Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Hodges
Hi Jeff, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I am starting this story as I considered where to go to college in 1980. I was a decent High School student but am not a great test taker and therefor didn’t have good scores on my ACT and SAT. I wanted to go to a big school and decided I would try to get into one of Universities of the Big 10 Conference. The college entrance process was very different, as today it is much more competitive. I selected the University of Iowa as they accepted me into their Business College while other schools would only accept me as a liberal arts major.
My father was in sales and I loved chemistry due to the enthusiasm of my high school teacher. I decided I would major in Business and take some chemistry classes with the goal to become a sales representative for a chemical company. This vision was developed based on what I knew and what was expected of me vs my passions or what I enjoyed.
While most people talk about college as some of the best times in their lives, I did not like college. I found it extremely difficult and stressful. I wasn’t motivated by the material I was studying. College was only a means to getting a job and providing for a future wife and family I dreamed of having one day. I graduated with a B- grade point average.
I graduated in December of 1984 and the job market was not great. Unemployment across the US was 7.2% and my memory is only about 25% of the graduates in the business college had jobs at the time of graduation. I was one of the lucky ones as I secured a sales job with Diamond Shamrock in their chemical division.
The interviewing process involved talking with a local sales manager in Chicago. The interview went well and I was given the opportunity to travel to Dallas for the next phase; a panel interview. I went to Dallas and had a grueling interview with 4 manages. I was later told why I received a job offer, the question I asked. At the end of the interview they asked if I had any questions. Based on the introduction they had provided, one set of facts didn’t make sense to me. I asked, “you stated there are ~50 sales representatives across the country and you have two sales training classes a year with approximately 10 people per class. Are are losing 20 percent of your sales force every year? This seems like a very high turnover rate?” They confirmed my perception was correct, there was a high turnover rate. They further explained they did an excellent job training their new sales representative who, after a short period of time in the field, became targeted talent of other companies who worked to hire them away. In addition they indicated this was not the easiest job and wasn’t for everyone.
I went through four months of sales training and then was given my first sales territory in the Carolinas and Georgia. In the first nine months I put 60,000 miles on my car. I was on the road every week. Based on the amount of effort I was putting into the job I was very successful but I wasn’t happy. In fact I would say I was miserable. I was an introvert from the Midwest, in the deep south, traveling all the time, with no personal life and a very aggressive customer base. I actually sat down multiple times and tried to make a list of what other careers I could consider but I never came up with a good alternative, so I kept hoping I would learn to love the job.
The market I was selling into was not good, pricing for our products seemed to be falling every week, competition was fierce giving customers the upper hand and they used it to their advantage putting tremendous pressure on me to lower pricing. At the same time the company was struggling financially and was putting pressure on everyone to sell more volume at higher pricing or at least not lowering the pricing. I felt I was in the middle, being torn apart from the two conflicting sides.
The company had underestimated the turn over in their sales force. The territory I was given had been empty for four months with no one calling on the customers. Customers were upset and let me know about it. Every sales calls was a battle but I kept showing up routinely. 80% of sales is continuing to show up.
I took everything personally but over time learned the customers weren’t upset with me they were upset with the company.
While most people think sales is all about talking I learned it was best to ask questions and let the customer talk. I have been told studies show the best sales calls are when the customer talks 80% of the time. I also figured out as I prepared for each sales call I didn’t have to create a whole new story line each time. The questions customers were asking were the same, so the answers I provided were only changed slightly based on the unique circumstances of the customer. This cut down on the amount of preparation for each sales call. Although the market dynamic remained difficult, I got into a rhythm which helped lower my stress levels.
I won’t say I was ever comfortable in any job. There was always the pressure to sell more or improve some other criteria (margins or a higher percentage of higher valued products sold).
I became good at reading people and communicating effectively, which made people comfortable with me and helped me develop excellent relationships with customers and internal company employees (customer service, legal, marketing, sales and business management). I spent more hours working than almost anyone as I was compensating for my difficultly in doing the same tasks in a lot longer period of time; I have dyslexia. In addition, I spent a large amount of time in an attempt to understand products and issues better. I continually looked for ways to bring greater value to the company. Business conditions were difficult and I always felt the risk of being fired.
I always had a fear throughout my career of being let go. I don’t know why or whether it was warranted but the fear drove me.
My drive did generate many promotional opportunities throughout my career but came with additional pressure: Marketing Manager, Sales Manager, Business Director, Sales Director, etc. Later in my career I was given a number of unique jobs to fix/address unique problems or improve particular parts of the organization. I was given the job to run the polymers sales organization during bankruptcy, consolidating two sales organizations. I moved to Hong Kong to help change the culture of the regional organization from focusing only on sales volume to adding a drive for value by improving margins. I ran a division of businesses to improve profitability. Ran the Supply Chain organization globally leveraging the scope to lower costs. And finally was given the task to implement SAP globally for a business which had been acquired despite not having any IT experience.
What I learned from my career is your degree doesn’t define what you will or can do. Hopefully a college degree develops: Tools you can use, a desire to continue to learn and starts your life time quest to communicate more effectively.
