In his book “Selling Is Everyone’s Business: What It Takes to Create a Great Salesperson,” author Steve Johnson points out that consistently low-performing sales people have a negative impact on staff morale, and consume valuable resources and training time that could be put to better use. Realizing the situation exists is one thing; doing something about it is another. Whether out of a desire to avoid confrontation or uncertainty over how to handle the situation, some managers tend to let poor performers continue to under-whelm. Now, Johnson’s book offers nine tips for dealing with the situation and restoring balance to the team:
1. Make sure you have a strong bench at all times. Never lose sight of the ABR Principle—Always Be Recruiting. The company with five strong performers on its team is less inclined to endure a low performer than the company with few options except to keep a warm body around; even if that body hasn’t sold anything in weeks. I
2. Prepare for the worst. Decide ahead of time when you’re going to cut bait. There will always be some low performers, and you don’t want to keep them around any longer than 60 to 90 days. Their demise serves as a warning to others that staves off complacency. Check with HR to see what you need to do to start documenting and forging your paper trail.
3. Go into your first “low performer” meeting armed with concrete data. Know exactly where the low performer stands in terms of sales numbers. Regular use of a public scoreboard not only sparks healthy competition, it lets people know exactly where they stand at all times.
4. Determine whether the problem is skill or will by asking open-ended questions. For example: Why do you think your performance is so low? Where have your challenges been lately? What made you come to work here? What has changed since then? What are your personal goals? The answers will establish whether the person simply isn’t good at the job or good at the job, but not doing enough.
5. If it’s a skill issue, set up practice situations. Let the salesperson spend time working with top performers or attend training events. The book also provides plenty of details regarding the training process and the various forms it can take.
6. If it’s a will issue, work with the low performer to set up a plan. Perhaps the low performer has a closing ratio of 50 percent—which is actually very good—but is making an abysmally low number of appointments. Maybe the person is coming in late every day or running a lot of personal errands during work hours. Work with the person to create a “shape up” plan, making it clear that the alternative is to “ship out.”
7. Collaborate with the salesperson to set specific goals that must be met. The low performer must have a concrete goal to work toward. Focus on things the person can control, such as 50 cold calls by next week. Make sure the person feels confident that he or she can meet the goal, yet be challenged. Put the action plan in a written document (the book has a suggested template) that both you and the salesperson sign. The signatures serve as an extra layer of accountability for both of you.
8. Hold regularly scheduled Goal-Setting Meetings (GSMs) with the low performer. They should be consistent, one-on-one meetings between salesperson and coach. Review performance from the previous period, and create a game plan and short-term action steps for the upcoming period. Have the low performer sign off on the agreed-upon goals. Between meetings, check in constantly, making liberal use of the three magic words “How’s it going?” GSMs combined with constant follow-up is very close management that will drive a low performer either up or out.
9. If you must, fire the low performer. Confront the situation head on and tell the low performer the truth. For instance: We’re trying to build a culture of high performance here, and you aren’t living up to our standards. You have consistently failed to hit your goals. I believe you can be very successful doing something else, but this company is not the right fit for you.
Get comfortable with confronting people on poor performance—you cannot be a sales coach and a conflict avoider. When someone truly is failing at selling, you’re not doing that person a favor by letting him or her coast along. By not freeing him or her to move on to the next opportunity, you’re hurting the salesperson, as well as yourself. You really can help people out by helping them out.
Steve Johnson is co-author of “If You’re Not Out Selling, You’re Being Out Sold.” He has developed and implemented hundreds of selling programs for clients such as Morgan Stanley, Countrywide Financial, UBS Financial Services, A.G. Edwards & Sons, Inc., RBC Dain Rauscher, Piper Jaffray, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. “Selling Is Everyone’s Business: What It Takes to Create a Great Salesperson” (Wiley, 2006, ISBN: 0-471-77673-4, $24.95) is available at bookstores nationwide, major online booksellers, or direct from the publisher by calling 800-225-5945.
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