationships I’ve built still matter. Departmental Relations Here’s how it used to work. I’d win the contract and turn it over to R&D who would deal directly with the customer and they’d do all the yadda-yadda on technical issues. We were support for R&D. Today, we deal with the customer and then translate what’s been said for R&D. You guessed it: R&D doesn’t like it. They say it’s like shaking hands with gloves on.
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