It’s important to recognize if you are going to make changes, addresses issues or drive improvement you will make mistakes. I don’t believe Managers and Leaders are paid to understand every detail but there are times when you need to be able to dive into the details to help develop a solution or path forward. Being able to know when it is necessary to understand all the details while other times staying at a high level, is a difficult management skill and style. Most people tend to manage only with one perspective, always in the details or never interested in the details.
I believe the best leaders create an environment which inspires others, sets high expectation and supports their efforts to meet or exceed those expectations. I found in most cases the people around you have the best answers they just need to be given the opportunity to express their thoughts.
I still have nightmares which haunt me regarding some of the management mistakes I made, some of them big and career limiting. Yes I would like to have managed those unique issues differently but I was doing the best I knew how at the time. As a manager, give your team the credit for all successes and take the heat when things don’t work out. This environment will generate better results than you would ever have dreamed possible.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t feel like my career was ever a smooth road. Difficult market conditions, bankruptcy, acquisitions, divestitures, employee issues and challenging internal company dynamics with a drive to always do better means there are always “Obstacles and Challenges”. I don’t feel these obstacles/challenges should be avoided or feared (OK – it’s hard not to fear this type of environment a little).
I always found getting the right people around a table to tackle or address an issue was a good starting point to clarify the “problem” and start to figure out how to address. It is important in these initial meetings to accept all ideas and encourage people to talk and express their thoughts. The hardest part is to manage those people who just want to complain. Allowing people to vent is an important part of the process but the group needs to move past venting and onto coming up with a plan to address the issue. The sooner you can get past venting and onto problem solving the better.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
The greatest rewards during my career were: The ability to help people learn, and empowering people so I could watch what they were capable of accomplishing.
I realized I had unique sales experience and there was a growing number of people in the commercial organization who had no or little sales experience. What started out as a round table discussion every week over a 6 month period with a group of people interested in learning more about sales ended up being a well documented class which was taught for a number of years to many classes. I found the classes rewarding as it brought significant value to highly motivated employees who recognized the value, in addition to enhancing the career path for so many.
People are smart and have unique expertise which when empowered, transforms the ability of individuals, groups and organization to achieve milestones and improve operational performance. Asking open ended questions and allowing individuals to explain an issue; how things work and their perspective on improvements or addressing issues can be eye-opening. Getting people to provide insight on how processes actually worked and the challenges they faced provided critical feedback on how to address issues and make the organization perform better.
It is important to recognize and get the thoughts from the individuals on the front lines who are using a system. Some of the best ideas come from the people who use and operate in a system which supports particular operations. I loved to see the passion so many people had talking about what and how they did their jobs. When asked about the issues or the improvements needed they were reluctant to say much at first. Asking meaningful questions with detailed follow up questions to fully understand the issues/problem, helped them realize their insight would help me address the root cause of the problem/issue.
Ask a front line worker for their recommendation and their first reaction may be fear. They are concerned if things don’t work out they will be blamed with all the negative consequences. My role as a problem solver was to get individuals comfortable they would get the credit if things went well and I would take the heat if things didn’t. This doesn’t mean I accepted all recommendations. I had to perform due diligence on any recommendation which was going to be implemented. I needed to ask others for input in addition to positively challenging the details to make sure the recommendation was well thought out and took into account the broader context of how the change(s) may impact other parts of the organization/processes. I found managing this interaction correctly improved moral and peoples willingness to share and work harder. Whether I had to take the blame due to poor results or I was highlighting the people who provided the recommendation which improved performance, I gained their trust and word spread in the organization through their experience. People started to share other important details on many subjects which allowed me to understand how the organization actually worked.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
Being self aware is not easy. Your perception of who you are vs how others see you is typically not aligned on a number of characteristics. I liked to joke, “I am a nice, understanding person who people liked to worked with but I have sharp teeth”. Through listening carefully and being open to feedback I was able to obtain an understanding of now people viewed me. I set higher expectations than almost all other managers. I have a very low tolerance for people who complain or aren’t willing to work hard. If someone challenged an idea but wasn’t prepared with facts to support their challenge I would become combative quickly. On the other hand feedback also indicated if people worked hard even if they were struggling I was willing to help and support in a way which was meaningful and would definitely help them improve their performance. I also was told I was fair and more willing to discuss almost any idea as long as the person was prepared and had facts to support their position. It became clear high performers wanted to be in the organizations I ran and low performers wanted to be transferred to other organizations as quickly as possible. Being self aware, understanding your blind spots helps you manage your reactions and interactions with people so they are comfortable sharing with you based on trust and your willingness to listen. Trust is something you have to earn and can be lost so easily. We have all seen managers and leaders who say one thing yet personally act in a different way. If you believe you are fooling anyone with how you act either because you are trying to deceive people or you are not self aware of the inconsistency in your actions vs words, the only one you are fooling is yourself.
Being able to listen is so important. I have learned so much over my career by asking questions and then listening, only directing the conversation with additional questions as needed. This helps people feel good about themselves and you as a manager. Showing genuine interest in someone and their opinion helps strengthen your relationship with them. I always try to find ways to talk less and listen more. Asking questions is the key.
Image Credits
I took the pictures myself
