When to FIX or FIRE a Struggling Roofing Sales Rep
Adam Bensman walks through three rules for deciding whether to keep or fire a struggling roofing sales rep. Use a clear monthly quota and probation period to measure objectively, ask if the person is actually suited for sales, and apply a reciprocity rule: the manager gives 100% and expects the rep to match it. He learned this after coaching Mike hard and realizing no amount of effort could fix a bad fit.
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When to save a salesperson or when to fire a salesperson. Here are three decision making criteria to make that decision for you completely painless so you know you made the right one no matter what. If you're someone like me, you've suffered from broken puppy syndrome before where the person that joins your team came with a lot of baggage and he or she is like a broken puppy. But you think that you have the ability because you could just like peel back the layers. You see what they're capable of. You see that if you could help fill fix them. Acting not only as a sales coach, but as a personal mentor and part therapist to help them work through the challenges that they're facing, that they too will join the ranks of the other people whose lives you've helped change. To go from a dark place to making life changing money and becoming a new version of themselves that is far better than anything they ever could have imagined. Well, if that is you, this video is for you and I can't wait to walk you through the information that I wish I had when I got started leading a sales team. It'll make this decision painless. And now let's get started. Roofing sales is personal development in disguise and the reward for growth is life changing. I hope my content helps you create a richer life and bank account. Welcome or welcome back. Adam Benzeman here. And I'm very excited to jump into this video. Not because this topic is exciting, because it sucks. Firing people is the worst. But if I knew what I know now, I would have saved myself a whole ton of turmoil and lost sleep as you and I have both experienced. Do I fire them? Do I not fire them? Do I fire them? Do I not fire them? If I fire them, did I give up on them? Am I a terrible person? Blah, blah, blah. So let me tell you the story of Mike. Mike joined our team and Mike was a broken puppy. And. And Mike was great when he was with homeowners on set appointments, but he was terrible at knocking doors. And his obstacle was that he couldn't get past himself. He was uncomfortable, he was self conscious and he was crippled by this to the fact that he would go out and like knock two doors and then leave. And I had countless conversations with Mike. I joined him in his garage, his house, for a beer. It was before I quit drinking and I had so many build you up moments. Mike told me if he didn't make $80,000 that year, he'd lose his house and get a divorce. His marriage was on fritz and I kept pouring Into Mike because I could fix his broken puppy. All he needed to do was just learn how to be confident at the doors and face his inner demon and get comfortable with being uncomfortable. But it never happened. And at the end of the year, Mike made a little over $20,000. Period. That's it. An entire year of roofing sales. He ended up losing his house. Yes. And getting a divorce. And to this day, I feel responsible for it. People might criticize me, saying it was his fault, not yours. But I disagree, because that led me to lesson number one. Are they cut out for this? Are they cut out for this? And I could have asked myself this one question. Is Mike cut out for this? Now, of course, the first time he failed, I'm not going to say no. But after four conversations and nothing changes. And what you need to do every day in this business is face your inner demon, get uncomfortable, and go do things that other people aren't willing to do. Mike was not cut out for this. And as soon as I had a clear definition of who's a good fit for our business in this role and who is not, it becomes very clear, are you cut out for this or are you not? And he was not. And it is my responsibility to let him go. And by doing so, I could have helped him get a job anywhere else, because he would have made more money flipping burgers at McDonald's than he did selling for us. Number two, having a monthly quota. This would have saved me from Mike's struggle as well. I used to be against this quota idea, by the way. This was in my infancy of being a sales leader. I have very different opinions on a quota now. But a quota is another way to support this idea of are you a good fit? Because if you're a good fit, you should be able to produce the type of results that we expect in the sales world. Outside of roofing, they call it ote or on track earnings. Assuming you're a good fit in this role and hit these performance benchmarks, you should make this amount of money. Well, bringing someone into this industry for your company, you should know what those OTE or on track earning expectations should be. If someone is a good fit and they're cut out for this, they should hit those requirements. If they don't, they should be put on probation the next month. So, example, if they don't hit quota this month, then next month they're on probation. It is our job as sales leaders to get in the trenches and support them. That's when we jump in to save by the Way, stick around to number three because that plays a part in what I'm about to share. But we jump in to save them, and it may take us more time and more energy and feel like handholding, but there are many times that you can upright the ship and help people. Because all they needed was to get coached through the challenge that they're facing. So when the next month comes, if they do hit quota or exceed that, their job is safe, they're good to go. You know that they're cut out for this and they're a good fit. And if they don't, then you are falling victim to broken puppy syndrome. Trying to fix a broken puppy who is unfixable at this point. Quota means they're fired. Okay, pro tip. This should come up in the interview and on the onboarding that. That's how this works. That way it removes the emotion around firing. You're not saying you're a bad person. It's just, hey, define upfront. Was this is a good fit. This should be your performance standards. If it's not, you're on probation. If you're on probation two months in a row, you. You're let go. It just means you're not a good fit. Doesn't mean we don't like you. Which brings me to number three. When we jump in to save someone, we can actually take a page out of the Coast Guard's playbook with limited resources. When there's a sinking vessel, sinking ship in the ocean, and people are all about, they're trying to get out to safety. Coast Guard arrives. The Coast Guard has limited time and limited resources. So who do they prioritize saving? The people who are swimming towards them. The lesson I learned with Mike is that I jumped in to save him, but as I swam, he. He was swimming further. My rule now is I give everybody 100% and more with one condition. That what I give you, match and give it back. I have let people go. I have let people go. On my current team that will not give me 100%. They will give me 80, and I will give them 100. That's not a fair relationship. My team is a team of a players or aspiring a players. I look at this like an analogy of Olympic rowing, which is one of the most competitive and difficult sports in the entire world. And everyone on the boat needs to be rowing in the same direction with as much power as they have. One weak person on that boat will destroy the team's capability to succeed. So everyone that's on my team is rowing as hard as they can rowing at 100%. So if I match that person at 100%, I expect them to give me 100%. And by following this rule, the third rule defined as I give, you give. Okay, so in summary, the three simple rules is number one, are they cut out for this? Number two quota, Are they hitting quota? Yes or no and number three I give, you give. Are you matching each other at 100%? If the answer is yes, give me your all, jump in to save them. If the answer is no, let them go and move on. That is what it is like to be a leader. Now I know that facing these leadership challenges is not easy. You encounter these and others, whether it's personnel, opening new office locations, navigating insurance requirements or workers comp audits. Maybe it's expanding into new product lines or going from retail to storm or vice versa. These challenges are difficult and for many of us we try to go about them alone. But you can stop doing that and get support from other people who've done it before you. That's what we do inside the Roofing and Solar Reform Alliance. Now not only will you get access to my sales training and the incredible mentors Daeshaun Bryant, John Cenac, Cody Lannels, Jim Lean, and of course myself, but the most valuable part, the single most valuable part is the other people inside there. The network to earn how to navigate these day to day challenges like when to save someone, when to fire someone with the support of others who've gone through it for you. If you want to learn more about the Roofing and Solar Reform alliance so you can apply to join, click the link in the description right now or go to rsra.org join hey, thanks for joining me in this video. Just because our time here is about to wrap doesn't mean you're in. My time has to. I know that as a sales leader you face other challenges. So I've hand selected these videos specifically for you to help you navigate the obstacles that I know you're probably facing right now. So hop into them right after this and I will see you on the next video.
