Guide to Manage Rowdy Salespeople

Most of the headaches inherent in managing salespeople can be traced back to a problem of “egos running wild.” For example, many salespeople become possessive of their clients and accounts – often losing sight of the fact that ultimately all accounts belong to the business, not the salesperson.

In some organizations, aggressive commission structures encourage salespeople to bring in record-breaking amounts of revenue – sometimes allowing them to make more income than the sales manager or even the executives and owners. While these policies serve to drive the kind of sales performance that’s needed, they can also foster a sense of entitlement and ultimately lead to a situation where a few salespeople hold the organization hostage.

The danger here is that a few salespeople may be responsible for bringing in 70-80% of the company’s revenue. The organization can’t afford to lose the business that these top players bring in, nor can it afford to create such a sense of entitlement that the “inmates run the asylum” and management loses all ability to direct and control the team.

What starts as a mild case of “looking the other way” can grow into a major embarrassment that eats away at the credibility of the organization’s management team. In this situation, managers fruitlessly try to dispel the notion that certain members of the sales team call their own shots. It’s usually fairly transparent to everyone at the company when certain salespeople are “above the law” because their managers have lost the authority to effectively rein them in.

So how do you keep from becoming a “paper tiger?”

Here are seven specific action steps to help you gain control of a rowdy sales team and direct their energy toward successful selling:

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

1. Use the “Samurai Principle”

What’s often at the root of “egos running wild” is that salespeople have been given status, income, recognition and lots of independence without having to consistently demonstrate an equivalent level of responsibility, discipline, commitment and effort.

I recommend:  It’s helpful to think of sales teams as the elite unit, much like the Samurai, Green Berets or Navy Seals.

Make it clear to your sales team that they are at the top of the organization’s “food chain” -- they take bigger risks and get bigger rewards -- but they are also expected to shoulder the biggest share of work, responsibility and dedication.

Keep your sales team focused on the fact that since they are at the top, they must set the pace and the example for every other department. Their membership in the elite unit requires adhering to the highest standards of behavior – at all times.

2. Create a culture of accountability from the start

An example from a different setting can help illustrate this point. Most school teachers will tell you that it’s easy to “loosen up” and relax a little once they’ve established high expectations for the class, but nearly impossible to “tighten down” if they don’t assert their authority and set high standards from the outset.

I recommend: Keep this principle in mind as you hire, train and coach each new member of your sales team. It’s up to you to set the bar and it’s up to you to clearly communicate your expectations and enforce the standards you set. This is no small task, but you need to remember that by “looking the other way” you create a fertile environment for small infractions to grow into major management nightmares.

3. Constantly recruit – But don’t “woo”

Think of recruiting as the “prospecting” of sales management. What happens to a sales team that doesn’t adequately prospect?

• They become overly dependent on existing accounts and the organization becomes vulnerable as a result.
• They end up talking to anyone who’ll listen instead of targeting their best prospects in a strategic way.
• They cut price because they’re desperate for business and they position themselves and the organization as a bunch of desperate, groveling mongrels which further compounds the problem.
• In fact, failure to prospect is usually the root cause for failure in sales.

These same principles apply to a sales manager’s recruiting efforts. Too often sales managers get caught up in their day-to-day responsibilities and don’t think about recruiting until they have an opening. This reactive approach is perhaps one of the most short-sighted and detrimental mistakes that a sales manager can make.

I recommend: Recruiting on an ongoing basis also allows you to pick and choose and get far better candidates than waiting until you’re under the gun. You might settle for a warm body because you can’t hold out for a superstar.

The second part of this principle -- the part about not wooing -- has to do with how you approach potential candidates in the first place. It also ties back into the Samurai principle discussed earlier. You’ll need a recruiting message and strategy that clearly communicates the culture and expectations you have for your team.

In other words, “sell” your open positions on the basis of having an opportunity to join an elite, high-performance team, not simply on the merits of pay, commissions, perks and benefits. If your culture of accountability begins before you ever make a hire, it can actually help you attract people who will thrive in your environment and weed out the ones who won’t.

4. Get Your Seasoned Salespeople Involved in the Orientation Process

Your existing sales team should have a stake in helping your new recruits become part of the “Samurai culture.”

I recommend: Don’t leave the job of orientation up to your veteran salespeople, but do make sure they play an active role in mentoring newer members of your sales team. This strategy can help prevent complacency by placing some added responsibility on your veterans and it allows you to stress how important it is for them to always set the best possible example.

A mentoring program can also help cut back on “egos running wild.” Instead of just strutting around and lording their success over everyone else, you can insist that your seasoned salespeople harness their experience and expertise to help bring new recruits up to their level.

5. Be the internal diplomat

As a sales manager, you can take some proactive steps to prevent and control the front office / back office conflicts. For example, the salesperson who urgently needs help from another department in order to make a sale may come across as demanding and over-bearing simply because they are focused on the sale rather than their coworkers.

I recommend: Act as a go-between for your sales team because you’ll do a much better job of communicating how important the sales effort is to the other team members to get them on board with the project. Your best bet is to use diplomacy and tact to smooth over the petty misunderstandings, but…

6. Come down hard on ‘em when appropriate

Remember that salespeople may tend to have bold personalities and success in selling often requires “pushing the envelope.”

I recommend: Be aware that effectively managing salespeople often requires being direct and uncompromising in asserting your authority.

Make it very clear that you won’t hesitate to take action if a member of your team is really out of line – call them out publicly if necessary. This can help quash the sense of resentment from other departments and serve as a warning to other members of the sales team.

7. Lastly, accept it

It’s just the nature of the beast ...

I recommend: To get the kind of person who’s willing and able to succeed in sales, you’re going to have to put up with a little rowdiness. If fact, if you don’t have any rowdy salespeople, maybe you ought to get some. If you know how to channel their energy and keep them from running roughshod inside your organization, they could be the best thing that ever happened to your sales team.