EP 82: Why Good Salespeople Fail in Good Businesses with Sarah Niss

Episode Summary

Why do good salespeople sometimes fail inside otherwise good businesses?

In this episode of The Meaningful Marketing Podcast, Chantal Gerardy speaks with Sarah Niss, an experienced international business development and sales professional associated with Sales Insights Academy, about what really determines whether a salesperson succeeds after they are hired.

Sarah brings 18 years of international business development and sales experience to a conversation that challenges a common assumption: when sales performance is poor, the salesperson must be the problem.

Instead, Sarah encourages business owners to diagnose before they prescribe. A salesperson may have the experience, confidence and personality that looked impressive during recruitment, but still struggle if they have not been given the right systems, onboarding, expectations, coaching or professional development.

Chantal and Sarah explore when business owners should step out of sales, what to look for when hiring salespeople, why personality alone is not enough, how to identify individual skill gaps, and why ongoing coaching matters even for experienced performers.

They also discuss commissions, incentives, call reviews, communication styles and the danger of putting constant pressure on a salesperson to simply “sell more”.

This episode is particularly useful for business owners, CEOs, sales leaders and managers who are building a sales function, managing an existing sales team or wondering why a seemingly capable salesperson is not delivering the expected results.

Key Takeaways

• A business owner should consider hiring a salesperson before their own lack of time starts affecting follow-up, sales conversations and the ability to close new business.
• Hiring a salesperson without a clear sales process, CRM, target market, value proposition and defined role can set that person up to fail.
• Confidence, charisma and being “good with people” do not automatically make someone an effective salesperson.
• Strong salespeople often ask detailed questions during interviews about the business, its sales process, competitive position, objections, systems and opportunities.
• Self-awareness matters. Salespeople need to adjust how they communicate according to the person in front of them without changing who they are.
• Even experienced salespeople need onboarding, coaching and ongoing professional development because every company, product, client base and sales environment is different.
• Business owners should look at how salespeople are spending their time before assuming they need to hire more people or demand more sales.
• Commission structures and incentives need to be clearly explained. Misunderstandings about compensation can contribute to frustration and disengagement.
• Reviewing recorded sales calls and providing targeted feedback can help salespeople improve without resorting to micromanagement.
• Constant pressure to “sell more” can make salespeople focus too heavily on the outcome and stop respecting the conversation and sales process.

Why Good Salespeople Fail in Good Businesses with Sarah Niss

You hire someone who looks great on paper.

They have experience. They are confident. They communicate well. They may even have an impressive sales history.

Then they join your business and the expected sales do not happen.

The immediate conclusion can be that you hired the wrong salesperson. But according to Sarah Niss, there is another question worth asking first:

Have you created an environment in which this salesperson can actually succeed?

During her conversation with Chantal Gerardy, Sarah explains that sales performance is more complex than finding a confident person and handing them a list of leads.

A salesperson needs to understand the business, its clients, its value proposition, its processes and its expectations. They also need systems that allow them to manage opportunities effectively and ongoing opportunities to develop their skills.

That means diagnosing the problem before prescribing a solution.

More training is not automatically the answer. Neither is hiring another salesperson or replacing the person you already have.

First, you need to understand what is actually getting in the way.

Sarah Niss on Building a Sales Team That Can Perform

One of the first questions Chantal asks Sarah is when a business owner should step away from sales and bring someone else into the role.

For Chantal, the trigger was time.

As her consulting commitments grew, it became increasingly difficult to make calls, follow up with prospects and attend sales appointments. Eventually, something had to change.

Sarah explains that business owners need to think ahead because hiring a salesperson takes time.

You need to advertise the role, interview candidates, assess them, check their background and determine whether they are capable of doing the work. Once hired, they still need onboarding and time to learn the business.

This is why waiting until you desperately need a salesperson can create problems.

At the same time, simply disliking sales is not necessarily enough reason to immediately hire someone.

A business needs the financial capacity to support the role and the infrastructure that allows the salesperson to perform.

Before bringing someone in, consider whether you have a clear process, defined responsibilities, a CRM or another reliable system, an understanding of your target market and clarity around why customers buy from you instead of a competitor.

Without those foundations, you can end up with an underutilised salesperson who has been expected to produce results without the tools required to do the job.

Chantal Gerardy and Sarah Niss on Hiring the Right Salesperson

One of the biggest hiring mistakes discussed in the episode is confusing personality with sales capability.

A person may be outgoing, confident, personable and comfortable hearing “no”. Those qualities can look impressive during an interview.

They do not guarantee sales success.

Sarah explains that experienced, high-performing salespeople may approach an interview differently. Instead of simply trying to convince you to hire them, they may ask questions about how they can succeed within the organisation.

What is the company’s unique value proposition?

Why does the business win against competitors?

What objections regularly come up?

What problems have previous salespeople encountered?

Is there a CRM?

Does the company understand its market and target customer?

These questions matter because a strong salesperson wants to know whether the business has created the conditions that allow them to perform.

Chantal also highlights the importance of looking beyond whether you personally like the candidate.

Business owners can naturally gravitate towards people who communicate and behave like them. But the salesperson does not necessarily need to resemble the founder.

They need to be able to communicate effectively with the customers they will actually be selling to.

That requires self-awareness and adaptability.

