Why Are Sales Teams Struggling? Look Beyond the Obvious
When sales teams fail to meet targets, leaders often jump to the usual suspects—lack of effort, poor training, or weak market demand. But what if the real issue isn’t about performance at all?
What if the root cause is role misalignment-placing the wrong salespeople in the wrong roles?
Think about it. A relationship-driven salesperson excelling in high-touch account management is suddenly pushed into a high-pressure new business development role. Or a structured, consultative sales rep — who thrives on deep discussions and long sales cycles—is expected to perform in a fast-moving transactional sales environment.
In both cases, their natural strengths are misaligned with the role’s demands. The outcome? Missed targets, customer frustration, and ultimately, revenue loss.
The Cost of Hiring the Wrong Salesperson
The consequences of misalignment extend far beyond just a few missed deals.
- 50% of sales hires fail within 18 months because they weren’t the right fit for the role (Harvard Business Review).
- The cost of hiring the wrong salesperson can exceed $100,000 per hire, factoring in lost deals, recruitment costs, and wasted training (CSO Insights).
- Companies that match sales roles to the right competencies experience a 30% increase in sales performance (Objective Management Group).
Despite these numbers, many hiring decisions are still based on gut feel, personality, or past experience in a completely different sales environment.
Where Hiring Goes Wrong: The Common Mistakes
- Mistaking Personality for Sales Competency It’s easy to be impressed by a confident, charismatic salesperson. But does confidence mean they can handle objections, ask the right questions, and guide a prospect through a complex sales cycle? Many sales teams hire based on presence rather than proven ability to sell within their specific sales environment.
- One-Size-Fits-All Hiring Many companies use generic job descriptions that don’t differentiate between a hunter (new business developer) and a farmer (account manager), leading to the wrong hires in critical roles.
- Failure to Use Sales-Specific Assessments Traditional personality or behavioral assessments don’t predict sales success. Sales-specific assessments, like the OMG Sales Competency Assessment, are designed to measure real-world selling ability, not just soft skills.
- Ignoring Role-Specific Training Training is often broad and unfocused. A sales team filled with diverse selling styles needs targeted coaching that aligns with individual strengths and job functions.
- Promoting the Wrong PeopleMany companies promote their best-performing sales reps into leadership roles, assuming that great sellers make great managers. But leadership requires coaching skills, strategic thinking, and team management—which are very different from selling skills. Without the right leadership development, these promotions can backfire
Fixing Role Misalignment: A Smarter Approach to Hiring & Development
- Define Role Fit Clearly Start by outlining the exact competencies needed for each role. Do you need a fast-closer, a long-term relationship builder, or a technical consultant? Different sales roles require different strengths.
- Use Sales-Specific Assessments Leverage tools like the OMG Sales Competency Assessment, which has a 91% predictive accuracy in identifying the right fit for a sales role.
- Match Sales Training to Role Fit Don’t train all salespeople the same way. A transactional salesperson needs different skills than an enterprise sales consultant. Training must reinforce what each role requires to succeed.
- Rethink Career Paths in Sales Instead of promoting high-performing sales reps into leadership (where they may fail), create alternative career paths that allow them to grow without being forced into roles that don’t match their strengths.
- Build a Culture of Role ClarityEnsure that every salesperson understands their unique strengths, their role in the organization, and how their specific skills contribute to success. When people know they are in the right place, performance skyrockets
Before we blame salespeople for underperformance, we need to ask ourselves: Did we set them up for success in the first place?
Are we hiring based on competency and role fit, or are we getting swayed by personality and past experience in a different selling environment?
Don’t get me wrong—having a great personality and positive behaviors matter. But charisma alone doesn’t close deals. If a salesperson’s strengths don’t align with the role’s demands, no amount of motivation or training will bridge that gap.
In My View:
Sales success isn’t just about hiring “people who can sell.” It’s about hiring the right people for the right sales role. A high-energy networker may thrive in business development but struggle in a consultative, high-ticket sales cycle. A methodical, detail-oriented salesperson may be exceptional in managing existing accounts but ineffective in high-velocity outbound sales.