How to Fix Your Sales Org Without Firing Everyone

When sales underperforms, most CEOs default to the obvious solution: hire new reps. It’s a tempting fix—easy to justify to the board, easy to communicate to the team. But in most cases, it’s also dead wrong.

Because more often than not, your salespeople aren’t failing you. Your system is failing them.

The signs are familiar:

• New hires take 6+ months to ramp (if they ramp at all)
• No two reps are saying the same thing on calls
• Forecasts miss quarter after quarter, with no clear root cause
• Pipeline reviews feel like fiction-writing exercises
• Managers are reactive, overwhelmed, and coaching on gut feel

You don’t have a headcount problem. You have a system problem.

We worked with a manufacturing company with seven reps and flat growth. Only one rep hit quota consistently. The CEO was preparing to clean house. Instead, we conducted a full sales architecture audit and found:

• No shared messaging or buyer personas
• Reps working different processes across different territories
• No onboarding path or coaching cadence
• A CRM full of noise

Our solution:

• Built a full KORE Sales Playbook to unify messaging, personas, and process
• Designed a structured onboarding and ramp plan
• Trained managers to run effective weekly coaching sessions
• Rebuilt CRM pipelines with clear stage definitions and exit criteria

Results within 90 days:

• 4 of 7 reps hit quota
• Forecast accuracy jumped from 42% to 91%
• The CEO regained confidence in the team—and stopped planning terminations

Before you fire anyone, ask:

• Do we have the infrastructure in place to support success?
• Is our onboarding systemized?
• Are managers enabled to coach, not just inspect?
• Do reps know exactly who to target, what to say, and how to move deals?

Reps don’t fail in isolation—they fail in broken systems. And systems are a leadership responsibility.

Fix the system. The team will follow.