Trick…OR…Treat? Halloween is one of the most delightful holidays for children, fun decorations and spooky things…oh and there’s the candy (let’s face it, adults mostly love it too, it’s a pretty good time). But as an adult, you get to think about what trick or treat really means. In the case of sorting out the difference between a problem hire and a late bloomer…Trick? OR Treat? indeed.
It’s a sales manager’s nightmare. The new hire looked great on paper, they did well during the interview process, and everything seemed to check out. But now that they’ve started working at your organization, they aren’t living up to expectations.
So do you cut your losses or keep waiting for them to step up?
This is an especially difficult decision for managers, because there are two types of employees who will make your “Spidey sense” tingle:
- Late bloomers: These employees will eventually perform like champs, but they learn to do so on a different curve than most of your other reps.
- Problem hires: These employees will never meet expectations, and you should part ways with them as soon as possible.
You’ve already poured a ton of resources into recruiting and onboarding them. On average, organizations spend about $150,000 to hire and train a new sales rep, according to a study by the DePaul University Center for Sales Leadership. And according to another study by the same, you can expect it to take around four to five months to replace them if you choose to part ways.
But some people will simply never be a good fit for your organization—no matter how much time you spend on them or how many resources you provide. In such cases, the sooner you make that determination, the fewer additional resources you’ll waste, and the sooner you can find a replacement who really is a good fit—and start pouring your energy into them instead.
So how do you tell if they’re a late bloomer or a bad fit?
How to tell a problem hire from a late bloomer
When a new sales employee doesn’t live up to expectations, they’re either a problem hire or a late bloomer.
Problem hires are simply a bad fit. Their work performance isn’t what it should be. They don’t mesh with your company culture or way of doing things. They may lack basic skills or core competencies necessary to do their job. And they aren’t going to improve no matter what you do to help them. It would be a mistake to keep them around any longer than you need to.
Late bloomers can look a lot like problem hires at first, but the difference is that they really will improve with time. Some people take longer than others to adjust to a new environment. They could be going through a difficult time in their life, equipped with a non-traditional learning style, or dealing with any number of other factors. But their heart is in their work, they’re dedicated to self improvement, and given the chance to prove themselves, they will eventually exceed expectations. It would be a mistake to let them go.
Faced with a potentially costly mistake either way, you need to know how to tell a problem hire from a late bloomer.
To help you make that difficult choice, we’ll walk you through five characteristics of a problem hire, along with best practices for spotting them.
5 Characteristics of a problem hire
Every new hire will have areas to work on, but some issues stand out as being more distinctly problematic than others. While a late bloomer may show some of these, they shouldn’t have an abundance of them, and crucially, they should demonstrate an eagerness to improve.
1. They aren’t coachable
The first characteristic of a problem hire is perhaps the most important. If a new hire is coachable—i.e., they have a demonstrated willingness to learn and commitment to improve—then the possibility remains that they can overcome other difficulties, master the skills you need them to have, and become a valued contributor to the team.
Coachability is king. It’s the essential foundation that makes further improvement possible, leaving open the chance that they’re a late bloomer rather than a problem hire.
If an underperforming employee isn’t coachable—if they balk at instructions, insist on doing things “their way” in opposition to what they’ve been taught, and show no willingness to change—then it’s very unlikely they’re ever going to become a good fit at your organization.
Research has proved that this is a tricky subject. In The Challenger Sale, authors Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson present five different types of salespeople, based on groupings of co-occurring characteristics they found via statistical analysis of thousands of sales reps. One of these groups is the Lone Wolf. Reps in this group are described as following their own instincts instead of the rules and being difficult to control. Some Lone Wolves can be (frustratingly) top performers, but others will simply buck authority with no return. Lone Wolves who perform well should be treated like prizes. Lone Wolves who don’t perform well are likely problem hires.
2. They disregard or directly oppose company cultural values
Every organization has its own set of shared values they expect their people to abide by. It’s a part of company culture that ensures employees work well with each other, interact appropriately with customers, and contribute to the organization’s overarching mission.
While it may take a little time for a new hire to adapt to the specific values of your organization, they should be making a solid effort to do so. If you’re constantly having to keep them in line, it may represent an attitude that is unlikely to change.
3. They don’t take ownership of their territory or pipeline
“Each sales rep should be the CEO of their own territory,” says Brent McNamara, our Director of Revenue Enablement. They need to understand that their success is tied to their territory, and be committed to growing and fostering it. If a new hire fails to connect with their territory in any meaningful way, it may indicate that they aren’t a great fit.
But how do you gauge ownership?
A key tell is if they’re always asking you, “What do I do next?” instead of contributing their own ideas. Asking for help is fine—especially at first. But sales reps need to show that they can take initiative and eventually manage their own pipeline without continual hand holding.
Think of it like reading a map. If someone has never read a map before, they will understandably need help learning how to do it. But once they’ve learned how a map works, they should be able to navigate to their destination without asking which direction to take at every turn. Likewise, a new hire will need help learning the company playbook and adopting organizational structures, but once they have that foundation in place, they should be able to navigate their territory on their own.
4. They can’t create and articulate a plan
Part of owning their territory or pipeline means being able to form a plan of action and explain why they’re doing what they’re doing.
New hires who have undergone their baseline training should be able to tell you how they intend to hit their targets, what activities they’re doing to build their pipeline, what accounts they’ll need, how they’re going to build that list, what industries they’re going to focus on, and how their plan will contribute to the sales organization as a whole. If they can’t do that, it may indicate that they aren’t the right person for the team.
It’s also worth pointing out the difference between having a plan and having a good plan. Especially when they’re starting out, they may need help refining their plan to be most effective. But they should at least have a plan and be able to articulate their reasoning behind it. Dialing in the details can be learned—as long as they’re coachable.
