Dan,

 

My manager attended one of your workshops and is now coaching us on many of your best practices. One best practice is avoiding "Special Assignment." That situation is something I definitely want to avoid. Please help!

 

Amy

Seattle, Washington

 

 

 

 

Amy,

 

Thank you for your great question. Sounds like you are conscientious and don't have to worry about being put on "special assignment," but I would be happy to outline what this phrase is all about.

 

One of the companies I worked for long ago coined this phrase when transitioning an employee out of the company because of poor performance. A gradual exit plan was implemented with care and compassion for the employee. It spared the employee the humiliation of being terminated since the official word was that the rep was on "special assignment" for a few months.

 

I have borrowed that term for educational purposes in in my Trust Triangle Selling workshops. What better way to reinforce our best practices? Reps can relate! The fact that the utilization of best practices can actually secure their jobs hits home. We find it useful to talk about how a rep can "earn" the right to be placed on "special assignment." We discuss the top ten possibilities in our workshops.

1. Repeated failure to meet sales quota
2. Repeated disregard for precious corporate and personal resources by failing to properly qualify major opportunities (BMPCC) 
3. Repeated inability to identify and access the key players (economic buyers, coaches, users, decision makers, gate keepers, influencers) involved in the decision along with their key decision criteria
4. Repeated failure to identify the clients' buying process
5. Repeated inability to properly identify and deploy the correct major opportunity strategy 
6. Repeated failure to involve management in the negotiation phase of major opportunities
7. Repeated inability to properly address the "Your Price Is Too High" customer objection. 
8. Repeated lack of preparation for sales calls and presentations 
9. Repeated poor customer follow-up or missed commitments  
10. Repeated inadequacy when forecasting business     

Note that I consistently refer to "repeated" failure. Repeated may mean as few as two or as many as ten failures depending on the company culture and level of the manager's patience. I believe that every rep deserves at least one chance to fail. Superstars are created by learning from losses and failure. Henry Ford said that "Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again more intelligently." It is incumbent upon sales managers to correct unacceptable behaviors and coach their charges on productive behaviors.

 

Note also that most of the above reasons include hyperlinks to previous newsletters which provide in-depth coaching on these topics.

 

Understand that breaches of ethics and company codes of conduct which constitute "integrity violations" are not included in my top ten list. Examples include lying, cheating, stealing, bribing, harassing, contract tampering, and arranging kickbacks. These serious violations are cause for immediate dismissal no matter what. There is no room for care and compassion for a rep who displays unethical behavior. As David Goetsch said, "There is no right way to do the wrong thing."   

 

Good Luck avoiding special assignment, and Close 'Em!