People in the work environment want to feel like their efforts are truly valued. This requires that leaders acknowledge their productivity and output, as well as providing critical feedback on how these performances impact the rest of the organization and their careers. In cases where employees feel that the sales performance management solutions within their corporations are faulty, it's difficult for leaders to encourage honest improvement and effort from workforce.

Inspecting infrastructure
As Re:Locate stated, a study from the Chartered Institute for Personnel and Development showed that there's a growing disparity between those employees who are actively engaged and others who think their enterprise options are limited by faulty sales performance management solutions. This gap is tied to the physical and perceived gaps that exist between upper executives and front-line staff, making those directly targeted by performance software feel they're unable to trust the people in charge.

Other concerns voiced in the CIPD survey include:

  • Lack of career opportunities
  • Fixed progression
  • Perception of indifference
  • Unclear training and skill options
  • Inconsistent corporate culture

Learning to lead
So if leadership is one of the biggest factors lacking in current sales performance management, what's a workforce overseer to do? As Credit Union Times stated, fixing this problem requires that business operations from the executive level to the consumer-facing offices take advantage of integrated training and communication options that increase transparency and bolster relationships throughout the corporation.

A big part of this scenario, as the source noted, relies on the ability for managers to distinguish between personnel at different levels of the success Bell curve. Everyone from the lowest-output to the most exceptional staff members need to be catered to in specific ways, and it's up to leaders to ensure that each of these types of employees' needs is being met.

Boosting participation and retention are critical factors in implementing successful sales performance management. These elements promote ongoing positive public image, as well as internal satisfaction that additionally supports these outward-facing projections. Focusing on behavior and results can create the most effective and fluid enterprise workforce management opportunities, coordinating learned and taught techniques with emerging trends, best practices and targeted sales coaching. As long as leaders are doing their jobs correctly, the power of sales performance management will remain a positive influence in the business landscape that encourages personnel to give their all.