I will not attempt to convince you that the annual performance discussion is a guaranteed positive moment in your life. Everyone has a different situation. This is an important milestone in your employment, and you should be prepared for this discussion as it will memorialize the past year. This post and the post on January 19th deal with this annual ritual. Make sure you read both.

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The Dreaded Performance Discussion

Whether it is called a performance review, a performance appraisal, or some other term, you will find this time useful in determining if your manager values you. You will be able to determine this based on the amount of preparation and forethought that the manager shows.

For some, this is a time of discovery.  You may be asked to gather baseline data that this session will be based on. In other words you will need to sift through the sales and operational statistics to determine what you have been doing for the past year. You might think that this is laziness on the part of your manager.  You might think that  you have been asked to gather the information to “hang yourself.” On the positive side it gives you the opportunity to determine your weak points, accentuate strong points, and in general fairly and cautiously spin the information in the best light, all while preserving the truth.

Scenarios–A Few Practical Examples

Here are a few examples of how you can use this activity in your favor:

Scenario 1 : You have not been successful in developing one or more portions of your territory. Your numbers show it, and you know it will be an issue.

In your self-review point out the territorial weaknesses, the reasons for the shortfall, and the objectives that you will undertake to solve the issues. Indicate interim check dates, final completion dates and intended results. In essence put together the plan for producing acceptable results. Advance the discussion toward constructive solutions that you have drafted.

Scenario 2: Your sales numbers indicate lower sales figures and close ratios than some of the other sales professionals.

If your activity generates lower production and close ratios than are the company norm, you need to consider “baking in” those lower ratios into your activity goals. It is not uncommon for Black sales professionals to have reduced close ratios yet still be effective and successful. Everyone is not your ideal customer. The reality is that you may have to work more prospective customers to get as many sales as others in your organization. You need to be prepared to point this out and have these additional numbers considered in your sales funnel or plan. Estimate your quote/proposal ratios and sales ratios in a realistic light then share these estimates in your plan if you have confidence in them.

Scenario 3: Your sales totals are lacking and your prospect base is light and lacking productivity.

Here’s where you need to consider some real changes. You need to have a plan that is aggressive, and puts in your own milestones for your goals. Take the opportunity to outline a plan (if possible) based on quarters (this is better than months) and what the numbers will be for the interim checkpoint dates. See the two examples above for examples of how you might structure this. Above all, you must have a stronger prospect base to succeed. Consider a niche for a specialty, maybe even more than one.  As you read here previously (Your Customer Needs An Expert, December 20– see Recent Posts), this can be in terms of industry, product, or maybe even geography. Check the potential of the niche in terms of availability and numbers of customers and go in with a plan to increase your prospect base. Be honest with yourself regarding the potential and do some preliminary research on the niche.

Remember: You Are the Expert On You!

Above all, as was stated in the last post,  “Be the expert on you!”.  If your sales funnel is weak you will continuously be subject to problems as you go forward. There is a “law of large numbers”. You cannot have the success that you need without some solid sourcing of perspective customers.

Remember, you cannot instill confidence in others regarding your activities if you don’t have confidence in what you are trying to accomplish.

There are Resources at Stake

Your access to resources like house accounts, call-in business, and accounts and prospects from terminated reps is all open territory for this annual discussion. All this is made much more easy by having a well-thought-out approach to any deficiencies in your performance. Be prepared with well documented facts and logic. As a manager of a production staff, if someone had a plan, I tended to let the plan play out if it made sense.

Let me know what you think on this issue. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.

If you are like many of us, there will be a time in your career that things will go wrong.  You will feel aggrieved that it does not appear that you get equal or fair treatment, including important resources like preferred territories, distribution of prized or house accounts, or even issues regarding salary increases or promotions as compared to your peers.

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This problem can be vexing in the sales workplace.  You might feel embarrassed, emasculated, and even paralyzed, yet need to have answers.  Your job is important to you and your family, so you must take care to do this correctly.  It is also difficult because you feel powerless to affect outcomes when you believe management is working against you.

Yes, you feel your options are limited as you are working hard to insure that you keep your job, yet your results don’t always put you in a position of strength.  Frankly, I have been there.

What Are Your Options?

There are some things you can do; yet you need to do them correctly.  I am going to give you an example:

Problem -Distribution of orphaned accounts and prospects to favored sales representatives.

