Sales Management For Dummies

Chapter 13

Addressing Poor Performance: Counseling and Critiquing Effectively

In This Chapter

Getting to the root of a performance problem

Assessing performance effectively and regularly

Knowing when (and how) to issue written warnings

In this chapter I take you through the ups and downs of being a real sales manager. Okay, maybe not so many ups as downs. Any time you have to address someone’s performance, it’s a tension-filled situation. If the performance is poor, it only exacerbates it.

The truth is a salesperson’s performance isn’t going to improve by having you close your eyes to it, ignore it, and hoping it will get better. Hope is not a management strategy. Turning a blind eye not only makes things worse, it indicates to the rest of your sales team that you aren’t really interested. And you never want that!

Identifying the Cause of Poor Performance

If someone on your team isn’t producing the desired results, you have to treat them just as you’ve trained them to handle a prospect:

• Ask questions: Never assume you know why someone isn’t living up to expectations. Ask questions. Find out what’s going on that could be hampering your team member’s performance.
• Uncover the ...