5. They plan, but don’t execute
As an inverse to the above, some problem hires are all planning but no action. They could have the most detailed plan in place, but if they aren’t actually sending emails, picking up the phone, and doing the work to build their pipeline and make sales, they aren’t going to accomplish anything.
This is where sales managers should beware the “work smarter, not harder” rhetoric. It can be exciting to find a sales rep who provides plans for how they’re going to generate revenue. But if their plans don’t realize results, they’re not helping you. If you find someone who can rethink systems to realize better benefits, hold them to their results.
There’s a difference between failing to take action and taking action poorly. Late bloomers may need additional help refining their negotiation skills and learning the tactics that will make them a successful salesperson. (Effective sales coaching will help you overcome this issue.) But they need to show that they’re making every effort to execute their plan, or they likely aren’t a good fit.
Problem hire or late bloomer? How to set yourself up to tell the difference
It’s important to take a holistic approach to evaluating a new hire’s capacity to become a valued member of the team. These practices can help you see their potential (or lack thereof) beyond the problematic characteristics to watch for.
Beware of biases
If we don’t actively guard against doing so, it can be easy to allow differences in personality or individual mannerisms to cloud our judgment about a new hire. It might be tempting, for example, to write someone off who doesn’t speak as quickly or eloquently as other sales reps. But that could be a mistake.
Instead, it’s important to look at what’s actually happening. Pay close attention to the content of their work and to the results they are (or aren’t) achieving. Are they receiving instruction well? Are they actively implementing suggestions? Are they making steady improvements? Are they working well with the team? If all these things are true, then personality differences shouldn’t matter. Your culture is about values, not personalities.
Start with a good onboarding structure
Before judging a new hire’s performance, you need to be sure you have the onboarding structure in place to give them every chance for success. Among other things, this includes creating a clear plan for each phase of onboarding, equipping the new hire with the tools and resources they need, providing relevant training and coaching, making sure they know all the right people to contact within the organization, and clearly communicating all expectations.
If you haven’t done these things, you can’t blame the sales employee for failing to get up to speed. You may need to re-evaluate your own onboarding process first, and then work on helping new hires get started.
Check in regularly
You need to have checks and balances as part of your onboarding process. Set gateways—knowledge checkpoints that new employees have to pass through as they progress. This means sitting down with them on at least a weekly basis to gauge what they’ve learned. Use quizzes and digital module training to make sure they know the values and expectations they’re expected to embody, the role they play, and all the information necessary to do their job.
If they pass a checkpoint on the first try, great! They get to move on to the next stage of learning. If not, then further coaching is needed to help them progress. And with that coaching comes more opportunities to see how coachable they are, how willing they are to learn, and how able they are to gain the necessary knowledge and skills when properly equipped.
If they aren’t passing checkpoints and they aren’t showing the ability to improve with coaching, that likely indicates a poor fit.
Monitor sales calls and assess their performance
Take the time to observe how a new hire handles themself during sales calls. This can be done either by sitting with them while they make the calls or by reviewing their recording and/or transcript after the fact. Look for their ability to do things like build rapport, position the product, identify pain points, do in-depth discovery, handle objections, and ask questions that tease out and develop needs.
From monitoring their calls, you can identify what they’re doing well and what they need to improve on. Then focus on the areas you identified for improvement during their sales coaching. Whether they’re able to make progress on these areas will go a long way toward showing if they’re a late bloomer or a problem hire.
Use cross-functional shadowing
Cross-functional shadowing gives you a chance to see how well the new hire works with others—a crucial factor in how good of a fit they’ll be at your organization.
For example, if you hire someone as an account executive, you might have them shadow a sales development representative and a sales executive. This helps the new hire understand what that role is and how it can support them, and it simultaneously helps you understand how well they’ll act as a cross-functional partner. Are they good at being a team member to the people they’ll be working with? Do they fit into the culture?
This shadowing process also lets you receive feedback from others on how well the new hire is adjusting, so you aren’t relying on your own judgment alone. Check in with each of the people they’ve shadowed to gain their impression of the new hire. Do they feel like there’s potential for growth and improvement, or were they talking to a brick wall?
Adjust your expectations as time progresses
The longer a new sales employee has been around, the more acute you need to be in your evaluation of their progress. This is true across all of the indicators we’ve outlined.
For the first two weeks, you can pretty much expect a new hire to be settling in and learning the ropes. And those first two weeks don’t give you much time to have evaluated their behavior and attitude. But by weeks three and four, you should be able to start seeing their progress. You should have a better feel for the direction they’re heading and the demeanor they’re bringing to bear.
From weeks five and on, they should be functioning as a valued member of the team. They’ll still have more to learn, but they should be thoroughly demonstrating their ability to absorb new information, grow, and participate. If the characteristics of a problem hire are still prevalent at this point, it’s probably time to part ways.
Speed up the onboarding process for all new hires
Late bloomers may take longer than others to get up to speed, but for any new hire, the sooner you can get them onboarded, the sooner they’ll start generating value for the organization. Unfortunately, the average organization takes 15 months of onboarding for their sales reps to reach full performance. Compound that with the fact that the average tenure of a sales rep is only 18 months, and you have a clearly unacceptable situation.
But it’s possible to do much better.
At Performio, we’ve worked with tens of thousands of sales teams, and we believe that when approached correctly, onboarding should take no more than 9 months at the absolute max, with 6 months being the ideal you should aim for. We also believe that our approach to onboarding will result in better-adjusted sales reps who will want to stick around for the long run.
Want to learn how? Check out our free ebook: Accelerate Onboarding: How To Shave Months Off Of New Hire Training