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Fairness Missing Managers Communication Responsiveness

I am a Sales Rep for a large company, and I work with a Senior Salesperson. He divided the territory and kept the good accounts for himself while leaving the problems and leftovers for me. We both report to a Vice President who cancels every appointment I make with him. I don't want to be branded a trouble-maker, but what do I do?



The Senior Salesperson mines all of the gold from your territory and the Vice President ignores you, and you are worried about being branded a trouble-maker? Frankly, you are the one person who is not a trouble-maker.

Card-carrying trouble-makers are people who constantly look for problems rather than solutions. By facing a problem and looking for solutions, you are quite the opposite.

The real problem is that you have bought into the myth that people who stand up for their rights are trouble-makers. The fact is that by failing to stand up for your rights, all you've done is make trouble for yourself.

As soon as your territory was dissected, it would have been far more effective for you to take immediate action. In fact, any serious problem at work calls for a serious response. In such a case, you need to decide if your are going to handle the problem or if you are going to let it handle you. By letting some time slide by, it is easy to slip into the role of corporate doormat.

Fortunately, it is not too late to take some action, and it sounds like you do not have much to lose by doing so. Since the Senior Salesperson is too busy with your best accounts, and the Vice President has stamped "canceled" on all scheduled or future meetings with you, it is time to consider a couple of visits.

If the company has a Human Resources Department, you should stop by. However, if this Department is not particularly resourceful, you should look up the corporate ladder and visit whoever holds the position over the Vice President.

Either way, your approach with these people should not be to blast anybody. The best strategy is to provide them with the specifics of your situation, and then ask for their advice as to the best way to deal with it.

By looking carefully at their action or inaction, you will have all the advice you need to handle this situation.



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