The focus of our careers has been on competing for and winning new work. Responsibility for the cost of those activities always fell on our bosses. Often, in sales and marketing, the last thing on your mind is controlling costs. The natural instinct for business developers is, “We need to win the contract, whatever the cost.”
But then you reach a level in your career at which it becomes your job to monitor, manage, control, and squeeze usefulness from every penny of overhead. You also understand that every dollar not spent is a dollar added to the bottom line, of which you hopefully share a greater part.
It’s an eye opener to learn the importance of prudent spending and to develop a strong compass for guiding decisions. For young marketing staff, it is imperative to always remember that we are a direct cost to our companies. As overhead, we walk a fine line between being imperative to the success of the firm and being a costly burden.
In our opinion, that’s actually a great place to be; it provides clarity in our careers and in our daily decision-making. It forces us to constantly ask ourselves:
“Am I providing value to the company today?"
“Am I in the food chain - that direct connection between the people who need service and the people who provide service?”
And when we say “between” we mean a valuable link, rather than a hurdle. The constant reminder of measuring your financial value is one of the more exhilarating aspects of the sales profession.
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