Seems like I am encountering many articles and posts regarding under-performing salespeople. Now SalesforceXP.com offers Move Bad Salespeople Up Or Out. The author offers 5 strong steps to get the mediocre salesperson performing. His first step is one we fully endorse:

Never lose sight of the ABR principle: Always Be Recruiting.
If you have five strong candidates in the pipeline, you don’t have to endure a low performer. But if you have no bench, you may opt to keep a warm body around €“ even if that body hasn’t sold anything in weeks.

That is an area in which we can be of assistance. There is much truth in this approach. If you know you have a strong bench, you tend to be more direct in your assessment of your low performers.

And the article closes with the crux of the issue for sales managers:

Realize that you need to get comfortable with confronting people on poor performance. You can’t be a sales coach and a conflict avoider. When someone is failing at selling, you’re not doing him a favor by letting him coast along.

Low performers eat away at your coaching time and can infect everyone else’s attitude and mental capacity. They pollute the sales culture and can actually bring down overall performance.

One of the tasks many sales managers avoid is holding their salespeople accountable. But sales managers avoid this activity at their own peril. Salespeople need to have direction while also having clearly defined parameters and expectations. Sales manager who abdicate their authority in this area weaken their leadership…drastically.

We will address this topic with a new addition to our hiring process next week so please look for the announcement.

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In a recent article from Workforce Management on new employee retention, 7 months seems to be the magic number when it comes to retaining newly hired employees. Office Angels interviewed 1,400 new recruits on this subject. Here are some of their findings.

In the first seven months the workplace is viewed as a trial period for:

1. The boss – is he or she ‘lackluster?’
2. Are there mentoring opportunities available for them?
3. Does the new job accommodate their lifestyle?

Another important opportunity new employees look for is the camaraderie between the team.

77% of the respondents find it essential for the team to make a trip to the local pub.

No, I’m not suggesting you make an emergency field trip to the local pub as part of your orientation/training program (not an unappealing thought though). But how much time are you spending with your new recruit during the all-important first 7 months?

We’ll be adjusting our hiring process to address this need in the near future.

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This week we look at a trait that is beneficial to both salespeople and sales managers. The ability to stay balanced in forming decisions is integral to sales success. Salespeople who can look at the entire opportunity and properly weight the pieces before pursuing it are the most successful. Salespeople who can’t often chase the proverbial rabbit down the hole.

Balanced Decision Making
This trait involves the ability to be objective and fairly evaluate the different aspects (people and other) of a situation. This ability includes making an ethical decision that takes into account all aspects and components. It is the ability to maintain a balance between the needs of oneself, others and the company at the same time while providing equal importance to all three when making decisions.

A salesperson with strength in this trait does not suffer from an imbalance in the amount of focus they place on any one factor (internal or external). They will most likely make decisions which place equal emphasis on all involved parties or concerns – therefore making decisions which are more likely to satisfy all needs.

A weakness in this area indicates a salesperson who does not place equal importance on all aspects of a given situation. They may make decisions which satisfy some but not all of the factors or people involved.

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