We’ve all been there.
We have a good team, but we know we’d have a great team if we could just get one person to get with the program.
You’re frustrated. Everyone else on the team knows who the slacker is, and worse yet, they’re looking at you to see how you’re going to handle it.
Too many times the sales manager in this situation turns a blind eye to the single person on the team who is under performing. They rationalize it away with the belief that as long as the team as a whole is turning in the numbers, everything is OK.
The feeling is compounded by thinking if you do anything different, you may upset the rest of the team and you might wind up missing your numbers. The sales manager feels they’re better off leaving the low-performer alone, and in so doing, they have just turned themselves into a low-performing sales manager.
When we fail to deal with a low-performer, we are sending multiple signals.
The biggest signal it sends to the rest of the team is that low performance is acceptable. Remember, each decision you make in turn creates another decision.
Your decision to not deal with the low performer is only going to force you to make another decision when another person on your team slides down into the same category.
Second, it signals your sub-conscious that you are not capable of doing what you’re supposed to be doing. If you can’t or won’t deal with this situation, then how will you deal with the next situation that comes along?
Third, what is the ultimate outcome with the low-performer? How long is too long to let someone slide?
You get the picture.
If you are a sales manager, you must deal with low performers immediately.
The sooner you deal with the person by putting in place steps to either improve their performance or move them out of their position, the better off you and your team will be.
In the coming days, I’ll share with you specific things you can do to help the low performer.
Copyright 2014, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” Sales Motivation Blog. Mark Hunter is the author of High-Profit Selling: Win the Sale Without Compromising on Price.
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