accountability

For those of you who are afraid to hold their salespeople accountable, let this lesson prove that the worst that can happen is already happening.  In response to the likely, “What if it backfires?” question, how can it backfire any worse than most of your sales force making excuses and underperforming. 

There’s much more at stake than whether your gut instinct may be better/smarter than the assessment.  Making an exception compromises the integrity of the entire hiring process.

This behavior is simply one component of a hidden weakness that I call Non Supportive Buy Cycle.  I first discovered this in the 1980’s and it is one of the most common and powerful hidden weaknesses.  Even worse, there are dozens of other weaknesses that are hidden from view, causing your salespeople to fail. 

When you hire new salespeople, who will their role models be?  Should you point them to the veterans who are responsible for more revenue than anyone else?  No, because they are not very good examples of what a new salesperson should do. 

We debriefed the trip and identified 43 lessons learned. I you strive for perfection, debriefing your coaching, accountability, motivational or recruiting events should always produce lessons learned or, as the doctor in our group would call it, morbidity and mortality rounds.

We debriefed the trip and identified 43 lessons learned. Debriefing your coaching, accountability, motivational or recruiting events should always produce lessons learned or, as the doctor in our group would call it, morbidity and mortality rounds.

More than any other employees in the company, you can easily prove it when salespeople are underachievers.

If we judged Bob on sales alone we would have to give him failing grades for the 2nd quarter. If we judged him on his effort and his willingness to change and adapt, he gets an A. How do you judge your salespeople? How you do make sure that salespeople aren’t being judged by sales alone?