Sarah Niss Explains Why Salespeople Still Need Development

Hiring an experienced salesperson does not remove the need for training.

As Sarah points out, someone can come directly from a competitor and still need to learn an enormous amount about your organisation.

They need to understand your customers, products, technology, processes and unique offer.

That makes professional development an important part of sales performance.

Chantal shares how she committed significant time during the first three months after hiring a salesperson. This included developing systems, listening to recorded calls, involving the salesperson in her own calls and allocating training tasks.

The goal was not simply to hire someone and hope they performed.

It was to help them develop.

Sarah reinforces this point with an example from swimming. Despite having years of experience, one small piece of coaching about her swimming stroke helped her improve.

The same principle applies to sales.

Experience does not mean there is nothing left to learn. A small refinement to a sales conversation, closing technique or communication approach can improve performance.

For Sarah, a salesperson who believes they already know everything and have nothing left to learn is a warning sign.

A willingness to learn matters.

Chantal Gerardy on Diagnosing Sales Performance Before Hiring Again

When sales are not where a business owner wants them to be, hiring another salesperson can seem like the obvious solution.

But first, Chantal suggests examining what is already happening inside the business.

She discusses looking at the plan, processes, performance and data rather than immediately deciding that another person is required.

Sarah adds that sales teams are often carrying more responsibilities than business owners realise.

A salesperson might be expected to prospect, attend conferences, develop new business, manage existing accounts, service clients, update reports and complete administrative work.

Then the business owner wonders why they are not making enough new business calls.

Looking carefully at how a salesperson’s hours are being used can reveal whether the real problem is performance or workload.

It may make more sense to redistribute responsibilities, introduce account management support or allow new business salespeople to concentrate on new business.

This is where data becomes important.

Before assuming a salesperson is underperforming, look at what you have actually asked them to do and how much time those responsibilities require.

Sarah Niss on Clarity, Commission and Motivation

Sales performance is also affected by something businesses can easily overlook: whether salespeople understand how they are rewarded.

Sarah shares the example of a salesperson who had been in her role for around a year and felt disappointed because she expected to be earning more.

When Sarah reviewed the commission structure with her, they discovered that the salesperson was concentrating on the easiest opportunities and quick wins.

Those sales made her feel successful, but they were not connected to the strongest financial incentives in her compensation structure.

The salesperson had not asked enough questions about the commission arrangement, partly because she felt that asking so late might make her look unprepared.

From the business owner’s perspective, however, everything may have appeared perfectly clear.

That gap in understanding can become a serious problem.

Sarah recommends checking in and explaining compensation clearly, including how commissions are calculated, what types of sales attract different incentives and when commissions are paid.

This becomes even more important when responsibilities or sales priorities change.

If a salesperson is redirected into a different market or asked to pursue a different type of opportunity, clarify what that means for their compensation rather than leaving them to make assumptions.

Clarity helps align what the business wants with what motivates the salesperson.

Chantal Gerardy on Coaching Without Micromanaging

Supporting a salesperson does not mean watching every move they make.

It does mean staying connected to what is happening.

Chantal talks about recording sales calls, reviewing transcripts and listening back to conversations with her salesperson. These reviews create opportunities to evaluate what is working and identify areas that need development.

She also shares an example of using a phantom customer to assess a salesperson after an initial period of training.

The exercise helped her see how the salesperson interacted with a potential customer, explained the services and handled the conversation.

Sarah connects this to the idea that clarity is kindness.

Checking performance is not inherently unreasonable. Problems arise when employees feel they are being secretly tested, judged or micromanaged without clear expectations.

If call reviews, assessments or similar processes are part of how the business develops its sales team, communicating that clearly can make them a normal part of professional development rather than something punitive.

Feedback should help the salesperson improve.

It should not simply make them feel watched.

Why This Matters for Business Owners

When sales performance drops, demanding more sales can feel like action.

But pressure alone does not solve the underlying problem.

Chantal points out that repeatedly telling someone to “sell more” can actually affect how they sell.

The salesperson becomes focused on getting the outcome rather than respecting the sales process and the person they are speaking with.

That can change the quality and authenticity of the conversation.

A better approach is to investigate what is happening.

Does the salesperson understand the product?

Do they know the customer?

Are expectations clear?

Do they have enough time to sell?

Are the right systems available?

Do they understand their incentives?

Where are their specific skill gaps?

Are you giving them useful feedback?

Are they willing to learn?

And importantly, are they actually the wrong salesperson, or have they simply not been given what they need to become the salesperson your business requires?

The conversation between Chantal Gerardy and Sarah Niss is a reminder that building a successful sales function requires more than hiring someone and giving them a target.

It requires clarity, systems, communication, accountability and ongoing development.

Before replacing a salesperson who is struggling, diagnose why they are struggling.

The answer may change what you do next.

Listen to the Full Episode

Listen to the full episode of The Meaningful Marketing Podcast to hear Chantal Gerardy and Sarah Niss explore what happens behind the scenes when businesses hire, develop and manage salespeople.

They discuss hiring decisions, sales systems, personality and communication styles, professional development, commission structures, call reviews and the practical support that can help salespeople perform at their best.

 

Connect with Sarah Niss

Learn more about Sarah Niss and her work at Sales Insights Academy, or connect with Sarah on LinkedIn.