The Big Picture - May 2014 - (Page 4)

insight by Gregory Sharpless www.bigpicture.net EDITORIAL Gregory Sharpless Editor-in-Chief gregory.sharpless@stmediagroup.com The Underperforming Salesman's Tale During a recent industry conference, one of the attendees, a shop owner, shared with me a concern about one of his company's salespeople. The salesman was a long-time employee, was well liked by ownership, and had always "brought in the goods," the owner related. But, in the past year or so, the salesman's performance had declined. He not only was no longer meeting his monthly sales goals, but he didn't seem to care as much, and even when pushed would not offer any solutions to bring his sales numbers back up to par. "He seems to just always come up with rationalizations, not real reasons for his drop in his numbers," the shop owner said. "Numbers for our other salespeople remain strong - in fact, some have now overtaken him. But his 'reasons' for a lack of sales always seem to come back around to the poor economy of past years, or how our products just aren't exciting people any longer - basically putting the burden on our shop and on me, instead of him not producing." Did he have a heart-to-heart conversation with the salesperson in question, I asked, or perhaps a "cards-on-the-table" type meeting? Is it possible there was a personal/at-home problem now stealing his focus? "I've had several meetings on the topic, trust me, but I'm not getting much response to those types of questions," the shop owner replied. So, I asked, what's your next step? Is there a solution? "Well, there has got to be a solution," he answered. "As much as we value the time he has put in with us, I have dozens of other employees to think about, and my business in general - both short- and long-term. At this point, I'm seriously thinking about letting him go, as much as I'd rather not have to do that. I really, really hate firing someone, I've never had to do it very much, and I don't think I'm very good at it. That's an article I'd like to see, by the way - how to let someone go." A few days after my return from the conference, I e-mailed the shop owner, asking if he had followed through with any action regarding his underperforming salesperson. "Not yet," was his response. "At this point, even though his numbers are down, we still might be in a better position versus letting him go, and then having to go through the process of bringing someone new on. Plus, he'd probably end up at one of my competitors - not a good thing. I feel like I'm between a rock and a hard place, so any suggestions are welcome." Adrienne Palmer associate Editor adrienne.palmer@stmediagroup.com Kathleen DeZarn art Director kathy.dezarn@stmediagroup.com Marty McGhie, Craig Miller, Jared Smith Columnists Rick Bachelder, Kathy Boydstun, Terry Corman, Scott Crosby, Brandon Gabriel, Michael Garcia, Kirk Green, Robert Kissel, Tina McLaughlin, Craig Miller, Carmen Rad, Greg Root, Jared Smith, Mark Taylor Editorial advisory Board SALES Murray Kasmenn Senior VP/Group Publisher 770/578-2577 murray.kasmenn@stmediagroup.com Lou Arneberg Business Development Manager East and Midwest US, E Canada 800/654-5169 lou.arneberg@stmediagroup.com Ben Stauss Business Development Manager West and South US, W Canada, Europe, asia 513/263-9363 ben.stauss@stmediagroup.com Linda Volz Production Supervisor linda.volz@stmediagroup.com Tedd Swormstedt President Steve Duccilli Senior VP of Content Christine Baloga audience Development Director Kari Freudenberger Director, Online Media Subscription Services/ Copies/Back Issues (847) 763-4938 tbp@halldata.com bigpicture.net/subscribe bigpicture.net/renew THE BIG PICTURE (ISSN 1082-9660) is published 9 times annually (Jan/Feb, March, april, May, June/July, august, September, October, Nov/Dec) by ST Media Group International Inc., 11262 Cornell Park Dr., Cincinnati, OH 45242-1812. Telephone: (513) 421-2050, Fax: (513) 362-0317. No charge for subscriptions to qualified individuals. annual rate for subscriptions to non-qualified individuals in the U.S.a.: $46 USD. annual rate for subscriptions in Canada: $77 USD (includes GST & postage); all other countries: $101 (Int'l mail) payable in U.S. funds. Printed in the U.S.a. Copyright 2014, by ST Media Group International Inc. all rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the consent of the publisher. The publisher is not responsible for product claims and representations. Periodicals Postage Paid at Cincinnati, OH and at additional mailing offices. POSTMaSTER: Send address changes to: The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. Change of address: Send old address label along with new address to The Big Picture, P.O. Box 1060, Skokie, IL 60076. 4 THE BIG PICTURE May 2014 11262 Cornell Park Drive Cincinnati, OH 45242 tel (513) 421-2050 fax (513) 421-5144 http://www.bigpicture.net http://www.bigpicture.net/subscribe http://www.bigpicture.net/renew

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - May 2014

The Big Picture - May 2014
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
Up Front
Inside Output
Business + Management
Capturing Fine-Art Success
Think Ink
At the ‘Floor Front’
R+D
Explorer

The Big Picture - May 2014