Being An Individual Contributor ≠ Being Alone
In my last article, I wrote about the idea of selling “alone,” as in having to rely on your own skill with minimal tools. This time, I want to explore a different angle: how selling alone could cost you your job.
I worked in two of the most hard-nosed sales cultures in the history of technology. The financial rewards and the education were exceptional. So wasn’t the risk and anxiety we felt every day of not performing up to expectations.
People often ask me if the rumors were true—could someone really get fired for missing their forecast? Could they get fired during a forecast call? The answer, unequivocally in both cases, was “yes.” Here’s how that could and would happen, and why you as an Individual Contributor or as a Sales Leader have to prevent going it alone.
Are You Lost?
I was working for what was then the dominant CRM company in the world (pre-Salesforce) and had forecasted a quarterly sales figure of approximately $250K, which was 110% of my quota. With some backfill, I had the potential to reach nearly 200%. By the end of the quarter, I had closed $236K—but on an entirely different set of deals than originally forecasted. Convinced I was going to be fired for not closing the specific deals I had predicted, I went to my manager prepared to accept my fate.
To my surprise, he laughed. “No one cares which deals you closed,” he told me. “They care about the number.” Since I had still exceeded my quota, my job was secure, and I was sent back to work. He and others around me knew everything happening in my deals and actions I was taking to move deals forward or not and if not, why not. I had managed my resources as tightly as I had managed my deals.
Lessons from This Experience
Several key takeaways emerged from this situation:
- Revenue Over Logos – In a publicly traded company especially, revenue is paramount. The logos that make up that revenue are secondary.
- Collaboration is Key – I had my entire team engaged: my boss, my sales engineer, product specialists, and professional services. Everyone was in the loop and contributing to my success ( and this was long before Slack and instant messaging ).
- Know Your Deals – The fastest way to get fired for missing your forecast is not knowing where you are in your deals. The second fastest? Going it alone.
Are You On Your Own Island?
One of the most common yet dangerous habits among salespeople and sales leaders is working in isolation. Over my career, I’ve seen recurring reasons for this:
- Lack of Confidence in Deals – Reps avoid exposing unqualified opportunities to scrutiny.
- Lack of Confidence in Deal Strategies– Fear of revealing knowledge or skill gaps.
- Delusion About Deal Viability – Reps believe they can turn an unqualified lead into a sale, artificially inflating their pipeline and distorting key metrics.
While working at another large publicly traded company, I attended a regional forecast call with several dozen participants that was being run by our VP of Sales. When the VP questioned a particular rep about a fairly large deal, the answers were vague and unconvincing. Seeking clarity, the VP turned to adjacent team members: the sales engineers had no information, product management was unaware, and even the sales manager had no insights. The VP then asked the rep who was helping him with the deal, to which he responded that he was working it alone because he didn’t want to “waste resources”.
The VP’s response was swift: “There are 70,000 people in this company who will all help you win a deal, and you are using none of them?”
That was the last call the rep had at the company.
We Love Our Sports Analogies For A Reason
Sales is a team sport as is most everything in life. If you’re a leader who allows a culture where people work alone, you’re fostering failure. Full stop. If you’re a salesperson who insists on working alone, understand the risk you’re taking and the potential cost to your company.
Being an “Individual Contributor” has never meant working alone. It never has, and it never will.
Good selling!
