What to Do Before You Fire a Salesperson

Why most sales performance problems are fixable when the real issue is diagnosed.

Most salespeople are fired for the wrong reasons. Not because they can’t sell, but because the real cause of underperformance was never identified.

Firing a salesperson often feels like the only option. Targets are being missed. Forecasts are unreliable. Opportunities stall. Pressure builds.

Before making that decision, it is worth pausing. In most cases, underperformance is not caused by attitude or effort. It is caused by something far more common — a lack of clarity, structure, or support within the sales process.

Replacing a salesperson without fixing the underlying issue is one of the most reliable ways to repeat the same failure.

Firing the person may feel decisive. Diagnosing the problem is far more effective. Before you make a decision, take a close look at how your sales operation is organised, managed, and supported. Start here.

Three Rules

Before deciding to fire a salesperson, apply three simple rules:

1. Make no assumptions
2. Declare your intent to make no assumptions
3. Don't jump to conclusions 

I teach these three rules in the context of sales discovery. They work well for diagnosing any situation.

Apply the CLEAR Framework Before You Fire a Salesperson

Before deciding whether to fire a salesperson, work through the same disciplined thinking that should be used in any serious sales conversation.

C - Circumstances

Do your homework. Examine the territory, market conditions, lead quality, product fit, and commercial context. Is the salesperson working with a fair opportunity, or are there structural disadvantages that would affect almost anyone in the role?

L - Leverage

Understand the salesperson's issues and concerns. What is getting in the way of performance? Is it prospecting reluctance, weak qualification, poor questioning, lack of confidence, a thin pipeline, or something else?

E - Expand

Establish the impact of the problem. What is it costing in lost opportunities, delayed decisions, poor conversion rates, inaccurate forecasting, or reduced margin? This is where assumptions are replaced with evidence.

A - Advantage

Agree on a plan. Decide what improvement needs to look like, how it will be measured, what support will be provided, and over what timescale. A fair assessment needs objective criteria.

R - Requirement

Only now should you consider the right response. That may involve coaching, training, tighter management, role redesign, or, in some cases, replacement. The solution should follow the diagnosis, not the other way around.

The CLEAR framework helps prevent snap decisions, exposes systemic weaknesses, and makes it far easier to judge whether the issue is really the individual, the environment, or both.

Why Sales People Underperform

Most sales performance issues fall into four areas:

1. Circumstances (Context)

• Sparse territory or weak market conditions
• Tired or superseded products
• Poor ideal customer profiling
• Unclear objectives or assignments

2. Capability (Skills and knowledge)

• Cold call reluctance
• Poor qualification
• Weak non-verbal communication 
• Asking good questions
• Listening persuasively
• Difficulty communicating value
• Lack of market or customer understanding
• Lack of product understanding

3. Process (Structure)

• No consistent sales process
• Insufficient time in discovery
• Poor sales stage definitions
• Lack of preparation

4. Management (Support)

• Little or no coaching
• Infrequent pipeline reviews
• No sales process guidance
• Lack of leading performance indicator feedback

In other words, the issue is often systemic rather than individual.

When You Should Fire a Salesperson

There are situations where replacing someone is the right decision. These typically involve behaviour, not performance. Examples include persistent lack of effort or accountability, resistance to coaching or feedback, ethical concerns, and failure to follow the agreed process. In these cases, the issue is unlikely to be solved through development alone.

When You Should Not

In many cases, firing a salesperson is premature. Situations that can be fixed include: 

• Poor pipeline quality, indicated by a lack of good leads and opportunities.
• Vague or shallow ideal customer profiles, indicated by a top-heavy pipeline stuffed full of suspects that aren't progressing.
• A non-existent or broken sales process, evidenced by the absence of clear documentation, CRM sales stages that are poorly understood or not followed, and no tracking of KPIs.
• Inconsistent management, recognisable by a lack of governance, arbitrary decisions, and inconsistent treatment of common issues. 
• Unclear expectations in terms of responsibilities and tasks. 

