Perhaps the only people stressed more by sales performance reviews than the sales agents are those who need to compile those reviews while avoiding the countless pitfalls in the process. A poorly constructed sales performance review can devastate morale, even for a team performing above all expectations. However, utilized appropriately by a skilled sales manager, a review can turn around the sales performance of an underperforming team or individual and push exceptional sales people to even greater heights. In this article, we’ll discuss three reasons you should implement sales performance reviews as part of your team management if you don’t already.

An Opportunity to Establish Expectations

Sitting a sales team down with hard data to discuss what you’re impressed with and what you need to see improve gives your sales personnel a much better idea of what you want from them than that same discussion without an official, data-backed sales performance review.

The fact that your sales performance review is based upon recorded data and has been carefully considered helps establish that yes, you are paying attention, yes, you know what you want, and yes, you will be fair and accurate in your assessments.

This establishment of expectations and accountability helps keep your people on task and your sales performance up-just make sure you do it right. Poorly analyzed data, useless or inaccurate metrics, and other factors can send the opposite message just as easily: Do well or do poorly, it doesn’t matter, because I’m not paying attention and I praise and criticize on a whim.

You Can Optimize Employee Roles

Regular sales performance reviews give you insight into the specific strengths and weaknesses of your sales personnel, on an individual and team level. Because you can establish goals and expectations at a better level with properly managed performance reviews, you can also use the opportunity to nudge individuals to take on the training, prospects, and sales techniques that will benefit their work the most.

This doesn’t just optimize employee performance, it helps your relationship with the sales team as well; by taking a personal interest in putting each employee on their best possible stage, you’ll improve team morale and build a level of trust that you might otherwise miss out on. Without the structure of a sales performance review, this sort of attention tends to end up unevenly distributed and suboptimal, even with the best of intentions.

They Cover Your Back

Sometimes, it pays to have proof of what a sales person has been up to, good or bad. Regular sales performance reviews serve as valuable evidence whether you need to prove something to upper management, the HR department, or even a judge. Not, perhaps, the most pleasant thing to have to consider, but you will be very glad you took the effort should you ever need that documentation.

Just consider the value of proof that you discussed a particular issue with your team, or that an individual has been slacking off on a regular basis, or any of a dozen other things that might make it on to your sales performance reviews, and you’ll understand why this should be part of your management system.