Some months ago I stumbled upon an online article in Forbes magazine listing the 10 most hated jobs. An interesting characteristic is the majority of these 10 had an association with software and its upwardly mobile hiccups. Also prominent was the title that held No.2 position. This was 'Director of Sales and Marketing'.
We do have to take into account these studies are based on US figures, but ultimately the parallels between the USA and Australia are quite reliable.
Basically, Directors of Sales and Marketing had the second-highest level of job dissatisfaction mainly due to a ‘lack of direction from upper management and an absence of room for growth’.
It is probably an accurate feedback in most cases, but for an emerging percentage it’s not necessarily true.
I do believe software and technology is responsible for reducing job satisfaction and causing negative effect on growth, but only because in these cases the wrong types of software has been adopted.
If you put diesel fuel into a petrol-powered car, it won’t run properly. If you choose any software that doesn’t quite suit your employees’ needs, your sales team won’t be run smoothly because the personnel will be unhappy.
So, a sales force that hates cold calling and ends up with a software system that does little more than make cold calling look a little prettier on a spreadsheet is not going to be any happier to wake up each day.
Hence, the Director of Sales and Marketing loses spirit. However, in cases where software has been applied specifically to eliminate the need for cold calling, the Sales and Marketing Director isn’t on suicide watch.
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