New job not working out

milliemonster

I hope someone can help me decide what to do.

I have been in sales for 5 years now, prior to this I was a nurse in the NHS. I recently left a large blue chip company for a promotion in a small local company, this role was newly created, due to the company expanding they were dividing the sales up into 3 distinct areas, my role was to lead and grow one of these areas. I have been in post 3 months now and mostly enjoying it.

The issue I have is, I don't regret leaving my previous position, I was ready for the change and a new direction. But I don't know where I am with my boss (who is the director), I have had no training and have had to pick up accounts with limited previous history info and have had to learn the job on my own. My initial perspective was that I assumed that as a manager growing a new division I would need to make decisions, grow the business and report this to my director. It doesn't appear to be turning out like this.

I have slowly come to realise that my director expects me to discuss every lead and customer query and request with him and then to carry out his instructions regarding pricing etc, so I feel I have no autonomy. Some of the sales tools that the company have (spreadsheet programmes etc) I have had no training on and although I have tried to understand them find it difficult to work my way through it without at least some initial introduction, my manager keeps telling me we will meet up and have some training but this never materialises. When I have made decisions, he has criticised and made me feel small, even though they may have been the right decision, he is not happy as I have not consulted him first. I am beginning to feel that I am more of a sales rep rather than a manager, like I was in my previous job.

I completely understand and appreciate that I am new and he will want to ensure I know what I am doing and I am more than happy to run through things with him, but its very difficult when I have got customer expecting answers and I can't get hold of him (he's always difficult to get hold of) so make a decision based on what I have previously been told and then am criticised for making this decision, even if it was the right thing to do.

Other people in the company feel I am doing a fantastic job as they know I have had no training and have just had to find my own way, but I am just beginning to feel this is more of a sales reps role, than a managers role.

The role I have currently is not a man manager role but it is expected that as the business grows then we will employ sales reps in my division.

I know I'm probably not making any sense but I am just finding him incredibly difficult to work for as I just don't know where I am with him, one day he will be incredibly positive, the next he is moody and accusatory and will ask me why I've done something, then when I explain my reasons for doing it, he doesn't respond, just goes quiet. Because I and he are field based, the majority of our conversations have been on the phone, we have only met up about 4 times since I started 3 months ago, I have asked for more meetings but he frequently cancels them due to other committments.

I am increasingly thinking about doing my return to practise nursing, I have got the application form but they need a reference from my current employer, as I have only been with this employer 3 months I don't feel I can ask them for a reference as I am still on probation. The course isn't due to start until Autumn next year.

Can anyone give me any advice on what to do? As I said this is a small company, they don't even have any written policies or procedures to follow.

Lucy-Jane

I also left a big company to go and work for a much smaller one where my boss was the director.

It is like a different world. Having been at my old co for 1oyrs I only lasted 18 months at the smaller one and am now elsewhere.

Personally I think they can't let go of any tiny decision and that makes it hard all round.

milliemonster

Thanks Lucy, I knew working for a smaller company would be very different and I accept this, I don't want to give it up after this short space of time but I'm just finding it incredibly difficult as I don't what their expectations are of me or whether I'm hitting them, the only objective I've been given is to 'grow the business'

One of the main difficulties that I'm finding hard to deal with is as I said, I don't see my boss that often so I have to deal with things by phone, half the time he is driving and the noise is so bad I can't hear what he is saying, even when he is not driving there always seems to be a lot of interference and I can't hear him properly, I have asked for meetings where we can sit down and go through things but these are always cancelled.

BitterAndTwisted

Oh my, how can they expect you to knuckle down to the job and make a success of it if they can't give you the tools?

I'd either put your concerns about the spreadsheets/tools in writing and beg him for an hour or two with either him or someone else in the organisation to brief you or phone him in the evening when he's not out or in the car. Then you can ask him how he wants you to field these questions which he doesn't appear to be happy for you to make the decisions about.

Working for a very small company where the principals have grown the business from the ground up is very, very difficult: they've not got used to being able to trust other to work as hard or to delegate and can find it hard to trust others to make a decent job of it without micro-managing. If he's made it clear that he's not happy with the decisions you've made has he explained why that was the case?

If this person needs to micro-manage then you need to ask him how you can arrange things so they can be consulted every step of the way, otherwise you're just fighting with both hands tied behind your back and they are (possibly unwittingly) compromising your ability to deliver what they want.

I've worked in companies with people exactly like this, so you have my deepest sympathies and if my experience is anything to go by, you need to try and be more assertive about exactly how much of this person's time and energy you need in order to get the job rolling satisfactorily.

Emily1990_2

milliemonster wrote: »

Thanks Lucy, I knew working for a smaller company would be very different and I accept this, I don't want to give it up after this short space of time but I'm just finding it incredibly difficult as I don't what their expectations are of me or whether I'm hitting them, the only objective I've been given is to 'grow the business'

One of the main difficulties that I'm finding hard to deal with is as I said, I don't see my boss that often so I have to deal with things by phone, half the time he is driving and the noise is so bad I can't hear what he is saying, even when he is not driving there always seems to be a lot of interference and I can't hear him properly, I have asked for meetings where we can sit down and go through things but these are always cancelled.

This sounds EXACTLY like my old boss. It's probably not what you want to hear but I quit my job as I didn't want to be micromanaged and babied to the extent that I couldn't even make a phone call without discussing it with him. Could you address your concerns with him? Say you feel you don't have enough autonomy?