Discipline: what works best – for the individual, the team, and the organization?
31st October 2015 | Professor Nick Lee
What can we discover from research about the best way of dealing with problem salespeople?
In the 15 years I have spent working with frontline sales managers, one particular issue has loomed larger than any other. Specifically, when a sales manager is faced with a problem with one or more of their salespeople, how best should they deal with it?
I’ve been looking into answers to this question ever since I did my PhD on that very subject. Back then, there was almost no scientific research on this issue; today, there are still very few researchers looking at this topic.
I got interested in the topic of sales force problems through my own experience as a salesperson. Without going into the gory details, I spent a short time in a summer job as a field sales rep for a company that sold display boards to bars, cafes and other businesses like that. My time was short because – not to put too fine a point on it – I was so utterly awful at it.
PLEASE NOTE: Subscriber-only content – To read the full article, please login or purchase a subscription. Subscription Options Login