All this time I have been writing about the strategies and also the right approaches to handle your sales team. But here is the thing: when is enough really enough? When do you get to throw in the towel and say, “Sales isn’t your true calling. I’m afraid I’m going to need to let you go”?
You are a really busy person. While your sales people are out working towards their quota, you’re caught up in the office, behind a desk, determining how to work your very own quota. So I’m gonna let you know the facts in this article.
Once you determine that you have to micromanage a salesperson, that’s when you are aware you’ve made a recruiting mistake.
A top performing sales manager is aware of this well. Normal sales managers know about it, as well. But they usually tend tomiss the point entirely.
As a top-performing sales leader in charge of an elite group of sales people, never allow yourself to believe that you are accountable for micro-managing your own sales people. I repeat, you’re a sales manager. You’re not a baby sitter. You’ve got more important things to worry about in your day than to spoon-feed an underperformer so that he, or she, can barely meet quota and help save his / her job.
I am aware that some people need more help than the others. Sure, all of us get that. I could even sympathize. But a line has to be drawn somewhere, and it’s you, the sales manager, who’s responsible for setting that line. Is the sales person able to work independently of the assist you offer him? Or do you really need to check out once in a while to make sure he recalls everything he should know already?
If it is the latter, do yourself a favor and tell the salesperson he has to find somebody else to work for. It is hard, I know, but it’s the simple truth. The top sales reps do not need to be managed.
Encourage, commend, guide, coach – but don’t micro-manage.
This is one of the ways to determine the presence of a bad apple in your basket.
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