Dealing with Poor Performance Sales Excuses

“We have a salesperson that has an excuse for everything. How do you help someone like that turn things around?”

Poor performance sales excuses are a major threat to any size team and company. So they must be dealt with head on. As a sales manager, you want to help the person reach their potential, however, the first rule in helping ANYONE with ANYTHING is only to help those who want it.

If you have a salesperson that is making excuses instead of taking accountability for why they aren’t hitting their numbers, my short answer to you is, you might be better off having that salesperson work for your competitors! As the saying goes, slow to hire, quick to fire.

With that said, I want the rest of this post to speak directly to any salesperson that is making excuses as I have a message for them.

We All Make Mistakes

No matter what psychological reasons you may have for wanting to protect yourself from being vulnerable, you are holding yourself back from living a free, more profitable and enjoyable life by not taking ownership and accountability for why you are not succeeding. Get out there and make mistakes! It’s how we learn.

Not succeeding in sales and blaming it on your competitors, pricing, the economy, etc. is just loser speak. Don’t be a loser. Be a winner. All you have to do is take accountability for the things you can control and DON’T BE AFRAID TO LOSE.

Let me explain; Losing doesn’t make you a loser. Not trying, or not taking accountability for why something didn’t work out is what makes one a loser.

And yes, I know calling someone a “loser” is not politically correct in today’s overly sensitive world. Too bad.

If this post hit a nerve, then this is your opportunity to turn the tide. Are you going to be so offended that you defend the reasons why you are stuck where you are or are you going to cowboy (or cowgirl) up and make a change?

I genuinely believe that you cannot reach your full potential unless you own your own mistakes and seek to learn from them.

Where would we be if the “Thomas Edison’s” or “Steve Jobs” of the world were afraid to fail?

Tip:

If you are so concerned with failing in front of others, do two things:

1. Use that “fear of failure” to your advantage. Having a fear of failure is a good thing if you use it right. For me, I have always used it as rocket fuel to outwork the situation. I would put more hours into my craft, seek the help of those who already achieved what I was after, etc. and get after it.
2. The second thing is, come to terms with why you are so protective of your vulnerability and deal with it. Allow me to lead by example for you here: In my early teens, I had a 6 ft 4’ stepfather that liked to remind me that I would never amount to anything. I loved proving him wrong.

Deal with whatever is holding you back and either resolve it or use it to your advantage and leave the excuses behind and you’ll be on your way to reaching your full potential.

– Michael Pedone

Michael Pedone teaches inside sales teams how to pick up the phone and close business. He is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com – An online sales training company.