My immediate supervisor is a sales manager. She has no real authority, and is basically a walking phone book. She has never sold anything for this company, and yet, she somehow made it to sales management. My department director is a complete narcissist (sp?) and has a trail of failed telemarketing businesses in his wake and trust me, it's a wide, wide wake. He fails to understand that selling complex technology to intelligent, well versed professionals is more than a numbers game, and you can't be truly successful in this business by simply pounding the phone. If we were selling widgets in quantity at $2 a piece, then perhaps his used car sales tactics would work.
I don't even know where to begin with examples of the ineptitude of the management team in my department. I used to have ideas of how I could do the job better, and how I could make a difference, but working here for the last three years has crushed most of my motivation and initiative, as my boss thinks the only good ideas are the ones he comes up with. The only reason I speak to them is to let them know I've got money coming in, or to make it look like I need their advice, so they think I'm working, and it flogs their egos...it's like flirting in the bar, only I'm doing it with a couple of hogs.
The other day, my director must have eaten something that didn't agree with him, as anyone who sat w/in 20 feet of his office was complaining about the foul stench emanating from there...nice level of professionalism. In a small bit of poetic justice, he had his boss in for a brief closed door meeting. Hopefully, he got a 'whiff' of my directors complete lack of professionalism.
btw - anyone looking to give a fresh start to an experienced sales rep w/a back ground selling to automotive engineers and software developers, feel free to drop me a line...