When Salespeople Fail: Assessing Blame

Abstract “When a salesperson fails, it is almost always management’s fault.” Failure is measured by the termination (voluntary or otherwise) of the salesperson or by the failure of the salesperson to reach expected goals or standards such as quota, forecast, or other measures of productivity. When a salesperson fails, either the wrong person was hired, or if the right person was hired, he or she was improperly managed. The analyses of several realistic mini-cases illustrate the attachment of managerial blame to each example of salesperson failure.