Looking Busy Is Not the Same as Being Busy

Author: Thomas Murgatroyd (CEO, Cloudcat Recruitment)

Being in sales is the only job where half the performance review is based on things you haven't even done yet.

No one harasses the postman because they haven't received a parcel that hasn't even been shipped.

No one asks Mbappé why he hasn't scored next season's goals yet.

You can close three deals before lunch, but if your calendar has white space people assume you're eloping.

Meanwhile the person with back-to-back meetings, six Salesforce tabs open, Slack permanently on "In a call", and an expression that suggests they're carrying the entire GTM motion…

hasn't replied to a prospect in three days and couldn't close a browser tab, let alone an SMB deal.

VCs have their own version of this. LPs care about returns, but they also want to see quarterly letters, partner meetings, portfolio updates, market commentary, and enough visible activity to know the fund isn't asleep at the wheel.

Optics matter.

The irony is that the best salespeople I've worked with rarely look busy. They look in control. They have space in their calendar because they're spending time moving deals forward, not attending meetings about moving deals forward.

Looking busy is part of the job.

Actually being busy is the job.

The ratio should be 90:10.

Get it the other way round, and eventually everyone notices.