I Thought I Made the Bed
The biggest mistake first-line sales managers make has nothing to do with strategy. It happens every time they give a rep direction and assume the rep heard the same thing they said.
| 01 — THE STORY
My wife asked me to make the bed. I thought I did.
I get up at 5am. My wife sleeps in. She has a thing about making the bed in the morning. Says it starts her day right, gives her a sense of accomplishment. I respect it. I also genuinely had no idea how she made it.
One morning she was running out and asked me to take care of it. Sure, no problem. I walked over, pulled the comforter up over the pillows, smoothed it out. Done. Looked made to me.
That night we get into bed and she pulls the comforter back and says: "I thought I told you to make the bed."
I made the bed. She could see I made the bed. But underneath the comforter, the sheet had slid down to the bottom. She pointed it out. I didn't even know there was a process for the sheet. Apparently I kick my feet out every night, so she tucks in her end, which means I need to tuck in mine. Then you pull the comforter back up. Then the shams go back on the decorative pillows, even though we flip them off every night. All of it. Every step.
I didn't know any of that. She never told me. She just said "make the bed" and assumed I knew what that meant.
That’s the whole lesson right there. The bed is the rep. The comforter is the surface-level task. And the sheet, the tuck, the shams? That’s everything a manager assumed their rep already knew how to do.
| 02 — THE TOOL
Walk through every step. Every single one.
When you give direction, when you coach, when you have a development conversation with a rep, don't stop at the task. Walk through the entire process. Don't decide any step is too obvious to mention. The step you skip is the one that ends up looking like an unmade bed at the end of the day.
This isn't about assuming your rep is inexperienced. It's about making sure your definition of done and their definition of done are the same thing. Most of the time, they aren't. Not because anyone is wrong. Because nobody compared notes.
THE REAL COST OF ASSUMING: Most coaching failers aren’t attitude problems or effort problems. They’re clarity problems. The manager said one thing. The rep heard something adjacent to it. Both of them went home thinking the job was done. The sheet is still untucked. And nobody finds out until the guest checks in.
| 03 — THE CHALLENGE
Find the unmade bed on your team this week.
Pick one thing you’ve told a rep to do this week. One direction you gave, one skill you’ve been coaching. Now do this:
— Paddy Mac
PaddyMacSays · Sales is a contact sport.
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