How to handle a PIP
Performance Improvement Plan
The dread “Performance Improvement Plan” (PIP for short) is one of the most gut-wrenching things any seller can encounter. When you get put on it, it is like a massive gut punch. In some cases, you probably saw it coming. In other cases, you did not see it coming at all. Outside of getting outright terminated, being put on a PIP is one of the most painful things in their career a seller can go through.
So how do you handle it?
See if it is a legitimate PIP or plausible deniability to get you out.
A legitimate PIP is one you probably saw coming for months on end. You did not hit quota or you were grossly underperforming. If it is a PIP genuinely meant to improve your performance, have the call with your manager. Generally, legitimate PIPs offer up a realistic number or attainable goal that you can hit.
On the other hand, you have the kind of PIP that companies do just to get you out. Often, it is out of left field and you are the only one singled out. In some cases, it is downright baffling. For example, a company has a year-long sales cycle, and 4 months into the role, you are on a PIP. You may also get some unreal number or goal to hit.
As hard as it is to believe, I have seen people get off of PIPs and do well. However, 70% of the time, it is just an excuse to fire you no matter what.
Do not get down on yourself despite it being a PIP and as generic as this advice sounds.
While volume, skill, and strategy do matter for sales, it is also a game where luck matters. Some territories have reps that can easily hit their number despite being sub-par reps. Other territories are so tough that even the best reps will barely hit quota if that. Senior leadership is out of touch on these matters and the sales rep is often the most convenient scapegoat.
Perhaps you could have made more call, perhaps you could have looked into more coaching, and perhaps you could have asked better questions, but it is more or less too late for that. Some reps do not pan out at some organizations but in others, they become rockstars. Which takes me to my next point.
Start job hunting, if you haven’t already.
If you were a smart rep, you would have probably started to put some feelers out before you heard the news. You would have noticed that your manager was not being as friendly on calls anymore, you would have noticed that you were being involved in fewer meetings, you may have seen more of your accounts being transferred to other reps, or perhaps you got fewer inbounds than usual, and your gut would have said something was off. Something in the atmosphere would have told you that maybe this won’t be a long-term fit.
At that point, you should have started to take more recruiter calls and job hunt more. Reach out to your network and start to spend more time speaking with them. Get into interview mode. They don’t call the PIP the “Paid Interview Period” for no reason.
Do not tell your future hiring managers you are on a PIP.
Common sense but needs to be repeated. Your future hiring managers do not need to know that you currently suck at your current organization. You need to come up with a better reason such as how there is no growth for you or anyone at the company. At this point, in the interview, you need to distance yourself from your PIP as much as possible.