LOUIS BURKE | Culture | CONTACT
To the untrained eye, 28 year old Jacob Lieschke is a sales representative for a company that sells workflow systems to medium sized corporations. Ask the man himself however, and you’ll get a different answer.
“I’m a hustler. I’m out there hustling all day erry (sic) day.”
Following the phenomenon of young men taking a steadfast and tenacious approach to corporate culture, largely inspired by mid-naughties hip hop, we spent a day with Lieschke in his North-Betoota office.
“This is where the magic happens,” Lieschke boasts, waving his hands around of his office cubicle he shares with his co-worker Karen Grace (45).
Continuing the tour of the two square metres of tiled carpet, Lieschke proudly shows us his mini basketball hoop, ‘Keep Calm and Hustle’ mug and framed photo of himself and Gary Vaynerchuk .
“It’s a thinktank where anything can happen.”
It has since been confirmed that 90% of what happens involves answering calls to disgruntled clients and the occasional scripted cold call, a topic that seems to amuse Lieschke.
“Nah, not how I roll. I don’t need no tele-script, I freestyle!” Lieschke went on to demonstrate this by substituting the scripted ‘May I ask you how you’re doing?’ with “How’s your morning big champ?”
We asked Lieschke’s cubicle partner and immediate manager, Karen Grace, what she thought of his untraditional approach to B2B telephone sales.
“Jacob is a reliable employee who fulfills his required tasks to an adequate standard. I’m going back to work now.”
Our visit met and abrupt end when Lieschke had to answer an “international business call” from a Christchurch based client.
