When most of a sales team misses quota, the reps are rarely the only cause. Before you replace anyone, work out whether you have a hiring problem or a problem with quota, territory or pipeline. The fix is different.
Is it the reps or the system?
Signs the problem is the system:
- Almost everyone misses, including people who used to hit.
- Quota went up much faster than the market or the pipeline.
- There aren’t enough qualified leads to reach the number.
- Reps spend much of the week on admin instead of selling.
Signs the problem is hiring:
- A few reps hit quota every quarter while others never get close.
- New hires take far longer to ramp than your best people did.
- Reps who miss can’t explain why their deals were lost.
- Your best reps came from referrals, and your weakest from job ads.
How to hire reps who hit quota
Hire on evidence. Ask every candidate for their quota and attainment in each of the last three years, and check it with a former manager. Look for people who already sell to customers like yours, so they arrive with relationships and know how your buyers buy. Run a short role play based on a real deal from your pipeline. And move quickly: strong salespeople are usually employed and don’t stay on the market long.
What does a bad sales hire cost?
More than the salary. Add recruiting fees, months of ramp, deals lost in the territory, and the time your manager spends coaching someone who won’t make it. We go through the numbers in HR’s true hidden costs of in-house sales recruiting.
How we help
We find salespeople who are already hitting a comparable number somewhere else, check their record against your territory before you meet them, and guarantee that your hire reaches their first-year quota. If the hire doesn’t work out within 12 months, we replace them once at no cost.
