Can I be sacked for not hitting sales target???

As far as I'm aware, you can be sacked for any reason they wish if you have been employed there for less than a year.

If this is the case, then you can be dismissed yes.

How have his previous actions made you unable to hit targets since you have taken over? Also, why don't you carry products into all the calls?

What does your contract say.

If you are an employee who has been working for your employer for longer than one month, you have the right to receive a written statement of employment particulars. This must be provided by your employer within two months of you starting, even if you are going to work for them for less than two months. The written statement will set out some of your main employment rights.

Earl

I’m somewhat puzzled by the timescales presented here: 8 months in the job; after 6 months, became a VSR; 4 months in that role (which is two months longer than you’ve worked there), a change of areas – since when the sales figures have dropped, and for which I assume some time has been allowed for these figures to emerge too.

The 12 month issue is not some wonderful protection for employers: all employees have to be treated fairly, including put through proper dismissal procedures if necessary & appropriate. For a bland* unfair dismissal claim, an employee can’t appeal to an employment tribunal with less than 12 months service, but this is the only (a significant one though) restriction. It doesn’t mean employers can do as they care for the first 12 months – a wrongful dismissal (while not financially as worthwhile as an unfair dismissal for most employees, it can still cost a lot to defend) is still available to all employees, as are all the other employment rights.

In this case, even if the employee is now taken through a disciplinary process, they will have a wrongful dismissal claim, as the process was predetermined & therefore not in accordance with any sensible disciplinary policy. If the employer simply said: improve your performance, or the outcome may be dismissal, all good - a fair warning - but in this case the employee will have a claim against them, the nature of which will be influenced by how long they have worked there though.

So t11cky, they can’t sack you fairly, but that won’t stop most employers chancing their arm. If you have been there less than 12 months, any compensation would be minimal, but if it comes to it, you should speak to Citizens Advice about a grievance & Wrongful Dismissal claim asap after the event. Expect a couple of weeks pay though, not much more than that.

The area of the contract you want to read is the Disciplinary & Grievance Procedures. You may not have a copy of this, but you should have easy access to it – and you’ll be told in your contract where to find it.

The other point you want to note from your contract (and this will be provided to you personally if they issued a "Statement of Particulars") is who to complain to if you are unhappy about any disciplinary matter – this should be someone higher than your manager, or the person dismissing you. They’ll be the person you write a grievance to if it comes to that.

Yorkshire James could pick up on this thread, and he might be able to give you some sites more targeted to employees' needs. Or you could search the legal section for the sites he's mentioned before!


*a discrimination claim doesn’t have the 12 month restriction, and with discrimination now protecting against profound beliefs including global warming (or something silly like that), as well as more reasons than most of us could think it would be possible to discriminate on, often easy enough for an employee to find a discrimination angle though.


Karl Limpert

t11cky said:

Hello everyone,
I started working for a company roughly 8 months ago as an Assignment Sales Rep which was basically covering other peoples rounds when they were absent and cold calling and after about 6 months I was told that I was becoming a VSR which meant having my own round of calls, after about 4 months I was swapped from one area to another and the other guy was swapped with me as we basically knew each others areas better than each other. The other chap in my opinion was doing breach calls that were outside his area and this is accepted with everyone!!
My sales figures have dropped drastically because of this (again in my opinion and my colleagues)
I have not hit target since I have been in my new territory because of his previous actions but this is an opinion and is virtually impossible to prove.
Ok I have not been carrying products into all the calls which is something my boss strongly believes in!!
I have been told today that if my results do not improve drastically over the next 2 weeks I will be sacked!!
I honestly believe I am achieving all that is possible at the present time and have been working longer hours than a lot of my colleagues to try and achieve targets.
I asked my boss earlier today to send someone else out with me to either give me constructive criticism or agree my area is reaching full potential at the moment but was then told if I dont hit target over the next 2 weeks I will be dismissed!!!
Could they literally sack me in the position I am in???
All help and opinions will be very greatfully recieved, Thanks for your thoughts in advance!!!

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If you feel you have worked your butt off for these guys with no results, when you have previously, underlying there seems to be something else! Most companies do not wish to lose good sales people, especially if they have invested some months of training. Do you think they might be wanting to down scale for the new year? Does your product sell as well in January/February as it would in December! just a thought...

I had a friend who had a target driven sales job.

The managers aren't normal. At one sales meeting they gave each of the reps a toy gun and told them to dress up as gangsters and go into the clients office and say "OK you punks. How much cleaning chemicals are you going to order"

When the first rep followed these instructions the client called the police.

Clearly to swap areas and allow the other rep to trade in your area is unacceptable also two weeks to turn the job around without any help isn't enough time. The fact that you were hitting targets in your old area and you were given a full time post shows that given the right backup you can proform.

One last thought. When you first found out that this guy was working in your territory you should have put a stop to it immediately.

Depends what your contract says but also how it is written. Is the contract balanced fairly?

Sales person are hired to maintain and increase sales and market share. What ever justification given on poor performance will not be listened to. It is a brutal fact that no sales no performance - you are to go...
The many typical sales will cite about long selling cycles as lead to no sales yet, but bosses aren't blind to review progress to see if the sales person is just giving excuses or it is the sales processes that leads to longer closure.

The moment you choose to do sales as a career is the starting point where you decide that you are the boss of the product/territory; you call the shot to decide the result. NOBODY will be able to deter you from what you want to attain. ONLY YOU, decide what kind of result you want. RESULT speaks loudly about you. Do you have the compelling desire to hold that solid belief of your capability and capacity with clear effective actions to drive you with your iron will? if you don't, you know the reason!!

Homshaw said:

I had a friend who had a target driven sales job.

The managers aren't normal. At one sales meeting they gave each of the reps a toy gun and told them to dress up as gangsters and go into the clients office and say "OK you punks. How much cleaning chemicals are you going to order"

When the first rep followed these instructions the client called the police.

Clearly to swap areas and allow the other rep to trade in your area is unacceptable also two weeks to turn the job around without any help isn't enough time. The fact that you were hitting targets in your old area and you were given a full time post shows that given the right backup you can proform.

One last thought. When you first found out that this guy was working in your territory you should have put a stop to it immediately.

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That made me laugh!!

Arthur W said:

That made me laugh!!

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Pleased to make someone happy

Thank you

Peter