Before you write them up, figure out what is actually wrong.

Five questions, four different problems

A team can be behind plan for a lot of reasons, and the fix for one makes another worse.

CUSTOMERS: Are they in front of customers every week? Lots of internal meetings, marketing projects and partner activity is how a rep stays busy without selling. If the calendar is full and the customer meetings are not, that is the first thing to look at, and the easiest to fix.

PIPELINE: Are they creating anything new? Some sellers have a perfectly respectable year because the existing business is good. Separate what they inherited from what they are actually creating. A rep who is making the number on renewals alone has a problem you will not see until next year.

TERRITORY: Could a good rep make this number here? Be honest. If the answer is no, nothing you do to the rep matters. Fix the patch or fix the number. Writing them up fixes neither, and it costs you the rep.

COMP: Is there still something to earn? Telling somebody to stay motivated does not do much when the plan stopped paying in June. Look at whether there is still a meaningful check to chase this year. If there is not, you are managing for next year whether you admit it or not.

BELIEF: Do they think the year can be won? A rep who has decided the year is over stops doing the things that would have saved it. The activity goes first, then the pipeline, then the rep. This is a conversation, and it has to happen this week.

Sometimes the answer is leave them alone

If they are producing and the forecast is good, do not invent a management problem because they do not love one-on-ones. Figure out what visibility you actually need and leave the rest alone. The tool will tell you that, too. It is the one verdict managers argue with, and it is usually right.

Nothing here is a substitute for the conversation. It is the five minutes before it, so you walk in knowing which problem you are there to talk about.

Hi, I'm Mark.

I led Partner Sales Teams at AWS for six years, sold at F5, Red Hat, STEC and Virident, and before that spent 20 years as a Marine. I've been the seller defending the deal, the manager poking holes in it, the partner trying to help, and the guy explaining the forecast one level up.

These days I work with sales leaders in the middle: responsible for the number, responsible for the people, and getting pressure from both directions. This isn't a big consulting firm. It's just me.

A few things I see a lot

Rarely just one of them. Usually a couple at the same time, quietly making each other worse.

The pipeline looks better than it really is. Plenty of opportunities in the CRM, but once you ask about budget, timing and who actually wants the thing, the number gets smaller fast.

The partner likes you, but nothing is happening. Plenty of meetings, maybe a joint deck. Nobody can point to the accounts where the two companies are actually trying to win something together.

The team is busy, but there isn't much rhythm. The forecast call happens. The one-on-ones happen. Nobody is sure what the team should do differently this week to make next quarter better.

The number from above doesn't match what you see below. Leadership has a growth number. Your team has a pipeline. You're the one who has to explain why they disagree without sounding like you've already given up.

A team can be behind plan for a lot of reasons. One seller needs help getting in front of customers. Another is doing fine and wants you to stay out of the way. Someone else thinks the year is already gone. Sometimes the rep is fine and the territory, the comp plan or the pipeline they inherited isn't. The useful part is figuring out which one you're dealing with before you fix the wrong one. That's what the tools on this site do for one deal and one pipeline. It's also most of what I do.

Three ways to work together

Talk it through. 20 minutes, free. Bring a deal, a pipeline, or a rep you can't figure out. I'll ask a few questions and tell you what I'd look at first. Sometimes the answer is "I wouldn't change much." That's useful too.

Work through one problem. 90 minutes, paid. One issue, properly: a deal, a territory, a partner, a capture plan, a seller. You get a short write-up afterward so there's something to work from.

Run the review with me. Monthly or for a few weeks. I sit in your pipeline reviews, ask the five questions, and stay involved while the team works the answers.

Free, 20 minutes, no pitch. If I don't think I can help, I'll tell you. I also build fedhoo, a federal market research tool.

Other things worth killing

Same five-question idea, pointed at the other places a quarter goes wrong.

Kill My Pipeline. For managers. 3X is a rule of thumb; your win rate says what you actually need. Target, pipeline, win rate, and the gap.

Kill My Rep. For managers. Before you write them up, find out whether it is the rep, the territory, the comp plan, or the year they have given up on.

Kill My Partner. For partner managers. Is this partner selling with you, or on your slide?

Kill My Territory. For sellers. Can the patch make the number, or are you being asked to grow where nobody could?

Questions