HTSS31 - How to ruin a sales team (Part 2) Scott Sylvan Bell

How to ruin a sales team – Part 2

This is meant to be a tough conversation and some people will be uncomfortable.

Companies want top salespeople but they don’t want to deal with anything that comes with it. Closers can talk the office staff into doing things for them. Some salespeople go too far and cause problems for the office.

The Primadonna problem

Some salespeople think they don’t have to follow the rules or they think they need to lead the sales team in a phantom position. Sometimes the office is scared to say anything. The Primadonna is the guy or the girl that thinks the rules don’t apply to them

If you want to ruin a sales team quickly then punish the whole team for what the Primadonna did. If this person is not dealt with it can ruin an entire sales team.

If there is a favorite salesperson than the rest of the team sees what is going on. This favorite will ruin morale and cause extra problems.

Weak leadership causes dissension and frustration on the part of leadership. This is where sabotaging the favorite salespeople begin. Leads and reviews are played with. This will rot a team from the inside. On this path is a bully and the company doesn’t care.

Eventually the Primadonna thinks that the rules don’t apply to them, they need to make the rules and they need to tell the sales team what to do and how to do it.

The numbers don’t lie – revenue covers sins

The Primadonna salesperson closes the deals and the revenue makes up for the problems created.

The dead weight in the team is the other end of the spectrum. Salespeople look at those who cant close and wonder why they are in the building.

There are 3 types of salespeople:

• The favorites / Primadonna / closer
• Mid level sales staff
• Dead weight

The first group of salespeople

In the group of the top salespeople there are the favorites. This is the pet of the owner, executive or the manager.

The next person is the revenue gathering Primadonna and they get away with activities because of their revenue

Last in this group is the closer. Now this guy or girl can be straight up good and have no draw backs or they can be a mix of a closer and a Primadonna.  

The second group of salespeople

In the second group you find mid level salespeople who are either new or don’t really have a ton of sales skills. This group of people get caught up in factions and make up most of the “team” member” for the manager when they have a special troop to rally. They don’t see how they are being played like pawns in a game most of the time. They are rewarded for treating the Manager or the Primadonna well.

The last group of salespeople

Last on the list is the dead weight that should not be on the sales team, they cant close deals and will never close deals.

Some of these games are “allowed” as a smokescreen to cover what is really going on. Some managers like the constant confusion so they can cover for what they are or are not doing.

The management team solution

1. It takes a good executive or manager to be able to run a sales team. This means taking the time to find one
2. Have good rules – know when salespeople don’t need to be at meetings
3. Make sure the office staff treats salespeople the right way – salespeople need to treat the sales staff correctly as well
4. Remove the dead weight from the sales team that will never be able to close deals. The rest of the sales team will be happy about this
5. Reward the salespeople who do close deals. It doesn’t have to be money it could be recognition.
6. Help those who are struggling
7. Hire good salespeople