Rallier

SDR Manager and Consultant

Open floor concepts. Like or dislike?

Every company I've worked at always wants to have a 'bustling and lively' sales floor. Meaning there are no cubicles or walls dividing people making calls.

Do you like or dislike an open floorplan that encourages this type of thing?

I hate them. But if I tell people that, they often think I'm too scared to make calls in front of people, which obviously isn't the case (I record my calls and share them all the time). But I legitimately can't hear anything when I'm on the phone because I'm so distracted by other people having conversations

Am I the only one that hates these office designs? Do you like them or dislike them? And why?

UPDATE: It seems clear that most people hate. So that leaves us with one question: why does every modern office have this?

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42 comments

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braintank

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Hate it. Loud and distracting

ExtremeVibeChecker44

Arsonist

Inside Sales

Sounds good, doesn't work

SiliconBBQ

Politicker

The Metal Rooster

Not to mention the slack asses who come in early to escape their wife and kid and want to have a social hour. ...before covid when i was in early it was not to speak with colleagues (typically), it was to get ahead of my day.

sideshow_bob

Opinionated

Business Owner

I hate it too. But every VP wants it so that when other departments walk in, it makes it appears that the sales team is working the hardest

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Nope, fuck that. Loud, distracting, can never get a moment of peace or privacy. I have my own office now and would never go back to open concept.

BmajoR

Arsonist

Account Executive

Depends on what you're doing. When I was a BDR I enjoyed it but now as an AE I enjoy my cubicle so I can focus and have less distractions.

Sgt_Trollingham

Valued Contributor

Business Development Director

Open floor plans save money. Also, here is an interesting video from vox on the topic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p6WWRarjNs

Brando

Politicker

Account Executive

I hate them. I have a hard time focusing in open concept

ChunkyButters

Tycoon

Love it.

But, when I do call blitzes or am on client meetings I go into a conference room or "phone booth".

That way when I'm on an important call or need some focus time I can separate, but I also get the team collaboration vibe when I want too.

sideshow_bob

Opinionated

Business Owner

Do people give you hard time if you go into a phone booth to do a call blitz? I had a VP who wanted us to make calls on the floor

ChunkyButters

Tycoon

Nope. We use a variety of tools so my calls are recorded, and my metrics are visible across the company. I also send my leadership recordings where I want feedback. I could see if someone was slacking or possibly faking their numbers that a leader would want to watch them make calls, but so far that's not happening.

Often times the floor gets busy and noisy, so it can be distracting and I'll be less productive. Background noise can make it hard to hear a prospect, and give them a "call center" vibe IMO. My voice also carries, I'm not loud, but everyone can hear me so I'd disrupt their calls.

We also do some group blitzes where 2-4 of us will round robin calls and listen/coach each other.

comissionimpossible

Fire Starter

Enterprise Account Executive

I don't think there's anything wrong with not liking to do calls in front of your colleagues. I'm more than happy to share every call with the team but I'm much more comfortable when it's quiet and feels like it's just me and the prospect chatting

poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

I speak loudly, not because I want to be loud, but because I project and I like to stand. I love the open floor, but for obvious reasons, I doubt my coworkers want me to be on one. That's why I take a lot of calls in the phone booths.

Kinonez

Celebrated Contributor

War Room Enthusiast

I can relate to that. I’m also really loud, plus I have a hearing problem in my left ear (I played with fireworks as a kid) so I can never tell when I’m being loud and people need to sush me all the time

beerisforclosers

Politicker

Account Manager

I didn't realize how much I hated it until I got to work from home during the pandemic and realized how much more focused I am when there aren't 50 other people talking around me.

Fenderbaum

Politicker

Retired Choirboy🪕

Yes, hate it. Leave me alone to do my thing.

Avon

Politicker

Senior Account Executive

Can’t stand it. Makes it so hard to focus and it’s harder to make calls with other people in the background. It’s amazing how much better I am at cold calling when I work from home.

beachNsales

Politicker

Sales Manager

Hate it

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

Hate open floor plan, everyone comes to ask you questions and it’s always noisy at the worst times when you’re trying to demo.

DungeonsNDemos

Big Shot

Rolling 20's all day

Does my home office count as open floorplan if I'm the only one there? lol
To answer your question though, I prefer having a cubicle or office so I can focus on my calls. Though when I used to be more of an SDR I do feel the group call energy was helpful for that type of activity. But not great for demos.

Bueller

Politicker

Account Executive

Hate them. I use AirPod pros which pick up every damn noise ever made so open office is a no go for me

DonDraper

Politicker

National Sales Manager

For me it really depends how close the desks and reps are to each other. The noise factor is a real thing but often overlooked by management when putting people together.

I like the idea of open plan but people need their space and breakout rooms are important for those sensitive conversations.

HappyGilmore

Politicker

Account Executive

Don't like it at all, makes it hard to stay focused.

Incognito

WR Officer

Master of Disaster

Give me my fucking office.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

Way too distracting. My ADHD is a distraction on my own remotely. I can't imagine going back to that shitshow.

Kinonez

Celebrated Contributor

War Room Enthusiast

I hate it, I noise is a distraction and I have a loud noice so I am part of the problem for sure, so I have to regulate my voice which sometimes makes me sound like a robot, which makes it harder to engage with any prospect.

I believe many companies do it following google’s no walls design, if it worked for them why not do us right? It also encourages team work according to several psychologists who’ve never worked in sales. Some CEO’s implement them with the best intentions at heart, but most of them make calls from their office and don’t deal with the pain.

The common employee never complains about this and this never gets to the CEO’s attention, they think it works and more and more implement it.

GDO

Politicker

BDM

Horrible! Thank god for WFH

Patbate

Politicker

Product Advisor

Hate. No privacy and loud

sales7

Politicker

Commercial Product Enablement

so noisy and unpleasant!

JdiggityR

Executive

Enterprise Account Executive

Also hate. The modern office does it because some designer thought it looked cool and “modern”. Just a modern mess.

SlinginSoftware

Politicker

Account Executive

Personally, I love em. We have privacy booths all over the office, so noise generally isn't an issue.

If we didn't have open concept, where would we even put the putting green??

Chep

WR Officer

Bitcoin Adoption Specialist

I like it but I'm on hybrid so if it ever gets to loud to focus I'll wfh the next day to catch up and rip dials

hammaman

Valued Contributor

Business Development Representative

Really hate it. Super distracting. With enough people in an open floor concept design you can’t hear yourself think!

CTXC

Opinionated

Strategic Account Executive

The biggest reason for the god-awful boiler room open-office style is saving money. It's cheaper and easier to just buy a bunch of desks than cubicles.

If I was a programmer or in a role that didn't require so much communication I wouldn't mind it as much. But I'm on the phone or in virtual meetings all day long. I don't mind people listening to my calls, but I hate it when the prospect has to yell for me to hear them over the damn ambient noise.

Enrossie

Opinionated

Inside Sales Manager

Never worked in an open office in sales but I did work 10 ft below an active airport on the aircraft carrier at my last job in the Navy. Always fun to say on video calls: Hold on Admiral, there is an aircraft about to go full afterburner above me. Give me a second.

Simo

Politicker

Director of Sales

Strongly dislike!

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Rallier

Open floor concepts. Like or dislike?

42 comments

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