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This newsletter is helpful
for me in outside sales,
and our inside sales
people benefit from it
as well. I use a lot of the
tips that Dave gives in
everyday sales calls,
and they have helped
me out immensely.
This is a great training
tool for the price."
Travis Dhein, Waytek Inc.

In regards to personality conflicts with an account, at what point do you walk away and let someone else in your organization try?

Great question. Let me answer in two ways.

First, from a purely theoretical perspective, a professional salesperson should be able to build relationships with anyone regardless of the personalities involved. So, from a theoretical point of view the answer would be "never." It is the responsibility of the salesperson to figure out how to sell to every account.

There are some selling situations where this "theoretical" position becomes part of the practical expectations for a salesperson. Large geographical territories, for example, don't allow for the option of letting someone else try.

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Having said that, let's recognize that there are very few salespeople in the world who are analytical enough, creative enough, motivated enough and flexible enough to figure out how to sell to every account.

So, we're back to your question. I don't think there has ever been any research on this, so my answer comes from my personal experience.

A large part of the answer depends on the company's position in the marketplace, their strategies, and the availability of a capable "someone else." For example, if you have a hot new product with a limited window of opportunity, that would shorten the amount of time that a company could wait for a salesperson to successfully penetrate an account.

In a mature market, where competitors were jostling for business from one another, that could lengthen the time a company could wait.

The same is true for a capable option. If you have no capable person prepared to take over the account, the time frame expands. If you have a good person chomping at the bit, that influences your calculations in the opposite direction.

With all that said, my gut feeling is a year or two. It's going to take at least a good year to exhaust all the possible strategies for penetrating the account. And there is no use changing the account until the current salesperson has given it his/her best shot. So, at least a year, maybe two. If there is no progress at that point, nor any sign of imminent changes, it's time to make a change.

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Is it Time to Revise Your Sales Compensation Plan?... If you're paying your sales reps straight commission, you're using an obsolete formula. If you're paying your sales reps a straight salary, you're also using an obsolete formula. Read this article to find out a much more effective way to compensate your sales staff.... {Read More}
How to Deal with the Salesperson Who Has Leveled Off... Every manager has, or will, confront this troublesome issue. It�s arisen in every workshop for sales managers or branch managers I�ve done. One or more of your salespeople has leveled off. Their performance hasn�t improved much in the last few years. Where before you were able to count on significant increases each year, now you can not. You know that these experienced salespeople can do better, but they seem unable or unwilling to break out of a certain level of performance. You are scratching your head, frustrated, and loosing sleep at night wondering how to improve the situation. What do you do?... {Read More}

There are also many other action-packed articles for sales professionals that offer how-to solutions to every day sales problems that you can read online at www.davekahle.com/article.htm.

In regards to personality conflicts with an account, at what point do you walk away and let someone else in your organization try?

Here are a few articles by Dave that you might be interested in reading:

Here are a few articles by Dave
that you might be interested in reading: