Being a great sales manager means being able to hire well, coach effectively and (unfortunately) fire someone respectfully when it is the best move for the team.
Letting someone from your team go is often the least enjoyable of those three responsibilities. A poorly handled dismissal can also leave lingering effects on the morale of your entire sales team.
Luckily, there are ways you can end someone’s employment gently.
In this article, you’ll learn how to make the dismissal process as painless as possible for yourself, the person being let go and the rest of your sales team.
How to know when to fire someone
Giving team members the news that they’re no longer needed is one of the least enjoyable parts of being a business owner.
However, in some situations, it’ll be your only option.
Knowing when you have to let an employee go will stop you from making poor management decisions and help you avoid facing legal issues for wrongful termination.
With that in mind, here are four scenarios when employee termination might be necessary.
Poor performance
You’ll likely want to do everything possible to help employees thrive and your team perform – especially if you’re a small business owner running a tight team.
However, hanging on to people who still aren’t pulling their weight after multiple chances to improve will hold your company back and drain your resources.
If you’ve provided plenty of support and guidance (e.g., a performance improvement plan) and an employee still consistently fails to fulfill the duties in their job description or hit their targets, letting go is the only real option.
In sales, a customer relationship management (CRM) tool allows you to inform performance reviews with data so you can address issues early and reduce staff turnover. Choose a tool with customizable reports and dashboards to analyze performance quickly and easily.
Serious misconduct
Serious violations of company policies, ethical standards or codes of conduct are often best addressed with layoffs.
Repeated warnings can lose their effectiveness. Set a positive tone for your business by following through with actions when someone abuses the code of conduct.
Misconduct is a broad term and your employee handbook will dictate what’s unacceptable. However, common forms include the defacing or theft of company property, bullying, misuse of social media and ignoring health and safety procedures.
Some misconduct can warrant further legal action, such as sexual harassment, stealing and selling client information.
Attendance problems
Chronic absenteeism, frequent lateness and unauthorized absences can disrupt workflows, affect team morale and damage productivity.
Of course, it’s important to give team members personal time off (PTO) when needed (e.g., for genuine sickness, bereavement and vacations). However, if someone repeatedly takes advantage of your good nature by breaching company policies, it’s time to book a termination meeting.
Organizational restructuring (redundancy)
In cases where a company goes through restructuring, downsizing or shifting business priorities, some positions may become redundant.
You won’t have to fire anyone in a redundancy situation as the person or people in question won’t have done anything wrong to warrant dismissal. However, the process is similar and still requires plenty of care.
In these instances, it’s important that you’re clear about your reasons or you could spark some resentment from the dismissed employee and your remaining team.
In a face-to-face meeting, explain that your decision isn’t tied to the employee’s performance and that you’ll do what you can to make the transition to their next job as smooth as possible.
The problems you’ll face when firing a salesperson
You’ve likely spent lots of time training, mentoring and guiding your employee. It may feel like firing them means you’re wasting all that effort. It’s important to realize that this isn’t the case.
Your job as a sales manager is to get the best out of your team and serve the company’s needs. You can’t afford to carry a team member who doesn’t perform or is destroying the sales force’s morale.
Many managers struggle with the real and human desire to avoid unpleasantness.
Termination conversations are often emotional. The salesperson involved may respond angrily, look for someone to blame or lash out at others. They can also invite criticisms of management and leadership while emotions are running high – not an ideal time for feedback.
Many people don’t fulfill their management potential because they have trouble dealing with the confrontational side of the job and end up letting issues fester rather than addressing them head on.
You can mitigate both of these issues through preparation, planning and professionalism.
Firing someone will never be pleasant, but following our guidelines will make it bearable and leave you in a position of strength, where the rest of the team realize you’ve made the right decision for all parties.
Firing someone tactfully: 7 best practices
There are right and wrong ways to fire someone.
You might recall hearing about the CEO who fired 900 people on a Zoom call in 2021 – the negative press this received suggests it wasn’t the best decision.
However, if you do it carefully with respect for the terminated employee and the team they’re leaving behind, you’ll minimize disruption to your business.
Here are seven best practices to remember when letting an employee go.
1. Build a transparent process that begins well before termination
It can be tempting to rip the band-aid off when firing someone. You probably want to get this difficult task out of the way.
While this may be easy on the person doing the firing, it will damage morale for the rest of your team (not to mention your former employee). The feeling that they too could be asked to leave out of the blue won’t sit well.
When you reach the point where you have to fire someone, they should be fully aware of what is happening and why.
They should have received written warnings, been placed on review or probation and been given support to rectify the problem before dismissal is considered.
Most of all, they should be made aware that dismissal is a likely outcome if no change occurs.
If you’ve done this correctly, most employees will agree to leave by mutual consent rather than forcing you to terminate. In effect, their shortcomings will do the firing for you.
2. Handle any administrative issues early
Dismissing someone involves a lot of admin. Being on top of this from the moment you decide to fire will help you avoid potentially costly slip-ups, like late final payments and confusion over benefits.
When building your checklist of admin tasks, think about the questions you’re likely to face from the person leaving. At the very least, ensure you’re thoroughly prepared to answer all of the following:
What is their notice period?
How and when will they get their final paycheck (or severance pay)?
What happens to their leave allowance?
What happens to their pension, health insurance and other benefits?
Most countries also have clearly defined labor laws dictating how and why you can fire someone. Follow these laws at every step of the process or your company might end up with financial penalties.
If a written letter of dismissal is necessary, have it ready and signed. If you need to give three written warnings before you can dismiss someone, make sure these are documented, filed and accessible.
3. Get help from HR or the legal team
If your company has a human resources (HR) manager or team, you must involve them at every step of any termination process.
HR representatives will understand the specifics of relevant labor laws and the paperwork needed to protect all parties involved. They can also serve as mediators, ensuring fairness prevails over any emotional reactions you might be driven toward.
Outsourcing HR can be effective if you don’t have in-house expertise. An HR consultant can provide expert help for individual cases or you could employ an HR firm continuously. Many HR partners can handle payroll and compliance duties, too.
4. Keep the meeting clear and direct
Dismissing someone will be an emotionally challenging experience for both parties. If you’ve prepared for the moment and managed the process well, you can (and should) keep your dismissal statement short and to the point.
Your language and message must be totally clear. Otherwise the employee in question may feel the decision is open to discussion, which could drag the process out and cause more disruption.
It’s fine to feel sympathetic for your employees as they process the bad news but try to help them see it as an opportunity to find a better position – just as it will be for your company.
If you’ve given this person every opportunity to turn their situation around and things still haven’t worked out, you’re probably helping them in the long run.
5. Show that you care and be considerate
Don’t make it any more painful than necessary for the salesperson you’re letting go. They may not be suitable for the job but you must remind yourself how difficult this experience can be.
If things have not worked out due to a team culture or skills issue, you may want to help them land on their feet. Look at what they did well and offer to write a reference to help their job search.
The timing of the meeting is also important. Ideally, you want to do this at the very end of the day so they can leave immediately rather than deal with a whole day’s work and small talk afterward.
If your company allows some flexibility, try and make the exit as easy and painless as possible. Can you waive their notice period? It may be easier for them to work remotely until their last day.
Even in cases where a team member has been disruptive, you need to be professional. After all, the rest of your team will pay close attention to how you manage the situation.
6. Talk to the rest of your team
Dismissals impact more than just the fired person. They may be a very popular person amongst their colleagues and well-liked in the office. Their colleagues may also not have been aware of any issues.
You need to be fully prepared to handle the questions and concerns of your entire team.
Be honest and straightforward to nip any potential gossip or rumors in the bud but bear in mind that you also owe the fired person any confidentiality they are entitled to.
Stay professional and courteous when talking about the dismissal in front of the rest of your team. Every employee will be imagining themselves on the other side of the conversation. The way you handle it will reflect on your leadership skills.
Simple questions you’ll need to answer include:
Who takes over the departing member’s clients?
Whose job is it to let the clients know of the change and what is the message?
Is there a clearly defined handover process in place?
It also pays to let them have one-on-one discussions with you. People are often reluctant to voice their fears or concerns in front of colleagues.
7. Take time to reflect and learn before rehiring
You’ll likely need to replace the dismissed employee.
Go over what didn’t go well so that you can avoid the same mistakes. Make sure you know how to spot the must-have qualities for your next salesperson (and the characteristics you’ve learned to avoid).
You can also use this as an opportunity to improve the overall balance of your sales team by hiring to fill skills gaps and revisit your onboarding and training processes.
Note: If you have an HR team and the situation allows, build a template for an exit interview. The departing staff member may have some good insights into why they failed and this information could prove valuable in the future.
Final thoughts
We have a favorite motto here at Pipedrive.
You’ll hear “panna on vaja” recited as a mantra by all of our teams. It’s a much-loved Estonian saying that translates directly as “it is necessary to put”.
The message is simple but perfect in a dismissal situation. Simply, just do the job. Get in there and get the task done well.
Firing people is unlikely to be enjoyable but if you manage this process correctly, you’ll generate respect and acceptance from all stakeholders so you can move on quickly and continue growing your business.
