In an article a couple of months ago I mentioned that one of the biggest issues I see when it comes to managing sales teams is a lack of accountability. Because it was only mentioned briefly as one of several issues, I’ve had many people come back to me asking for more on this particular problem, so here it is.
Five Steps to Holding Your Salespeople Accountable
Step 1) Set high standards during the hiring process.
Whatever your standard expectations are for your salespeople, double those expectations when talking to a potential new hire. For example, if you expect your salespeople to make 50 phone calls a day, tell the candidate it’s 100. If you expect them to go out and knock on 25 doors a day, tell them it’s 50. If you expect them to work until 7 at night, tell them it’s 9. Do you expect them to work on Saturday? Tell them Saturday and Sunday. Yes, I hear some of your groaning right now. The point of this is to test the candidate during the interview process. You’re looking for hard workers, not skaters or slackers. You can adjust your numbers to something more reasonable later but if you start with average numbers, you’ll get average people to agree and then fall short even on those numbers. You have to set expectations high to begin with.
Note: You also need to be hiring attitude and aptitude. You can’t teach work ethic, drive, self-motivation, and perseverance, and you can’t teach people to sell who aren’t cut out for it. You need to hire people willing to do the hard work and make tons of calls, even cold calls if necessary. Have a tough hiring process and stick to it no matter who the candidate is or how good they seem to be. Make them jump through some hoops and be tough. If they can’t take a little heat from you, how are they going to take the heat out in the streets?
Step 2) Hold people to the expectations they agree to.
Everyone needs to have annual, monthly, and weekly goals that translate to daily activity. Are they making the number of phone calls and knocking on the number of doors they need to? Are they working on Saturday if that’s what they said they would do? What’s their work ethic? Are they meeting their daily numbers, exceeding them, or falling short? Do they show up early and leave late? The key here is, whatever they agree to they need to be hitting those numbers and ideally exceeding them to some degree. They also need to be working hard on the right activities. If they aren’t hitting the numbers, are they putting up a valiant effort? Do they need some skills development or time management help? Whatever the issue, if they are falling short on their numbers it needs to be corrected quickly which leads to the next step…
Step 3) Everyone needs to be on a 180-day employment cycle.
Every new hire should have an original employment contract of 180 days. Look, you probably know within a couple of weeks whether or not this person will make it so you don’t want to be stuck with someone for longer than 180 days. With new hires you want to micro-manage their activity a bit in the beginning and review numbers almost daily. Track calls and activity and the bottom line is: ultimate sales numbers don’t lie. If they are falling short in the first 90 days, and they have the right attitude and aptitude, they should be able to make the necessary course corrections and you should see marked improvement and growth in the second 90 days. If numbers are still abysmal after 180 days, it’s time to cut bait.
All your other producers, even the veterans, should also have a serious 90 and 180-day review. When you look at their last 90 days, if there are problems, they have 90 days to get them corrected. You may not have to be as strict and overt with your “good” people, but just make sure they aren’t getting into a comfort zone, developing bad habits, and/or getting complacent.
Note: This is another area where sports has it right. The goalie not stopping pucks, pitcher giving up runs, and quarterback throwing too many interceptions isn’t the starter for long.
Step 4) Check up on your people.
In addition to tracking the number of phone calls everyone is making, you also need to be listening to phone calls and going out on calls with your people. The best way to listen to and go out on calls is with no prior notice. What I like to do is call someone out in the field, ask where they are, and then meet them and go on a few calls with them. I also walk into someone’s office and say, “Let’s make some phone calls.” And then I listen in. The element of surprise is the most effective because the salespeople who are making the calls and are out doing what they are supposed to be doing won’t be offended and will appreciate the help and insight. The mediocre and poor producers who aren’t prepared for the phone calls, or who say they’re out making calls but in reality are hiding out at a coffee shop, the movies, or elsewhere, will hate this.
Note: As with Step 3, you know who your best people are and you can let them be a bit more autonomous. You may not have to surprise them like you do the person you suspect isn’t doing what they say they are. That said, no one gets a pass on accountability. If people are allowed to rest on their laurels, most will. Be careful of being too lax even with your best people.
Step 5) Post sales numbers where all can see and use peer pressure.
The lunch room is a great place to post numbers. The point here is that people with low numbers will feel pressure to get their numbers up and the champions don’t mind some friendly competition and pushing one another. You also want a positive environment of winners where the people who are working hard and doing the right things will thrive and the negative people and slackers will conform or exit stage right.
Overall the most important part of accountability is to be committed to it and don’t let people slide, because if you do, most will.
John Chapin is a sales and motivational speaker and trainer. For his free newsletter, or if you would like him to speak at your next event, go to: www.completeselling.com John has over 27 years of sales experience as a number one sales rep and is the author of the 2010 sales book of the year: Sales Encyclopedia. For permission to reprint, e-mail: johnchapin@completeselling.com.
