Field Note

Your best rep hates internal meetings. Is that a problem?

Every team has one. Skips the pipeline call, answers Slack in bursts, CRM hygiene is a disgrace, and customers call her back.

The manager's instinct is to fix the behavior. Before you do, ask which differences matter to selling and which don't. Do customers choose to spend time with her? Is there pipeline that exists only because she's here? When she's in front of a customer, can she sell? Is she still trying to win? If the answers are yes, you don't have a performance problem. You have a visibility problem, and it's yours to solve, not hers.

Decide what visibility you actually need. Usually it's less than the process asks for: the five deals that matter, a straight answer on where each one stands, and a heads-up before something moves in the forecast. Get that, and let her sell. The polished rep with immaculate CRM hygiene and no customer pull is the one who should worry you, and he's the one the dashboard likes.

None of this means standards don't apply. It means the standard is customers and pipeline, and the meeting is a means to it. When the means starts costing you the end, it's the means that's wrong.

Try it

Rep Check asks about the customers, the pipeline, the craft and the will before it asks about the calendar.

Try it

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Mark Flournoy

Made by Mark.

I carried a number, managed the people who did, and led partner sales teams at AWS. I make these because they're the things I wish we'd had. If a check isn't enough, I'm happy to look at the real thing with you.