For years, I’ve been asking sales managers whether they have one or more chronic underperformers on their team. Hundreds and hundreds of managers have told me “yes.” Then I ask two more questions:
First, “How long have you known about this?” The answers range from months to years!
And now the most difficult question: “Why haven’t you done anything about it?”
The most frequent answers I hear are that they are too busy, they are reluctant to deliver bad news, they can’t be sure if the salesperson understands expectations, or they think the salesperson’s failure is their fault. I also hear a lot of frustration with all the tactics they’ve tried that haven’t worked (such as strong encouragement for the sales rep to make more sales calls.).
Whatever the reason, a manager’s failure to deal with a chronic underperformer has serious consequences for the team. Everybody else on the team knows that mediocre or poor performance is being tolerated—and all they have to do is be slightly better than the worst performer.
In my experience, there’s really only one way to deal with an underperformer that gives managers confidence and allows them to feel comfortable that they’ve done the best they could—no matter whether the salesperson stays (and improves) or leaves.
The method I recommend has three steps:
1) Communicate your expectations
Some years ago, I read about a survey that Columbia School of Business conducted where they asked managers why employees don’t do what they are supposed to in their job. The #1 reason by far—mentioned by over 99% of respondents—was “they don’t know what to do.”
I was skeptical at first about that conclusion, but have since been swayed by my own experiences. Whenever I talk to a prospective client company, I ask to see their sales rep job description. Usually it’s a version of the advertisement that the company uses to publicize a job opening. It doesn’t describe the specifics of what the company’s best salespeople do to succeed.
So, the first step has to be documenting the standards of excellence you want to set for your team and communicating and constantly reinforcing those standards. Think about the best salespeople you’ve ever seen (perhaps including you?). What do they do more of, less of, or do differently than poorer performers? What actions do your top performers take every day? What attitudes do they have? Set those as the standards for your team. Communicate those standards to everyone.
2) Observation and evaluation
In the medical profession, prescription without diagnosis is malpractice. The same is true for diagnosing sales performance issues. Do ride-alongs (or listen-alongs for virtual selling) with your salesperson with the goal of understanding what the source of the sales rep’s problem is. You also want to observe what they are doing well and where they need to improve. Use the expectations you’ve communicated to them as the basis for the evaluation.
For example, if the sales rep’s problem is a lack of skill, then you can discuss how they can get the needed knowledge and experience (perhaps through a combination of training, mentoring, etc.). If the problem is with their mental attitudes, or if they are unwilling to engage fully in your skills training, then proceed to step 3.
3) The “Two Roads” discussion
Armed with the knowledge that you’ve clearly communicated your expectations plus the insights you’ve gained from directly observing the underperformer, it’s time to have what I call the “two roads” discussion with the sales rep.
- Describe the problem as you understand it. Describe what IS happening that shouldn’t or what ISN’T happening that should. Get the salesperson’s reaction (and hopefully agreement).
- Ask the salesperson what they think the cause is of the performance problem. Listen to them (really!) and share your thoughts based on your observations.
- Describe what you think the solution should be, including behaviors, activities, and results needed to solve the problem. Set a date for a follow-up discussion and describe how you will monitor the outcome.
- End by clearly outlining the two roads to the salesperson: “You are at a fork in the road. Down this road, which is the road you’ve traveled thus far, your continued poor performance will lead to separation from the company. But down this other road, the path I much prefer that you choose is your renewed commitment to this sales position and the activities and behaviors that commitment requires. The choice forward is now yours.”
If you follow this approach, you can be confident that you’ve given the sales rep the knowledge they need to succeed on your team and the opportunity to fix the performance problems you’ve observed. If there is no improvement, that is their choice—and the consequences should be made clear as one of the options in the Two Roads discussion! But hopefully they will take the opportunity to improve, and your team results will show the difference!
Because you can’t be certain which of the two roads the underperformer will choose to take it’s wise to begin interviewing for a potential replacement immediately.
Download my “Screening & Hiring Interview Tool” here.
