Positioning Systems Blog

How can my sales people be holding me hostage? Even if you reward your sales people primarily on commission, your best sales person, the person you’ve long seen as the best producer, may be holding you hostage and actually impeding the progress of your company. Objective Management Group pointed out several sales evaluations they conducted where the test results discovered that the leading sales producer was not the company’s best sales person, and in some cases not trainable and thus actually holding back the rest of the company sales production.

Think about it, how could your best sales person, the person who produces the most revenue actually not be what you see them to be? Is it possible they are resting on their laurels, lack commitment and desire and have been cherry picking just the best accounts and customers? Is it possible they have the best territory, get the best leads, and only do just enough to make sales while a lot of the leads they get never get the attention they deserve and those opportunities go to your competitors?

The sales person who has a bad outlook or attitude can also be poisoning the rest of your team, plus if they are working hard how does that affect the morale of your other salespeople? It doesn’t take too long for an enthusiastic, motivated salesperson to see someone who is not working hard and getting the low hanging fruit, the easy sales, to decide that the company they are working for doesn’t reward the people who do work to get ahead. If you have a prima donna sales person who is not your most disciplined and effective producer, what message is that sending to the rest of your staff? How many good sales people have you lost because they realize the leader is there by appointment and not by their skills and ability. 

A Sales Evaluation Assessment of your current staff can discover not only who the performers are, what their potential is, but also which of your people actually holding you hostage under the false belief they are your best producers.   Who you think are your best producers may actually be the governor on your tepid sales performance. 

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Positioning Systems helps business owners and entrepreneurs transform their business.   We provide the tools and coaching to help you take control of your business -- rather then having your business control you.