In the first article, we talked about knowing when to let go of your underperforming sales people. It’s a tough decision, anyone who’s ever held the authority to fire someone can sympathize. But it has to be done, it needs to be done. To make things easier ask yourself these questions:

1. Would I hire the same sales person again?
2. If he or she left the company today, would I feel happy or sad?

An underperformer who gets a “no” and “happy” answer from you needs to go. It’s a simple as that.

I mentioned in the first part of this article that there are two ways to get rid of an underperforming employee – top-performing sales manager-style. The first one was discussed in the previous article. So let’s move on to the second part.

“The Talk.”

This second method, more effective technique, involves getting the sales person to leave on his or her own.

Industry veterans refer to it as “The Come to Jesus Talk,” but I’ve never been able to determine how Jesus figured in all of this.

First things first, the talk should always be done in person. Never on the phone, never on Yahoo!’s instant messenger (Jesus!). A serious talk needs to be done face-to-face. You – a top-performing sales manager – should know this above all else.

The Talk revolves around a two-step process.

1. Lay out the facts. Tell them straight their performance is sub-standard and that their average quota leaves much to be desired. Reiterate your minimum expectations, and then compare it to their personal records.
2. Look them in the eye and tell them one of the following:    

a.  You’ve got an enormous amount of talent inside you. But I don’t think this company is the right match    for those talents. Have you considered that?

b.   You worked hard for me and I acknowledge that. I really want to help you. But maybe the best way for us to help each other is for you to be part of another company where you could actually be happy to work for.

c.  According to my deduction of your recent performance, I’d say you can’t possible by happy here.

Then wait for them to answer. 

Whatever happens, resist the urge to answer your own question. Let the idea of leaving the company come from them, and see where the remainder of the conversation takes the both of you. In the end, I’m pretty sure the underperforming sales person will agree to leave the company on their own accord.

Your task as a sales manager is to come to the talk well-prepared. Do your research, and don’t talk lightly. Be familiar with the underperformer’s sales numbers and statistics. It’s a small price to pay for something that would make your life easier, as a top-performing sales manager, in the long run.

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How do you put your foot down whether a sales person needs to be let go – for your benefit and his or her benefit? Ask yourself these questions:

1. Would I hire the same sales person again?
2. If he or she left the company today, would I feel happy or sad?

If your answers are “no” and “happy”, then you’ve got your answer.

These two questions are all you need to realize your sales team’s long-term proficiency. Any sales person in your team that collects the answers “no” and “happy” respectively should get the boot right away.

So how do should you do it? How do you fire an employee without breaking his or her feelings?

There are two ways, one of which I’ll discuss in my next post. In this post, we’ll talk conditioning a sales person to leave the company on his or her own accord, and that is by getting them to replace themselves.

Are you familiar with the Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) or any other variation of it? Simply put, PIP is a legal method, or simply an excuse, of Human Resources to fire an employee without subjecting the company to any age/gender/sexual orientation discrimination liabilities of any kind.

The Performance Improvement Plan tasks the sales person or employee to meet several specific criteria under a tight deadline. I don’t need to tell you that most employees who take the PIP fail at some point during the test. It’s okay, the test was designed this way.

Then Human Resources gives the employee another chance by appointing him two or three more chances to improve. Again these tests often are too difficult and aren’t very realistic. If the employee fails one of these tests again, which is likely, then the employee is let go.

It’s a little harsh, I know, but consider it as doing them, your sales people, a big favor. You are doing the underperformer a favor by allowing him to move on to doing things he or she is actually good at. You are doing your best sales people a favor by giving yourself more time to focus on them and not on your underperformers. Finally, you are doing yourself a favor by putting together a tight team of only the best sales people you can depend on, and that’s that.

The second method of letting underperformers go in my next post.

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