Senstive and stressful work situation with manager.
Discussion
I have a very tense situation which will take some explaining but need some advice from a wider audience.
I used to work for a large distributor of electronic components. A customer of theirs, who used to buy directly from a manufacturer, got into difficulty and worked out a three-way agreement to continue buying this manufacturers product through the distributor, to make use of the distributors long payment terms and stock management programmes.
Quite by coincidence, I left the Distributor, on very good terms, and joined this manufacturer as a sales manager. My previous employer became my customer.
It soon became apparent that the end customer never really liked the previous sales manager from the manufacturer (my new boss) and were slightly relieved to be now dealing with the distributor rather than him. I hope you still follow.
Whilst the end customer took their time to get themselves back on their feet, my boss spent months bypassing the distributor and badgering and applying pressure to the customer and the distributors sales manager looking after the account to get meetings with them, as business was declining. Upsetting many people along the way. People at the end customer really do not like my company, the manufacturer, on a personal level now due to this, and, through the distributor, are looking at alternative manufacturers of the same product. I have not been allowed to take full ownership due to my bosses desire to stay involved. Despite this, the decline is being blamed on me!
So the situation is, the business has dwindled from several £100k a year to almost nothing in 2 years now. The end customer do not want to meet me/us due to their disdain of my boss, and even the distributor have had enough.
This, in its entirety is being blamed on me and my “inability to manage the account.” I have told my boss that its due to his attitude and personal handling of it that we can’t progress, but I am being held accountable and he will not accept that. The end customer will not even pick up the phone to me, and the distributor people, my former colleagues, don’t want the hassle anymore and have explicitly told me they are highly upset with my boss’ manner and, consequently, my company. My boss has even said that one of the reasons he employed me was because of my connections with this distributor and I’m am proving to be disappointing in this regard??!!. There happens to be other opportunities with them, that my boss is not involved in, that are coming along well but not to the point of orders yet.
How on earth can I mediate this?
I used to work for a large distributor of electronic components. A customer of theirs, who used to buy directly from a manufacturer, got into difficulty and worked out a three-way agreement to continue buying this manufacturers product through the distributor, to make use of the distributors long payment terms and stock management programmes.
Quite by coincidence, I left the Distributor, on very good terms, and joined this manufacturer as a sales manager. My previous employer became my customer.
It soon became apparent that the end customer never really liked the previous sales manager from the manufacturer (my new boss) and were slightly relieved to be now dealing with the distributor rather than him. I hope you still follow.
Whilst the end customer took their time to get themselves back on their feet, my boss spent months bypassing the distributor and badgering and applying pressure to the customer and the distributors sales manager looking after the account to get meetings with them, as business was declining. Upsetting many people along the way. People at the end customer really do not like my company, the manufacturer, on a personal level now due to this, and, through the distributor, are looking at alternative manufacturers of the same product. I have not been allowed to take full ownership due to my bosses desire to stay involved. Despite this, the decline is being blamed on me!
So the situation is, the business has dwindled from several £100k a year to almost nothing in 2 years now. The end customer do not want to meet me/us due to their disdain of my boss, and even the distributor have had enough.
This, in its entirety is being blamed on me and my “inability to manage the account.” I have told my boss that its due to his attitude and personal handling of it that we can’t progress, but I am being held accountable and he will not accept that. The end customer will not even pick up the phone to me, and the distributor people, my former colleagues, don’t want the hassle anymore and have explicitly told me they are highly upset with my boss’ manner and, consequently, my company. My boss has even said that one of the reasons he employed me was because of my connections with this distributor and I’m am proving to be disappointing in this regard??!!. There happens to be other opportunities with them, that my boss is not involved in, that are coming along well but not to the point of orders yet.
How on earth can I mediate this?
Can you have a quiet word with your boss's boss? Depends how long you've been there etc. and depends how much 6 figs ((c) audermars...) of business moves the dial for your employer. Could be a nuclear option though.
Doesn't sound like much else is going to work, your boss is going to make you the fall guy.
Doesn't sound like much else is going to work, your boss is going to make you the fall guy.
Yep... sounds like you were hired to try and fix the client relationship ruined by your boss. He won’t let you do that due to his intereference, so you are really being impeded, and the client has decided they don’t really want to deal with your company any more. Boss’s boss maybe the only option - maybe suggest he gets your boss out of the picture on the acccont and try one more time with them outlining the new account team and commitment to good service etc. Other than that spend time looking for new opportunities, both sales for the company and personally.
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