Episode #105: Sales Poor Performers

Are you or your sales team missing targets right now?

Sales is unforgiving. Results show up in metrics, and over time those numbers make performance impossible to hide. When targets keep getting missed, careers stall, teams lose confidence, and managers face the hard question: What do we do next?

In many Western markets, poor performance quickly leads to replacement. In Japan, however, firing for performance is socially and legally difficult, especially in large 日本企業 (nihon kigyō / Japanese companies). Managers are often expected to redeploy underperformers rather than remove them.

Mini-summary: Sales failure becomes visible through numbers, but Japan’s employment norms shape different solutions than in the West.

Japan’s employment culture places strong emphasis on stability and fairness. In large firms, leaders are pressured to protect employment and move failing salespeople into roles where they might succeed.

Smaller firms and 外資系企業 (gaishikei kigyō / foreign multinational companies) operate under different realities. Courts recognize that underperformance can threaten survival, so smaller companies have more latitude to release employees who don’t improve. Yet even there, internal culture often demands a final chance before separation, because teammates worry they could be next.

Mini-summary: Large Japanese firms tend to reassign; smaller and multinational firms tend to give a last chance, then decide quickly.

Most failing salespeople aren’t lazy — they’re stuck. Their current results are the outcome of long-standing habits and beliefs about “what works.” The real problem often appears when someone changes companies or industries. Old methods stop working, but the person keeps repeating them anyway, becoming blind to new market realities.

To recover, the salesperson needs higher self-awareness and must replace outdated assumptions with approaches that fit today’s environment.

Mini-summary: Failure is typically a work-style and adaptability issue, not a lack of effort.

In smaller companies and 外資系企業 (gaishikei kigyō / foreign multinational companies), the traditional age-based hierarchy can disappear. A salesperson may report to a younger manager, a woman, or both. For some older employees, this is unfamiliar and emotionally difficult, and that discomfort can spill into performance.

The market doesn’t wait for people to adjust. Those who can’t adapt are often pushed out quickly.

Mini-summary: Performance drops when people can’t adapt to modern, mixed-hierarchy workplaces.

Should you fire an underperforming salesperson in today’s market?

Not always — especially now. Hiring salespeople in Japan is tough, and hiring effective bilingual talent is even tougher. Even weak performers often have valuable product and customer knowledge. If you fire them, you may struggle to find anyone — or anyone better.

Before replacing someone, leaders need to ask:

• Do we have a real training plan?

• Who will coach them?

• Is onboarding strong, or Spartan and improvised because the company is lean?

In many small organizations, training is too thin to support a replacement successfully.

Mini-summary: Firing can create a bigger problem if hiring and training pipelines are weak.

What’s the smartest path for leaders in Japan right now?

In Japan, giving people a structured chance to recover aligns with social expectations and protects the morale of high performers. Your team watches closely how you handle poor performance, and their loyalty depends on whether they see fairness, development, and clear standards.

This matters even more in Japan’s talent market, where there are roughly 1.68 jobs for every applicant. Retaining strong people is a leadership priority, and your response to underperformance is a public signal.

Mini-summary: A fair, developmental approach boosts retention and trust — crucial in Japan’s tight labor market.

What must the failing salesperson do to survive and thrive?

They must reinvent themselves. The market has changed, buyers have changed, and old sales routines no longer guarantee results. Survival requires flexibility, humility, and the willingness to rebuild skills for a new era.

Managers must also evolve — coaching differently, setting clearer expectations, and building systems that help people adapt instead of repeating stale patterns.

Mini-summary: Both salesperson and boss must change; stagnation is punished by the market.

• Sales failure is visible in metrics, but Japan’s culture shapes different solutions than the West.

• Most underperformance comes from outdated habits and low adaptability, not lack of effort.

• In a tough hiring market, smart leaders focus on development before replacement.

• How you handle poor performance affects team trust, morale, and retention.

Founded in the U.S. in 1912, Dale Carnegie Training has supported individuals and companies worldwide for over a century in leadership, sales, presentation, executive coaching, and DEI. Our Tokyo office, established in 1963, has been empowering both Japanese and multinational corporate clients ever since.