Performance Management
The dirty little phrase in sales
Performance Management is the dirty little phrase in Sales.
BUT - I believe it’s critical to high performance team!
When HR talks about performance management it typically means one or your reps are not hitting quota (goal) and you have to do something about it (PIP).
Here’s the thing. As a sales leader you should know exactly why a rep is not hitting their goal.
Possible reasons:
They are not doing enough activity (2 outbound calls a day typically doesn’t cut it)
They are falling down at some point in the sales process (doing activities but things aren’t closing)
The market has shifted (which means all your other reps are not hitting their goals either)
Let’s tackle these one at a time:
Sales Activity: if your reps is not doing enough sales activities that means you may have a “will” problem. They don’t have the will (or discipline - see my post on that) to do the hard work and make the calls, or activities that you as a sales manager know it takes to get there.
Solution: Focus - The first thing I usually do is a try to deconstruct their day to see how they are spending their time. We work together on structuring a day that puts them in the best position to do the work. We outline it for 2 weeks and check in (daily at first) to see how it’s going. (email me if you want to see an outline I created with a rep on a typical sales day focused on sales activity - generating new business)
Sales Day Outline - for Prospecting
Sales Process: if your reps are falling down on the sales process it’s up to you to get involved because this may be a “skill” problem.
Solution: Coaching - You have to listen to calls, be on appointments. For this to be effective to have a clearly defined sales process, and even better if that process is one that outlines the client journey to buy (reason is, it’s easier to diagnose where you’ve veered off track and address it). Once you identify where in the process they are getting stuck. Role play getting unstuck and get them back out there. This part is the skill part of selling. Who knows , they may not have the skill but you have to assess that after understanding the gap and coaching through it… This takes the most work and is an investment from a sales leader. Sometimes it’s worth it, sometimes it’s not.
Market conditions: This is out of our control and may require you as a sales leader to diagnose where to pivot to so you can make budget. You then need to retool your team to manage through the pivot.
Solution: Communication - get with your C-Suite and brainstorm ideas on where you see the opportunities to get back to budget. Create a 90 day plan, THEN communicate with your team.
We have a saying that “clear is kind”. Getting clear about your expectations, especially around activity, is one of the best things you can do to help manage performance.
When the activity is not there, meaning our rep is not doing the work, I have zero problems moving towards separation and doing it quickly especially if they are demonstrating through their actions (or lack thereof) that they are unwilling to put in the work.
When it’s a skill problem - we have to coach them. It may be they aren’t the right fit and can’t make it. But we hired them and we owe it to them to provide a path way to be successful.
The hardest ones are the reps that are putting in the work, doing the activities, but can’t connect the dots and therefore suffer from underperformance. I have a heart for them and, admittedly, I probably spend more time than I should trying to get them there…
Over all performance management is a day to day process that takes active engagement and clear expectations.
Good luck and reach out if you want to bounce a scenario around.