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When
to Say, "You're Fired!"
What successful sales organizations have in common
with
"The Donald."
Once
again this television season, millions of viewers are
tuning in to watch America's most famous businessman fire
one of his would-be apprentices. As odd as it seems, seeing
Emperor Trump give someone the ax now qualifies as entertainment.
Sometimes
we cheer. Admittedly, it felt pretty good to watch the
villainous and conniving Omarosa get sacked. But can executives
learn anything real from The Apprentice?
Well,
even the most hardhearted businessperson would have to
agree that we can all learn something about self-promotion
from The Donald; even his hairdo has become famous. He
has received the ultimate honor in American society: hosting
Saturday Night Live. Jack Welch must be green with envy.
Sorry, Jack; all you did was deliver outstanding shareholder
value and turn around General Electric. Mr. Trump, on
the other hand, has found it easier to please viewers
than shareholders.
But
one thing that's crystal clear about each Apprentice episode
is that someone is going to get fired. On a similar note,
Welch also made it clear that not all of GE's employees
could take their jobs for granted. He encouraged his operating
units to fire the bottom 10% of employees each year. While
this kind of drama may be good for ratings, is it good
for business?
Gallup's
research and analysis suggest that firing poor performers
is not just good for business, it's necessary -- especially
if your goal is to continually improve the quality and
performance of your sales organization. The hard truth
is that each year, some salespeople need to get the ax.
Looking
at your worst performers
Why
do we say that? Over the past five decades, Gallup has
had the opportunity to study many sales organizations,
including some of the world's best. As I reported in Discover
Your Sales Strengths, we found a considerable range of
individual performance between the top-performing quadrant
and the remaining groups. [See the chart "Year-Over-Year
Sales Performance" when you click the link below
to view the full article.] Since most of the companies
we were studying were growth-oriented, we normally looked
at sales increase over prior year as the key indicator
of productivity.
The
graph "Year-Over-Year Sales Performance" illustrates
results that are typical of many sales forces. First,
when we analyze performance data, we usually exclude sales
reps with less than two years of experience, because most
salespeople go through a learning curve before they are
up to speed. We want to separate learning issues, which
usually correct themselves over time, from other more
problematic causes of poor performance.
This
graph shows that the top 25% of the sales force was responsible
for generating 57% of the sales increases. On the other
hand, the bottom 25% of the sales force was in negative
territory; those reps sold less in the current year than
during the prior year.
Please
click
here to continue reading When to Say,
"You're Fired!"
Reprinted
from The Gallup Management Journal
|
Note
from Kevin
 Greetings!
I
think you would all agree with me on this one thing: we
struggle in knowing when to say, “You’re Fired!”
Clearly
this is a metaphorical statement because each of you know
I would never (well, maybe there has been a time or two)
suggest to you that telling someone they are fired is
the right thing to do, nor is it something you even want
to do. Through the years I have been consistent in teaching
the idea that if managed properly, people who are not
meeting expectations will leave on their own, and I still
100% believe that to be true. The challenge comes with
the idea of “managing properly,” because there
is still a major gap beteween where managers need to be
with their skill sets and where they are today. As long
as I work with the LeadersWay philosophies, this will
be my mission.
This edition’s article from the Gallup organization
speaks specifically to a “sales” context,
but I ask you to realize these concepts fit any role in
any organization. It is the responsibility of management
to “performance manage” their people all day,
every day and in real time.
This
article brings into the equation the need to set performance
standards (some call them KPI’s) for the position
and then be sure you have selected the right person for
the position in your organization. That’s a big
concept right there, and I encourage you to think through
just how clear you are with the expectations you have
of your people in your organization. Again, the article
specifically discusses the sales position, but you can
apply the “fill in the blank” philosophy to
these sound ideas.
Before
you read this article, I want to share one last thing.
The authors don’t directly mention this, but I feel
compelled to challenge you to consider the responsibility
you have to your organization and to all the people who
show up in your department every day with a design to
be their best. When you allow non-performers to remain,
you are lowering the bar for everyone, not just the non-performers.
What’s worse is that those very high performers
who will excel no matter where they are will leave you,
and then what are you left with? I’ll let you answer
that question!
Life
is good...
KW
|
