Accountability is the number one job of sales management, and it is the most likely not to be done. Holding individuals on your sales team accountable for what they said they would do - that is, the actions they would take - is a tough job. It's especially challenging because good salespeople can be Type A, highly directive personalities. So it's a responsibility that begs to be put off. Wait until the time is right, wait until he's in a better mood, wait until she comes back from vacation, wait until I feel like dealing with it. Lots of excuses and reasons to delay dealing with a topic that needs to be covered every week in one-to-one discussion.
Holding a person accountable doesn't mean raking him or her over the coals, or initiating a confrontation. It's an adult to adult conversation, and leave blame out of it. Instead, build in learning: what will you do differently this week that will allow you to do what you said you would do?
Not everyone can gear up to do this week in and out. If so, there would be many more successful sales managers.
