Then, moving towards another sales management topic is sales performance evaluations, right? So, can you tell us a bit about how Cintas approaches the business of evaluating sales performance, and what did you do? Absolutely. Every year, we have a new number. It's what's called President's Club, so that's for top tier of sales reps, that's what every sales rep is shooting for. With that being said, we have our minimums that have to be met as well. So, we have a maximum minimum depending on tenure, depending on basically tenure and the geography. That being said, from a performance standpoint, my sales reps have to give smart goals. So, obtainable and then what they're stretch goal is. That being said, if I have a rep that's struggling when we're doing evaluations, whether it's a really strong rep to a struggling rep, we take a look at what they did the previous year. We take a look at what they did the previous quarter, have they grown? So, positive or negative. Are they sliding backwards as my BP stresses? You're never standing still, you're either moving forward or backward. So, from an evaluation standpoint, I take a look at what their previous quarter was, what their previous year was, where they are trending. So, are they trending up or they trending down? If they are trending down, what are we able to do to change the mindset? To get them to turning up. So, let me kind of interject here. So, we talk in our course about a number of different types of metrics that are used in sales evaluations, that could be such as sales or the number of customers or in some cases, the profits that occurred. What do you use as your metrics? Average weekly volume, is what we go off of. So, that's sales volume? That is our sales volume, is what the weekly volume is because everything is based off of that weekly invoice. So, when they go out and sell, it doesn't matter how many years an agreement may be signed for, its whatever that weekly number is. Okay. So, that's when we look at weekly numbers, monthly numbers, and quarterly numbers, everything is based off of that weekly volume. Right. So, I wanted to point out to our students, when we talked about sales evaluations and the frequency of those you've just heard, where they're actually looking at things on a weekly basis and then that rolls to monthly, and then quarterly, and all. So, I'd like to ask you as a sales manager, I want to give you two kinds of situations. Okay. Situation one, is salesperson who's just crushing it. I mean, has been performing it. Every time you look at it, it seems like they're exceeding goals. What's the job of the sales manager in that kind of situation? What is it that you need to do to help that person? That is a great question, and I'll give a couple of different responses. Number one, get out of their way. Get out of their way. Let them do, because what we do is a mindset. Basically, I encourage and then I'll stretch them. Okay? You're doing this and you're crushing it, but what can you do better? What can I help you do better? The biggest thing is getting out of their way and providing them the tools that they need to continue to be successful. Okay. Great. So, isn't it interesting when you hear a practicing sales professional. Sometimes, like what makes a great sales professional isn't what they do but what they don't do. Right? Having the judgment skills to be able to do that. Now, let me take it to the opposite extreme. What about a situation where you've got a salesperson that for whatever the reasons, unfortunately not hitting goals, and you're disappointed with their performance, and in that case, what do you do? I start off with, if they've had a couple. Ultimately, within our corporation, if we have a sales rep that misses their numbers two quarters in a row, they are automatically put it on a PIP or performance improvement plan. At that point, I will micromanage, and as much as I hate to micromanage and nobody likes to be micromanaged, but at that point, I'd make them fill out their calendar. Okay. So, from a phone call standpoint, how many phone calls did you make during fun block? How many appointments did you set? How many of those appointments are legitimate appointments? Then, let's take a look at the calendar. How many of those appointments did you go, and how long were you in the field? So, if I have a rep that struggling, he needs to be in the field from 08:00 AM to 5:30 PM. At those points, where did you take your breaks? How much time was drive time? So, from a geocoding standpoint, are your appointments close together? Because ultimately, sales has a number of games, the more people you see, the more businesses you're going to sell. So, are you filling your calendar full of realistic prospects, or are you setting that with unrealistic potential? So, I'll take a look at their calendars and then at that point, I'll get in the car with him. A lot of times, it's not announced because I want to see what they're truly doing and get a temperature when, is there a part of the sales process that they're missing? Is it a time thing, or they just not spending enough time, or they not committed? Are we able to turn it around? A good principle that was always taught to me was coach up before you coach out. If I can coach them up, and change their mindset, and change whatever maybe missing, and I think a lot of it comes back to, what is their tenure? So, if you take a new rep that struggling or a newer rep that struggling, is it a part of the sales process that they're missing? Did they not get a buying motive that they can tie the sales process back into, or if it's a tenured rep or are they just not spending the time out there and being dedicated enough. So, with that, how are we able to come in and change that mindset? If we can't change it, then we have to put somebody else in that position. Right. Which is we need to acknowledge that there are cases when there's just a misfit between the person doing the job, and that is the job of the sales manager is to make this. Hopefully, that doesn't happen that often. In particular, if you're hiring the right people, they should be able to perform, but it is an unfortunate reality of the business world. I can still be friends outside of work. Right. A lot of it comes down to two, if you have a struggling rep, has there been something that changed economically in their region as well? So, there's a lot of factors that go into, "Are they just struggling because of them, or are they struggling because of an outside factor that has changed?" So, it's not just, "Hey you missed your numbers, you're getting put on a PIP." It's, "Hey, let's take a look at exactly what you're doing. Get a temperature on what you're doing and how we can change it, and if we can't change it, then we'll change it with personnel." Right. I understand.
