Save an Awful Salesperson (Our Version of SaaS)

The Dilemma Every Sales Leader Faces

Every company has one — even solopreneurs.

You have a salesperson who is clearly underperforming. The real question becomes:

What would it be worth to turn that person into a producer… instead of terminating them or continuing to accept them as your weakest performer?

It’s the same decision homeowners face on the TV show Love It or List It. A home designer renovates the current house hoping the owners will fall in love with it again, while a realtor tries to convince them to sell and buy something new. The two compete to win.

Sales leaders face a very similar three-way choice with a struggling rep:

• Renovate – Fix and develop the person you already have
• Replace – Go through the expensive and time-consuming hiring process
• Stay Put – Do nothing and continue living with the drag on revenue and team morale

The Worst Salesperson Turnaround Math

Typical investment range: $7,000–$8,000 for a structured 6-month coaching program that includes evaluation, a customized improvement plan, bi-weekly coaching sessions, and regular progress reviews.

Important reality check: You’re already paying the rep’s full salary for those six months whether you coach them or not. So your true incremental cost is relatively small.

Target outcomes (additional net gross profit):

• Break-even: $7,600
• Good (3X ROI): $22,800
• Strong (5X ROI): $38,000
• Great (10X ROI): $76,000

What This Actually Looks Like in the Real World

Avg Net GP per Sale	Break-even	Good (3X)	Strong (5X)	Great (10X)	Monthly Pace (for 5X)
$5,000	2 total	5 total	8 total	16 total	1.3 / month
$10,000	1 total	3 total	4 total	8 total	0.7 / month
$15,000	1 total	2 total	3 total	6 total	0.5 / month
$25,000+	1 total	1 total	2 total	4 total	0.3 / month

Note: Net GP per sale = profit after paying the salesperson’s commission on the new sales. Monthly pace is averaged over 6 months and rounded.

Key Conditions for Success

For the best chance of a strong outcome, four conditions should be met:

• Sales cycle shorter than 6 months
• Enough runway left before you’d normally let them go
• The salesperson must be coachable (uncoachable underperformers should be terminated)
• A designated senior executive must hold them accountable for change

Our program can be structured with a results-based guarantee — if the rep doesn’t at least break even on the investment, you get the coaching fee back.

The Bottom-Line Question

Would you rather make a modest $7K–$8K investment to renovate your current rep… or spend the $150,000+ (hard + soft costs) that most companies actually incur to recruit, onboard, and ramp a replacement?

Doing nothing has its own very real — and often much higher — long-term cost in lost revenue, team frustration, and missed opportunities.

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Ready to Explore Whether This Makes Sense for Your Team?

If you’d like help with the coaching, running the numbers for your specific situation, or advice on what else you can do, feel free to reach out here.