Things are going to go wrong and honesty is always the best policy. And many a time, the salesperson that’s getting fired really wanted to quit but just didn't have the courage to say so. And being cold about the firing is no way to go either, unless the employee just begs for it. As Steel writes, "Life is too short for us to lose our humanity." Brave words to write for people involved in the often cutthroat world of selling. Even sales managers must be able to see themselves in that fired person's shoes, and know that, possibly, one day there go they.

You should think about a salesperson that has missed his monthly quota (inevitable that this is going to happen to at least someone, sometime). When a sales rep gets too far behind to meet quota one month she typically needs a couple of months to get back on track, and the manager must consider that, and first seek to have a meeting with the rep that addresses any issues and then gets her fired up to do better and get her aggressiveness back rather than put her down for failing.

If it comes to the point where the manager still finds himself at least considering having to fire a rep, he should ask himself critical questions about the possible decision: how long has the rep been with the company?; does the rep have any other assets that bring value to the company?; and what could potentially happen to the sales force as a whole if this rep is gone?

The solution depending upon the answers to those questions.

If sales goals are correctly set: one-third of the sales reps are always in peril; one-third of the sales force will supply 80% of the sales goal; and, one-third of the sales force will exceed the manager's expectations. Goals need to be adjusted from time to time, and if you are in a volatile market they may need to be adjusted fairly frequently.

Correct goal setting by sales managers "automatically" weeds out the people who should not be sales reps and thus constantly frees up space to bring in better talent.

When dealing with employee discipline--another loathed part of the manager's job. An employee must be told straightforwardly that there's a problem and what exactly that problem is; a great deal of the time the problem is really just ignorance on the employee's part and there is no attitude problem. The manger needs to attentively listen to what the employee says about the problem--there is typically more than one story playing out in the situation and the right corrective action may depend on knowing the other stories. And except in the most extreme cases, an employee should be given the chance to correct their problem based upon a mutually agreed upon solution. The manager must also document these situations to avoid future problems including lawsuits.