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One of the most important roles sales leaders have is to ensure their organization is performing to its maximum capability. They must ensure systems, processes and people are aligned and optimized. When there is misalignment – and performance (results) falls short – they have to identify the issue, act decisively to resolve it and move forward. Part of that accountability is acting honestly and boldly to address the specific issue. But there are many leaders who deliberately ignore the real problem, in favour of the easy way out.

For example, when the issue is systemic, they turn to skills training, because it is the easier option. But "doing something" instead of the "right thing" is no more than covering up the problem with a thin veneer or fresh coat of paint, often leading to setbacks instead. Like when companies rolled out CRM (customer relationship management) software, only to automate and accelerate existing problems.

Often this type of training leads to nothing more than becoming a stick with which to beat the sales team for not achieving something that is almost impossible to achieve due to systemic problems. Failing to recognize this and genuinely dealing the real systemic issues is like putting a Band-Aid on a broken leg – you won't see the bruising, but you won't walk on it either. Systemic changes are hard; training offers an easy option out.

One example of this is a lack of consequences for non-performance, something hardly tolerated in other areas of the organization. A downside of the popular 80/20 rule, is the systemization of mediocrity. By accepting the standard as many have – that 80 per cent of your revenue comes from 20 per cent of your reps (not always true, but too many pay it lip service) – you are systemizing failure. The 80 per cent are not just given permission to fail, but are almost encouraged, if not challenged to. Seems to me if you got rid of the bottom half of the 80 per cent, you'd not only save on labour costs, but set a fire under the other half, and drive success.

There is a lot of lip service paid to Jack Welch's managing out of the bottom 10 per cent. Yet when it comes to pruning sales teams, nothing. The monies saved in commission to the bottom half can be used to truly reward performers, and to reduce your cost of sales at the same time. Allowing people to linger and not perform is a systemic issue, and throwing more training at people who should be waiting tables instead of selling will not change that.

This problem presents itself at all levels of the organization, and at times driven from the top. I've seen companies keep the most useless sales people for gender balance, for fear of having a vacant territory, because they liked someone who had been with the company for some time, or a host of other lame reasons. Other times it is at the VP level, classic status quo – they fear change more than the cancer they are living with. Whether they let their ranks get away with it, or they fail to see things for what they are, they breed mediocrity, the mould that plagues many sales organizations. It always ends with the same refrain, "Well what can I do? you can't fire them all." Yes you can; maybe it should start with the top.

A related systemic challenge is the ADHD mentality running up and down sales organizations. Most want to pretend that training is an event; add water and presto, sales are up. Fixing a systemic problem not only takes guts and vision, but time. There is no escaping that at times the only long-term solution is to break it and start again. Raze and build works for civilizations, urban planning, and sales organizations, but in an age of instant gratification and obsession with quarterly monthly and weekly results, few have the vision and kahunas to drive real change and approach a systematic path to improvement. It is a lot easier and flashier to throw a coat of training paint on it and kick things down the road.

Given that most sales leaders will explain to you why the local sports franchise may take seasons to rebuild, there seems to be little resolve to allow a similar view to their own success – that of their team and company – to undergo a similar transformation and return to long term consistent success.

Tibor Shanto is a principal at Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. He can be reached at tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca. His column appears once a month on the Report on Small Business website.

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