These issues are fixable. Replacing a salesperson without addressing these factors simply recreates the problem.

A Better Approach: Diagnose Before You Decide

Before making a decision, ask:

• Do we understand why performance is below target?
• Have we observed real sales conversations?
• Is there a consistent, agreed sales process?
• Are we coaching effectively?

If the answer to any of these is “no”, the issue is unlikely to be the individual alone.

An Example

A technology company was preparing to replace two members of its sales team after a sustained drop in performance.

Initial assumption: capability issue.

Diagnosis revealed:

• Opportunities were poorly qualified
• Discovery conversations were superficial
• No clear next steps were established

After introducing a structured approach to discovery and qualification:

• Win rates improved
• Sales cycles shortened
• Both individuals returned to target performance

The problem was not the people; it was the process.

Next Step: Assess Before You Act

Before deciding to replace a salesperson, take a structured look at performance.

Run our free Sales Performance Diagnostic to identify the real causes of underperformance.

If, after proper diagnosis, replacement is still the right decision, it is essential to follow the correct legal process. Make sure you are compliant with local employment laws.

A Cautionary Tale

Picture the scene – you employed a senior salesperson 5 months ago. You are paying him a good annual salary and a generous guarantee for the first 6 months. He was very successful at his previous company, and you have high hopes. 

Now, some 5 months on, your new hire is seriously below target. You are beginning to doubt that he will ever make the grade.

You have had some informal discussions with him about his performance. You were reassured by his confidence. You assumed he was just finding his feet and expected his hard work to pay off very, very soon.

More time passes, and now you think the problem is much more serious. You have noticed that he seems to be losing interest. He is not out at customer meetings or on the phone as much.

What do you do about declining performance?

You know that as an experienced salesperson, he must be aware that things cannot continue like this for much longer. You decide to have strong words with him. If he doesn’t make the target this month, you will have to fire him.

The end of the month comes along, and sure enough, he is still way below target. You call him into your office and tell him that he is being dismissed for poor performance.

He will receive a month’s pay in lieu of notice; he can keep the company car for the next month, but that’s it. After all, he doesn’t have a year’s service, so he can’t claim unfair dismissal – can he?

What’s wrong with this dismissal scenario?

Like it or not, there’s quite a lot wrong with this approach. Since October 2004, your chances of ending up in a tribunal as a result of your actions have increased.

Suppose your company's disciplinary procedure is part of your contract of employment. If you do not follow it (for poor performance or misconduct issues), an employee can take you to a tribunal for breach of contract.

If you lose, the employee will be awarded compensation equivalent to earnings for the period it would have taken to follow the procedure, or worse, you may be required to reinstate him.

What might this dismissal cost?

Following a standard disciplinary procedure for a case such as this would take about 3 months from start to finish, so you will have to pay out the equivalent of 3 months' earnings. In addition, the legislation mentioned above (The Dispute Resolution Regulations) means that by not following the statutory minimum procedure for dismissals, you will see this payment increased by up to 50%. This is on top of the costly legal fees, your time, and your company’s reputation, etcetera. 

What can be learned from this story?

The main reason why a statutory minimum procedure was brought in was to ensure that employees were given a fair chance to get their performance up to an acceptable level and that employers could not get away with making snap decisions about them.

One particular individual I know could have fallen foul of the above scenario when he was not achieving his target in his first 6 months. He has now been with the same company for more than 7 years and is regularly in the top 3 each month/quarter/year.

If you have management or supervisory responsibility for people, make sure you know your company's disciplinary and dismissal procedures. If your company doesn’t have a disciplinary and dismissal procedure, make sure you at least abide by the statutory minimum.

If in doubt – take advice.

The Statutory Discipline & Dismissal Procedure: 

1. Write to the employee letting them know of the allegations against them (performance or conduct issues), and invite them to a meeting to discuss the allegations.
2. Hold a meeting with the employee and their colleague (if they wish to be accompanied) to notify them of your decision.
3. If the employee wishes to appeal, hold an appeal meeting.
4. Inform the employee of your final decision.

