You’ve inherited an underperforming sales team. Ten reps. A mandate to turn it around.
Your top seller delivers the most revenue—but consistently arrives late to meetings, ignores policies, and openly undermines agreed team priorities.
One of your struggling reps has started copying that behavior.
Who do you address first?
The easier target is the underperformer. Their numbers make the decision simpler to justify.
But what message does that send if your top seller gets a pass?
“The standards apply—unless you sell enough.”
Your most influential employees help shape the team’s culture. People watch what they do, what leadership tolerates, and what gets rewarded.
If you want to change that culture, your top performers must support the standards you expect everyone else to meet.
Start with a direct conversation:
- Recognize their contribution. Their results matter.
- Name the behavior. Be specific about what needs to change and its effect on the team.
- Set clear expectations. Define what alignment looks like.
- Follow through. Strong sales results cannot create a permanent exemption from accountability.
Healthy disagreement belongs on a team. Repeatedly undermining commitments and disregarding expectations requires action.
If your top performer refuses to change after clear feedback and a fair opportunity, removing them may be the decision the turnaround requires.
The underperformer still needs accountability. But addressing them alone leaves the example everyone else is following untouched.
The hardest leadership decisions reveal which standards you’re willing to uphold—even when revenue is attached.
Would your team say your highest performer is held to the same standards as everyone else?
#SalesLeadership #TeamCulture #LeadershipAccountability