The revenue report says he’s your best salesperson. Is he doing what you need a salesperson to do? Is he a hunter or an account manager? What do you need? Biggest book. Longest tenure. Every account in that territory has his cell number, and half of the accounts, he knows their family. When somebody says […]
Hiring an Account Manager: The Seat You Lost Control Of Read More »
It’s month seven and you’re still using the phrase: “He’s ramping.” You said it in month three and it was true. You said it in month five and it was mostly true. You’re saying it now because the alternative is admitting you know he is failing which means doing something about it. So here’s the
Price the Seat: The Sales Comp Plan That Attracts Closers Read More »
The question: When to fire a salesperson? The number is behind. The rep is the same rep he was in March. And you’re running arithmetic in your head at [5:40] on a Thursday: let him go now and you lose whatever pipeline he’s carrying — keep him and you pay for another quarter of exactly
When to Fire a Salesperson: GWC Is an X-Ray, Not a Checkbox Read More »
Why the HR Handoff Keeps Pulling You Back In You did everything right. You defined the seat. You rewrote the job post to repel the wrong fit. You ran the structured interview with a rubric. You verified the Will to Sell, Sales DNA, and Tactical Skills with a Predictive Sales Assessment. You found the candidate
Why a Capped Sales Compensation Plan Keeps Pulling You Back In The offer letter went out Tuesday. Strong base. Modest variable. A cap on the variable to manage the budget — your CFO’s idea, and you signed off because that’s what a responsible sales compensation plan looks like on a spreadsheet. By Friday, the candidate
The Sales Hiring Blind Spots Series #7 | Why a Capped Comp Plan Repels Top Reps Read More »
You hired the rep eighteen months ago. Strong interview. Strong references. Strong start. You called them a self-starter and let them run — that was the plan. You don’t have time to babysit a senior salesperson, and you shouldn’t have to. Q1 they hit their number. Q2 they were close. Q3 they missed. Q4
You walked out of the conference room after thirty minutes and turned to your sales leader. I like him. Three words. The decision was made. The two remaining interviews on the schedule became formalities — questions designed to confirm what you’d already concluded. The reference checks were perfunctory. The offer went out the next
Your hiring manager wrote the job post. You skimmed it. It looked fine. Professional language. Competitive compensation. Growing team. Great culture. It went up on LinkedIn and three job boards on Tuesday. By Friday, you have eighty-three applicants. By the following Tuesday, you have a hundred and twenty. Your hiring manager is drowning. They can’t
The Sales Hiring Blind Spots Series #3 | How to Write a Job Posting Read More »
You wrote a job description for a “sales professional.” Three words. Your hiring manager pulled the rest from the last description you posted two years ago. The recruiting partner didn’t push back. The applicants started flowing. Twelve interviews in, you can’t tell who’s qualified. None of them feel right. None of them feel wrong enough
The Sales Hiring Blind Spots Series: #2 Why the Generic Seat Keeps Pulling You Back In Read More »
The expensive unanswered question every CEO refuses to demand an answer. You’ve built a company that runs like a machine. Operations hit their metrics. Finance closes the books on time. HR fills positions timely. IT keeps systems running. But sales? Sales is a different story. Your sales team misses quota three quarters out of four.
Why Does Every Department Hit Its Goal Except Sales? Read More »