Getting Top Performers To Still Follow Your Inside Sales Processes
I was reading a question on Focus.com recently, and it got me thinking. The question was “What’s the best thing to do with a top producing salesperson who refuses to follow process.” From an inside sales perspective, I think this is something that a lot of inside sales managers face everyday, and it’s not always easy to decide how to handle the situation. If someone is performing really well, it’s hard to tell them to change their ways. In fact, it will just cause them to resent you if you tell them to stop doing what is working well for them. At the same time, I think what comes first is the fact that everyone else on the team has to follow the process, so you can’t make any exceptions.
To help solve the problem, I think there are some steps you can take as a sales manager to help the situation before it gets out of control:
- Be on the same page: Explain to the rep that you understand where they are coming from, but they need to understand that their colleagues see them deviating from the process, so it’s not fair to them. At the same time, there is a reason they are performing so well against their team members, so why not try and use some of their ideas and mix them in with your own? For example, if your rep is deviating from the messaging you provided for them (a script for instance), then understand their technique and try mixing your original script document with their ideas.
- Tie in compensation to your rep’s adherence to standard processes. This might be difficult depending on what processes your sales rep is deviating from, but if it’s something within your control, this is definitely manageable. If, for example, your rep is not following your CRM system processes properly, you can tie compensation into CRM usage. For instance, you can incorporate a piece of compensation into activity and opportunity numbers - if this information isn’t entered in properly to your CRM system, then you can assume it doesn’t exist and the activities and opportunities never occurred. Therefore, your sales rep does not get compensated unless they follow the standard processes of entering in all information into your CRM system correctly.
- Set the rules from the get-go. Make sure when you are going through the hiring and training process with your reps that they understand there are certain processes they need to follow in order to be part of the team. If there is any push back or any type of negative reaction, you can determine from the beginning that this candidate might not be the best fit. If they bring negativity to the team, it’s only going to bring you and the rest of the team down too, especially if you’ve worked really hard to create a great culture.
This might be one of the hardest things inside sales managers have to overcome. Some might follow the steps mentioned above to avoid the problem, but some managers might decide to part ways with these reps altogether despite their top performance.
How would you conquer this challenge?