My Western Australian operation is a mess.

The manager I have over there was a fantastic sales rep and a all round good bloke. Unfortunately he isn’t generating the results I am after. I don’t think it is his fault as such, but he obviously isn’t the right guy for the difficult job of turning that state around.

So I have choices:

1. Coach him through a turn around
2. Find a new manager
3. Shut down the operation and liquidate the stock over there
4. Shut down the operation and freight the inventory to the east coast

I haven’t decided what to do yet, but I need a decision before the end of November. Whatever happens I also need to decide whether to do it myself or get my sales manager to fix it – it was his idea to hire the WA manager in the first place. Not that it absolves me of responsibility for WA, it is my company after all. This is time neither of us can spare in the Christmas selling season.

I’ve been hoping it would turn around into Christmas, but it doesn’t seem to be the case. I’ve never fired anyone for not making something happen before.