My sales rep has missed every goal for 3 months straight — time to move on?

★ signal-weak r/smallbusiness · ↑ 98 · 💬 108 · 2025-09-18 · kw: slow moving inventory · open on reddit ↗

Tool

none

Issue

Sales rep on Route 2 consistently misses monthly goals ($15k→$10k→$12k→$10k over 3 months), with revenue declining when owner is not present despite hitting targets during ride-alongs, causing owner to split attention between Route 1 and struggling Route 2 while operations partner relocated.

Cost

$5k-$15k monthly revenue shortfall on Route 2 (unstated total impact); owner time diverted from Route 1

Recommendation

none — commenters debate root cause (rep performance vs. seasonality vs. owner presence effect vs. ramp-up expectations) rather than recommend a tool; suggested actions: implement tracking metrics (call logs, fleet tracking), give rep formal notice to hit goals or quit, swap routes to test, or consider replacement

Date context

September 2025; commenters note tire industry seasonal slowdown July-September and recent tariff/employment headwinds affecting market

extracted with

anthropic/claude-haiku-4.5 · 2026-05-08

Body

Looking for some outside perspective here. I run a wheel & tire supply business. We built the company on **Route 1**, which I personally run. That route is still strong and consistent. Earlier this year, we launched **Route 2** with a sales rep to expand our footprint and keep growing. Here’s the problem: Route 2 has been tanking since he took it over. * June (beforehand): $15k * July: $10k * August: $12k * September: pacing around $10k again So basically, **three straight months of missed goals and declining sales.** It’s not that the market isn’t there — when I ride with him, we hit his daily sales goals easily. I let him run the calls and just coach before/after. Customers buy, relationships work, and it’s clear the business is there. But when he’s on his own, it just falls apart. Accounts slow down, some customers stop buying, and revenue drops. To make it tougher, my partner who used to run operations with me here moved out to Arizona to oversee things there. So now I’m responsible for Route 1 while also trying to keep Route 2 from collapsing. Here’s where I’m stuck: * He’s had almost **3 months** and hasn’t hit a single monthly goal. * I’ve invested time in ride-alongs, coaching, setting expectations. * But the performance isn’t there solo. So my question: **Is it time to move on from this rep, or am I being too impatient?** Curious how other owners/managers would handle this situation.

Top comments (6)

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[score=105] Odd_Entrance_7372

You answered all the questions I could think to ask. Goal sounds reasonable and a metric you were previously attaining. Ride alongs seem to hit the goal. Lack of hands on oversight and the goals slip. I assume you talked to him about the goals prior to, and he understands what's needed to get there. So to fall back on something special It's either people or process that's broken The process works Id look for someone else, while giving that person one more shot to get it right on actual notice of hit it or quit it

[score=32] FRELNCER

What's the root cause of the problem and will removing the sales rep solve it? For instance, could your presence (even if the sales person runs things) influence the purchase decisions? Or is it more likely that the sales person just isn't doing the work when you're not there to watch? Are you sure there aren't seasonal differences or economic considerations at play? (We've been seeing revised employment data, tarriffs, etc.) If you want to keep the sales person, a last effort test might be to swap routes with them and observe the results. But I'm skeptical given the differences between when you are present vs when you are not. Is there anyone on Route 2 you would trust to solicit feedback from?

[score=14] Hmongster

I'm in the tire business, those last 3 months were slow/flat for me (northern California). Also talking to tire distributor and tire brand sales rep, they all say it was slow for them.

[score=10] Sweet_Speech_9054

I think you need to ask if you can identify and articulate why they are not meeting your expectations. What are they doing differently by themselves? How are they underperforming. I wouldn’t consider it fair to terminate someone for underperforming if I can’t identify the problem or attempt to correct it. Maybe you need to invest (time or money) into tracking meaningful metrics. How many calls do they make a day? How many times do they go to a customer and talk to them. Things like that. It may mean checking call logs, using fleet tracking on their company vehicle, or even using a dash cam to monitor their vehicle. You may also consider motivating factors. If they are motivated by commissions or pay incentives then maybe you need to adjust your incentives to match your goals. Or if they are the type that needs to be monitored to be productive then make sure you have ways to monitor them so they know to keep being productive.

[score=9] cuteman

Few things * MoM prior is a bit ridiculous considering seasonality of the tire business. I run digital marketing for a chain of a few dozens shops that almost always peak in summer and taper off in fall. * Therefore, what are YoY comps? June to September is less interesting to me than prior year June/July/Aug/Sept. * Expecting someone to do as well as the primary person, right away is also a bit ridiculous. How many years have you been doing it? What's your overall experience differential? * 3 months is the bare minimum for ramp up but depending on your experience and history I don't think you're appreciating how long it took you to get to that point/level. Overall it sounds like you aren't appreciating the differential between an owner operator and employee trying to ramp up. How old is this person? Sounds like he's on the younger side, experience matters. Overall. In the business. etc.