Differences between Engineering and Sales

• We Show Up ON TIME!!
• I showed up for my first engineering meeting 15 minutes early, only to find the manager leading the meeting not show for a half hour and the meeting start 40 minutes late.
• I showed up to my first meeting in sales 15 minutes early and I was one of the last to arrive.

• We Wear Suits, Not Sandals
• My engineering manager used to wear a torn undershirt, shorts, and sandals with the occasional ragged baseball cap to work.
• Before I started in my sales role, I was provided with a document describing exactly what is considered acceptable business attire. Sandals are strictly prohibited :(

• Work Starts at 8 AM, Not Whenever The Engineers Roll Out of Bed :-P

• We CELEBRATE At Our Meetings
• Our Annual Engineering All-Hands Meeting was 2 hours at Shoreline Amphitheater with some band I have never heard of.
• Our Global Sales Meeting is a WEEK LONG event in VEGAS!! Aerosmith performed at last year's meeting!!

• SPIFFS
• "So, what's a spiff?” you ask. A spiff is defined by dictionary.com as: "a bonus or other form of remuneration given to retail salespeople for promoting the products of a particular manufacturer".
• Working in sales, there is always some form of competition and there is typically a spiff of some sort for the winner. For example, we had a presentation contest a few weeks ago. The winner received a $250 bonus and the top 5 received $100. We had a week long sales simulation/contest the week after. The winning team received tickets to a Carolina Hurricanes game. Also, two weeks into our JDRF Fundraising Initiative, my manager, Garrett, took everyone who had raised over $100 out on his boat for the afternoon. It was great, we left the office at 2:00 and went wakeboarding while everyone else stayed in class. Thanks everyone who donated :) Look for a final update in the upcoming weeks once the totals are tallied.
  

• We’re ALWAYS Connected
• The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is check my email. Then once I get into the office, the first thing I do is check my email once again. Then, of course, I have my email open all day. If I have a 10 minute break in class, you guessed it, I check my email. Then I check my email before I go home. And once I get home, I check my email yet again. And of course, before I go to bed, I check my email. I now understand the reason people know us as “the email company”. It’s pretty impressive; most emails are answered within 15 seconds.
• Once I get out into the field, I will get a Smart Phone, so I can answer my email at all times, even when I am not at my computer. Our managers use them now. It’s impressive how well they use the technology. I can get ahold of Garrett at just about any time. I have sent him emails at 2:30 AM and had a response by 4:30 AM. Plus, there are always cell phones. It is not uncommon for me to receive a call from “G Money”, as he calls himself, on Sunday night asking to re-schedule a meeting on Monday morning because he has to take his son to the doctors in the morning. It’s impressive, I feel like I can get ahold of Garrett at any time, even when I go days without seeing him.
• Cisco currently pays for my Laptop, Internet and VPN at home so I can work from home. Once I get out into the field, I will have Wireless Internet Access anywhere and of course, my Smart Phone. Plus, I likely won’t even have an office and will be able to work from home J on a regular basis.
  

• Corporate Credit Cards
• We have them and we use them. For example, after the JDRF Walk yesterday, our team went out to lunch to unofficially celebrate my birthday. And of course, we paid the bill with our Cisco American Express card. These types of events are planned in our budget. One of the other teams went out to dinner the other day and spent at least a thousand dollars. Our dinner is next weekend. I’m excited :)

• “The Greatest Job in the World for the Greatest Company in the World”
• There have been a few occasions, where Garrett has said, “You have the greatest job in the world and you work for the greatest company in the world” and I am starting to believe it!! They treat us really well. For example, last Thursday we had a Charity Golf Tournament for JDRF. Gordon, Garrett’s manager, approved the day as a paid day off. So, we all went out and played golf instead of going into the office and were paid for the day. That’s as close as I am ever going to get to being a professional athlete J Don’t get me wrong, they still expect us to get all of our work done, and they sure keep us busy, but they understand the importance of getting out and having a little fun too. Our core values include “giving back”, “having fun”, “work-life balance”, and “hard work” and we really live by them.
• So, what about my position within this company? The attrition rate for Cisco SEs, Systems Engineers, is below 2%. That’s one of the lowest in any profession in any field!! And what about this training program? The average graduate from the Sales Associates Program sells 110% of goal. That’s AVERAGE!! The numbers speak for themselves.