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If you’ve been in sales for a while you’ve heard this kind of thing many times, “Wow, the economy is really booming; Bill is having a great quarter.” You have probably also heard its reciprocal, “Karen is having a bad sales year; she’s not much of a salesperson.” Basically what you’re hearing is that if a salesperson’s sales are good then it has to be because of a great economy. If their sales are poor, then they must be a bad salesperson.

Now I know that there are in fact some great sales professionals that have had stellar years in truly bad economies. I also know that there have been a lot of salespersons who despite a robust economy and good territory, have managed to tank. There are a million variables here. But what I’m focusing on is management’s tendency to not look inward and admit to themselves that on some occasions they have a good salesperson that is doing poorly for reasons beyond their control, like a bad market, poor products and pricing, terrible territory, etc.

While it is painful for sales management (and executive management) to do a little introspection, it can save a good salesperson and help to make some much needed changes in how a company goes to market. If sales management finds that the last 12 salespersons have failed in a territory, it’s probably time to make some changes to that territory. If a salesperson that was extremely successful selling widget X can’t give away widget Y, then there might be a problem with how widget Y is marketed, priced, etc.

Sales professionals don’t usually go stupid and suddenly forget how to sell. In many cases it can be what, when and where they are selling. Use the opportunity to honestly assess the situation, save a good salesperson and make some long needed changes. I can’t overstate how resistant most sales management is to doing this kind of thing.

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