Exemptions: Employers are exempt from the procedure only in certain limited cases. There is a modified two-step procedure to be used in very exceptional circumstances.

WARNING: If the employer fails to follow this procedure, an employment tribunal will judge the dismissal “automatically unfair” and upward adjust of compensation accordingly.

What's changed in UK employment law related to firing salespeople?

Since 2005, the most notable development in UK employment law affecting the dismissal of salespeople is the introduction of the Employment Rights Bill in October 2024, which proposes several key reforms:

Day-One Unfair Dismissal Rights

Previously, employees needed two years of continuous service to qualify for unfair dismissal protection. The new bill removes this qualifying period, granting employees the right to claim unfair dismissal from the first day of employment. This change enhances job security for all employees, including salespeople. Source - gov.uk

Initial Period of Employment (Probationary Period)

To balance the new day-one rights, the bill introduces an "Initial Period of Employment" (IPE), akin to a statutory probationary period. During this time, expected to be around nine months (subject to consultation), employers will have greater flexibility to assess an employee's suitability. Dismissals during the IPE will require a fair reason related to conduct, capability, statutory restriction, or another substantial reason. Redundancy is excluded from this list, meaning employees made redundant during the IPE retain full unfair dismissal rights. Source - LEWIS SILKIN

Fire and Rehire Practices

The bill aims to curb exploitative "fire and rehire" practices, where employers dismiss employees to re-engage them on less favourable terms. Under the new legislation, such dismissals will be automatically unfair unless the variation is due to financial difficulties or cannot reasonably be avoided. This measure ensures that changes to employment terms are conducted fairly and transparently. Source - SHOOSMITHS

Flexible Working

The bill proposes making flexible working the default, enhancing employees' ability to request work arrangements that suit their needs. Employers will be required to consider these requests reasonably, promoting a better work-life balance. Source - SHOOSMITHS

Implementation Timeline

While the Employment Rights Bill was introduced in October 2024, many of its provisions are expected to come into force in Autumn 2026. Employers should use this period to review and update their employment contracts, policies, and procedures to ensure compliance with the forthcoming changes. Source - SHOOSMITHS

These reforms represent a significant shift in UK employment law, aiming to enhance worker protections and promote fair employment practices across all sectors, including sales.

Article by Clive Miller

Clive Miller is a UK-based sales consultant, trainer, and coach with over 30 years’ experience helping B2B organisations improve sales performance and decision-making effectiveness.

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

Should you fire a salesperson for missing targets?

Not immediately. Missing targets is often a symptom of deeper issues such as poor qualification, weak process, or lack of coaching. These should be diagnosed before taking action.

How long should you give a salesperson to improve?

This depends on the local laws, the role, and typical sales cycle. Once the reasons for the shortfall are understood and appropriate remedial support is in place, the required changes can be communicated. Then improvement should quickly become apparent.

What causes salespeople to underperform?

Common causes include unclear target markets, weak discovery skills, lack of process, and insufficient coaching.

Can salespeople be coached to improve performance?

Yes. Research consistently shows that structured coaching significantly improves sales results, particularly when combined with a clear process. Our own research indicates that regular coaching increases sales by an average of 13%.

What is a sales performance improvement plan?

A structured approach to improving results, typically involving clear objectives, regular coaching, and measurable milestones.

Related Resources

• Sales Management and Leadership Articles
• How to Improve Sales Performance
• No More Sales Hiring Mistakes
• How to Hire the Right Salespeople
• Hire the Right Salespeople - Training
• B2B Sales Training Courses

Firing salespeople is a last resort. If you need to address sales problems, assess sales competence, or hire the right salespeople, we can help. Telephone +44 (0)1392 851500. We will be pleased to discuss your needs or talk through some options. Alternatively, email custserv@salessense.co.uk for a prompt reply or use the contact form here.