There’s a certain kind of person I call a “Go-To Guy.” If the prototype HAS to be delivered to the trade show, without fail, you send your Go-To Guy straight to the lab. He picks it up and gets on a plane and hand carries it there.
If he misses his plane, he rents a car and drives 14 hours from Atlanta to New York City. Breaking speed limits all the way risking points on his driver’s license, flogging the early morning NYC rush-hour traffic. He arrives at Javits Center at 8:15am. Just in time.
For some reason, Go-To Guys have this tendency to devalue themselves and are often suckers for punishment. If you’re Mr. Corporate America, how do you treat Go-To Guy after 20 years of faithful service?
* If you don’t want to keep him until 83, fire him four months before his 20 year company anniversary, just before his pension vests. Oh yeah, and if you really want to stick the knife in deep, fire him on his wedding anniversary. Send him home to his sweetheart in tears and shame. It’ll sweeten their weekend, the one with the steak dinner and red roses at the Radisson. Oh, and whenever you bump into him around town, tell him to be sure and tell her ‘hi’ for you.
* You pilfer money from his 401K program and limit it to extraordinarily conservative investments (while talking about the 401K program in such delightful, embellished terms that he never visits a financial planner and considers saving up his own nest egg) so your Go-To guy will actually never have enough money to retire. He’ll still be your Go-To guy when he’s 83 and has a colostomy bag strapped to his leg.
* Tell the Board Of Directors meeting that the company lost the 3 1/2 million dollar account with Starbucks because of Go-To guy’s inattention to detail and lack of maturity. Tell them you’d already been concerned about his performance for quite some time, and you solemnly accept a share of the blame for not dismissing him as soon as you saw the warning signs.
(This will ensure that they never suspect it was actually YOUR fault – you hacked off their purchasing manager for trying to cut your own distributor’s throat to keep some more margin. He knew right then you were a blood sucker and he nixed the deal.)
If you’re a Go-To Guy and you know it; if you can absolutely be counted on to deliver the goods; then ditch Corporate America and be a Rainmaker instead. It’s the only way you’re gonna get paid what you’re really worth.
Oh, and make sure you get equity so Corporate America can’t fire you.
Perry Marshall
Rainmaker Alchemist Summit for Consultants
Chicago September 21-23!
http://www.perrymarshall.com/ra/
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.