Another One Bites The Dust

A pretty good salesman was terminated by his company recently. It took me by surprise.

I had met with this fellow a number of times and found him to be friendly, knowledgeable, a good listener and a hard worker. His sales skills were (are) top notch. He was terminated for lack of sales.
If someone can’t sell and won’t make an effort to learn to sell, they probably should be doing something else for a living. On the other hand, I tend to defend those who make an effort and work to grow as a professional salesperson.

Something Doesn’t Add-up

When a consummate sales pro gets canned for lack of sales it causes me to think that something else contributed to his poor performance. There are often critical success factors that are company issues and out of the control of the sales rep that weight negatively on results. Let’s explore some of those potential job killing factors.

Factors

Bad Marketing/Image

It is easier to open doors, book meetings and land business if the company, products and services are promoted to prospective customers. Going on sales calls stone cold is measurable harder than approaching someone who is aware of the company and is interested in learning more.

Bad Messaging

If marketing campaigns, materials and messaging are not good they can work against salespeople in the field. If they are real good they will help create interest. Bad messaging works against field salespeople.

Bad Products

If there is something better out there from competitors it puts good salespeople at a disadvantage. It is an uphill battle to overcome competitive disadvantages, particularly if the competition presents a plausible case. Representing out dated products, technologies, services, etc. can dampen results.

Bad Services

If the company isn’t responsive, misses key dates, ships defective merchandise and makes other fundamental customer service mistakes it sends a clear message to customers that the company doesn’t care about their business. Sustaining customers under less than stellar recurring circumstances is difficult at best for any sales professional.

High Prices

No one can be proud of being consistently the lowest bidder. Selling on price is not selling. What skill is involved with giving away profit dollars and working at low margins  for no good reason? That said, it is tough to prosper when your prices are always the highest. You can justify a premium price point if the value proposition is solid and substantial. If not, forget it.

Bad Company

Image, marketing, messaging, competitive products, good service and fair pricing are all the responsibility of the company. Salespeople fighting these and other factors have to fight extra hard to win. The truth is that there are some pretty bad companies out there. If you represent one of them you could be terminated for lack of sales in spite of yourself.

Conflicted Company

What seems to have happened to this skilled salesman was a result of mergers, acquisitions and organizational dithering. Administration of conflicting products, territories and salespeople created instability and a bad sales environment.

The Whole Wide World – It is Still Out There

The good news for my friend is that there are a lot of excellent companies out there who deliver quality products and services for competitive prices. Great companies value professional sales representation. He will find the right company to represent and be back on his feet in no time.