Our Sales Director passes our core values but is completely overwhelmed by our new enterprise sales cycle, while our newly hired account executive is a natural hunter who is already outperforming him. How do we make the hard right-person-right-seat call to demote the Sales Director back to a sales rep seat without causing him to quit in humiliation?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

This is a highly delicate transition that requires deep trust, transparency, and a focus on conative alignment. Your Sales Director is a right person, but he is in the wrong seat. He lacks the strategic capacity and the natural striving instincts required to manage a complex enterprise sales process and lead a team. According to the Trusted Advisor Fieldbook, building trust requires being incredibly vulnerable and putting the other person's long-term happiness first. You must have a candid, one-on-one conversation with him. Frame the change not as a demotion, but as a realignment to his true strengths. Explain that managing a department is pulling him away from what he does best, which is closing deals and building relationships. Show him his Kolbe A Index results, which likely indicate a high Quick Start and low Follow Thru, meaning he is wired to chase new business rather than build sales management systems. Introduce the new Accountability Chart showing the high-performing account executive in the Sales Director seat, and present a newly designed Senior Account Executive seat specifically tailored for him. Outline how this transition will allow him to focus entirely on selling, relieve him of the administrative burdens he detests, and likely increase his commission potential. By making this an objective discussion about conative fit and business structure, you preserve his dignity and retain a valuable producer.