Outrank.com

Inc. Magazine recently posted an article “What to Do When a Sales Representative Misses Quota”. The article is authored by Eric Markowitz, an assistant producer at Inc.com. He writes about start-ups, entrepreneurs, and issues that affect small businesses.

Not only does the article share ideas from the author but also from sales consultants and managers from specific companies.

As I read the article, I immediately started to think about how phenomenal it is that our Sales department not only makes quotas but consistently surpasses them just about monthly. I also began to compare suggestions in the article with what we do here at Outrank.

As I outline recommended steps to take if sales reps miss their quotas, I’ll also compare that to what we do at Outrank.

1) “The first thing you should look for when a rep misses a quota is if there’s a sales process in place,” says Chad Levitt, a sales consultant and account executive with HubSpot and author of the New Sales Economy blog.

a) Our Sales department promoted a director of sales, who implemented best practices techniques across the sales team. Since that implementation, ProfitFuel and Outrank have seen customer sales skyrocket. Performance more than doubled and, additionally, new employees who joined the team to become sales agents achieved record-breaking performances as trainees.

2) Markowitz gave an example of a company setting an unrealistic sales quota for the year. His example demonstrated that it is not only important to have a sales funnel but also to set realistic expectations. You want employees to be able to achieve goals for good morale and so that the company can therefore be successful. He also said that setting unrealistic goals actually demotivates people.

a) All I know is that expectations around here are realistic because Sales people are constantly awarded, motivated, and incented with cash prizes, trips, trophies and certificates!

He goes on to say that

3) “As a manager, you should figure out how long it takes to actually sell one deal from start to finish. Is it eight hours, 10 hours, 20 hours? So when thinking about quotas, it’s often best to start thinking of them as a function of capacity—and then start thinking about things like revenue and closing ratios.”

a) Our Sales process is thorough at Outrank. Without getting to detailed in order to be considerate of your time — one of the least complex things we do is track talk times to determine how long it should typically take to make a sale. This also helps us set goals.

4) “If your rep misses quota, instead of reprimanding them, consider offering them training,” says sales consultant Russ Lombardo.

a) He explains that investing in your employees is worthwhile and will cost less in the longrun because firing employees and hiring new ones to train takes time and resources.
b) And before you even may get to that point, if you initially hire employees at lower wages you’ll often find you get what you paid for or your employees are less motivated to produce at the levels of which they are capable.
c) At Outrank, we offer training upfront. The sales training process is rigorous and when the intensive 4+ weeks of training is completed, employees have the tools they need to thrive in our environment.

5) Markowitz stresses “Patience is a Virtue”. “Lombardo says he’s seen many smaller companies where the CEO believes that because they used to sell a certain amount, and they’ve never been trained, they know it can be sold in a short amount of time.”

a) Markowitz went on to explain that employers should give their team time to get to know the company, the industry and the customer — give them time to learn.
b) He suggests that, after that, if a problem still exists then look at whether it is due to ineffective managment or ineffective or possibly lazy employees.
c) He further said that finding the right fit for the sales department parlays into making sure that you recognize specific skill sets and backgrounds to tailor your sales department. There are different types of sales – hunting for customers, cross-selling and upselling, for example. This goes for any department – the takeaway is that management should recognize talents and skills and utilize them.
d) We talk about this in a blog topic about embracing individuality and diversity in the workplace.

6) In another post, we talk about the importance of also finding the right cultural fit for the company. And this leaves us with the last suggestion made in the article — to let your lowest performers go if they just can’t meet expectations.

a) Markowitz and Ryan Tognazzini, an associate principal, both say that management is responsible for making sure they’ve given employees the proper tools and what they personally need, including a fair amount of time to get past the learning curve. But if the majority of employees are making quota and succeeding then you need to look at the individual and determine why it’s not you; it’s them.

Face it: some people aren’t cut out for sales—even if that’s their current title. But Lombardo says that on average, sales people are money-motivated, they want to succeed, and most importantly, they want to be rewarded. But it always comes back to the organization. “Management is a lot like parenting,” he says. “You can’t blame a kid for being bad if the parents don’t teach them how to behave.”