As a sales professional you know how refreshing it is to get customers and prospects that you do not have to prospect for.  Customers who get the introduction to you as their new representative  feel instant credibility based on the organization that you work for and will give you a chance to consummate the relationship by your actions.  That credibility can be very important to a Black sales professional.   I also talk about “the spoils of sales” and how the distribution of business and prospects can help, or hinder.  I made references to situations like this in Black Sales Journal December Post of Preference, Perceptions, Prejudice and Your Employer.  Feel free to take another look at it.

When you are seeing these accounts distributed to other sales executives who have less experience, less product or service knowledge, and less tenure than you have, it can be disheartening.  This happened to me years ago when I was a sales representative.  You may feel powerless, but you should not feel voiceless.

I was pretty good at selling commercial insurance products to medium and large businesses in the Chicago metropolitan area many years ago.  I was also proud of the organization that I worked for 5 years (eventually I retired from virtually the same organization with 32 years).  You can imagine what I felt like when in the midst of various situations where there were several distributions of prospects and accounts and I received literally nothing.

What I did was simple.  If faced with the problem, you should do it as well:

STEP # 1 – Research your sales record and your effort and be brutally honest

Be honest with yourself about your record, which will buttress you case, as well as the situation.  Did you handle a previous situation like this poorly?  Take an honest account.

• Seek Counsel - Find someone (a sales colleague or another sales professional) who is objective that you can seek honest counsel with and really listen to his or her response.
• Review Your Activities - Take positive account regarding what you have received in terms of “call-ins”, and other business, and any other failures.
• Take account - Know what you have done with this type of business, and be prepared to show the facts.
• Know Your Total Performance -Note your total performance, activity and production, and be ready to account for why it should have come to you.
• Be Ready to Prove Up! - Note that speculation and conjecture do not count, it is “not what you know, but what you can prove”!

STEP #2 – Have a frank but professional discussion with the sales manager or principal.

I went to my manager and advised of my concerns.  I was one of two Black sales professionals in a staff of over thirty-five.  I talked clearly, and unemotionally, and stated my concerns.  We reached agreement that I did deserve more.  The facts should speak for themselves, yet you still may not reach an agreement.

You may find that it is still an issue.  I met with the manager again four months later, yet felt the need to hedge my actions and set up a meeting with Human Resources as well.  In my discussion with my manager, I had to make the inevitable statement that I was still bothered and that my concerns were being ignored.

Here is the part where you have to put your self “out there”.  Do not be afraid of the conflict generated from it.  Conflict can be healthy if done correctly.  If you believe in the situation, and your right to be there,  it is what you have to do!

This meeting might seem fruitless to some, yet it is the meeting that gives you the opportunity to say that you may need to look for some satisfaction or discussion elsewhere.  The manager should not be surprised at that point when HR calls to get his rendition of the facts.

STEP #3 – Make Your Case with the Human Resource Manager

Let’s be clear here, you need a party that can be fair and is also interested.  I am not telling you that the HR manager or generalist is an ally, but I am telling you that this individual has a tendency to be fair, and has knowledge about how the company will handle such a concern.

The reason that you had the conversation with the manager first is because that would be the first request of HR, or anyone else called in to help.  It just makes sense.

For HR you want to do the following:

• Define the problem.
• Summarize the conversations with the manager
• Be clear about the disparate treatment or inequities, and be ready to prove up.
• Open yourself up to asking for help.  That help might be having a discussion with the manager, getting clarifications, or even having discussion with the manager’s manager.

What you should not do is:

• Lose emotional control
• Play the “race card”
• Talk about confrontation

In Summary

Whether it is distribution of favors, salary, or other issues regarding equitable treatment, Human Resources is not the end-all, yet they can be objective and provide perspective to both parties regarding equitable treatment. If you believe that it is because of racial discrimination you should be prepared to enunciate it clearly and succinctly with as much evidence as possible.

Always note that your previous record with HR, and your current sales record are all in play in this discussion.  But…if you are being treated unfairly, you should find comfort in discussing it without a focus on race as the possibilities of discrimination, if any is obvious, will be on the mind of a good HR manager or generalist anyway.

This is a sensitive subject with a heavy impact on the lives of sales professionals.

I look forward to your comments. You can reach me at michael.parker@blacksalesjournal.com.