Tuesday, November 8, 2011

What America Needs is an Increase in Mediocrity

Now just hear me out on this one folks. If you look at everything going on in the Country right now it appears that there is a small minority at the top controlling things and there is a substantial pool at the bottom that is dragging many of us down, So who really gets things done around here? That's right, the Middle Class. The suburbia people with 2.4 children, 1.7 pets and an average annual house hold income of less than 80k. This really applies to sales as well. Consider this, every sales team has those one or two people that really knock it out of the park every month or every quarter and they also have those couple people that cant even get out of their own way and it's a miracle when they sell anything. You know who the sales managers are quite fond of? The "Tweeners," they never blow their number out and they never really crap the bed either.

The Star salesperson typically has one of 3 things happen to them. They burn out on that performance level after 6-12 months and start looking for a new job to refresh. They get noticed by upper management, get a promotion, figure out they are much better at being sales people than managers and either get demoted back to sales or look for a job with a competitor. If they are demoted, they don't deal with it very well for very long. Many of the privileges they enjoyed being a manager are stripped away and they now feel like they are being excluded. The worst scenario is that the rock-star salesperson starts to push for things to make the company better or to make them happier in their work place, they are summarily dismissed or ignored and eventually they move on to find a new job, probably with your competitor.
Think that's a load of crap? Take a look around your sales force. How many people have been there 3 years plus? How many have hit or exceeded quota every month, quarter or year? How many of them don't complain or don't push for things? Y'see this is the problem with the sales hiring model. All these companies say they want to hire the "best of the best." they want the people that "meet or exceed quota annually." Here's a hint, you are better off hunting Moby Dick. Truthfully, if you find one of these people, the likelihood that they will still work for you in 24 months is slim to none. Again, don't believe me? Take a hard look at the salespeople that have come through your door in the last 20 years. How many of  them truly lived up to all that hype you saw in the interview? How many of them sustained that high level of performance for more than 18 months? It is truly a rare occurence.

The biggest reason those people performed as long as they did is probably because they had a great relationship with their sales manager. If you poll sales people about why they left a company you will hear a great many of them cite that they just couldn't get along with their sales manager any more. They will surely cite company policy and earning potential as other reasons too. But if you think about it, the right sales manager can overcome the company policy issue and the earning potential issue, So when you interview potential candidates you need to evaluate them based on the sales manager and how they will fit together.  Consider Pro-football. Often times a Quarterback is a result of the system they are in and their coaches. If everyone is one the same page, like the situation you have with the San Francisco 49ers you take a washed up Quarterback Like Alex Smith and turn him in to a team leader and a division leader, because he and his new coach Jim Harbaugh are on the same page. The opposite is true as well. Donovan McNabb performed very well under Andy Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles but fell apart in Washington and Minnesota because it just wasn't the right system.
To this point, so many business owners think they can manage a sales team. or A big box sales company will simply "plug and play" sales managers with their teams with little regard to the interaction between the reps and the managers.  If you want a solid sales team, hire a qualified sales manager and let them pick their team. Guide them, make recommendations, but let them build the team. To that point, if you lose a sales manager but have good sales people left on their team. Talk to them very candidly about who they want to work for and why. Perhaps you can transfer them to another team. Perhaps they can provide invaluable input to selecting the right candidate going forward.

As for the bad Sales people on every team, chalk it up to experience. You hired the wrong person, they aren't a good fit, either with your company or the sales manager. If you think they can sell but don't perform under their sales manager then consider moving them to another team, or perhaps it is the sales manager that is the problem and not the salespeople.

Now the "tweeners." every sales team wants them and needs them and here's why. Generally they don't complain. They show up for work on time they work a full day and they leave when they are supposed to. Sure they don't blow their number out but you know you can count on them to contribute month after month. They usually aren't trouble makers. They don't make demands and instead they generally offer useful and productive opinions when you take the time to ask them. They generally know what's going on and understand their competitive landscape. They usually know where their product fits and they don't try to oversell when their product isn't a great fit for the client.

So, if you want a burst of sales, a tumultuous sales office and high turn over keep searching for and hiring the  "Top-Elite Quota Crushers." But if you would like to build a solid team of people willing to work together and provide a consistent stream of revenue for your company then hire the right sales manager and build a team of "tweeners."

Thanks for reading today.

Mike


BTW: I hope you will come out to my networking event this Friday night in Baltimore. I am raising money for Autism. click this link to register, thanks!

Baltimore Networking Friday November 11th 7-10pm

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