Why is there such a huge gap in sales performance?

[Doyle Slayton]

I often see teams who have a couple of top performers, a bunch of under performers, and then almost nobody who is a middle performer. Why is there such a huge gap in sales performance?

[fdempster]

Hmmm... the top performers are passionate about life and that bleeds into their selling, and the lower either a) don't care or more likely, b) have not been mentored to grow into the middle group.

[Kristi Shoemaker]

Reseach proves that the best sales producers come from the strongest sales managers. Now here is the interesting part. Only 10% of all organizations in the country have programming in place to grow and develop the skills of those in sales MANAGEMENT. Kurt Coffman, author of "First Break All The Rules: What the Worlds Greatest Managers Do Different" recently commented to our founder that "the abiilty to build organic growth and the future viability of any organization will be in the hands of their sales managers." Pretty powerful huh? Typcially we see the majority of dollars being allocated to the producers. We have found that VP sales and sales managers that are dilgently focused on leading and managing effectively and as important, are focused on the six key areas that drive sales productivity (we call them the 6 Pillars) will have the highest producing teams. Ask yourself this question. How can a sales manager expect his/her producer to get better if he/she keeps coaching them, training them, measuring them the same way they did 5-10 years ago? A lot has changed in the areas of talent ID and acquistion; sales methodology and skill development; professional growth; sales analytics; compensation/recognition/rewards; and planning. Are you sure you are current on what works best in these areas? Is your process backed up with proven results and research? I invite you to join the many other VP sales and managers who have made the commitment to improve by checking out the EcSELL Institute community.

[Neil Warren]

Hello Doyle and Folks

Bit late responding to your question Doyle - but the thread was still featured. And I'm also sensitive to accusations of "spamming", so please let me advise that

a) I'm the messenger here - not a selling anything other than readership
b) Although our site and the contributor are UK based, the article and the maths in it are universal and did seem to me to be precisely "on message" for illuminating this crucial question.

So I hope it's just useful background reading, for those that want it...

http://www.modernselling.com/sales-jobs-cv-career-information/can-y...

Kind regards

Neil

[David Colomb]

I feel that there are people who work in sales because they have a passion for the field. That is a small percentage of the field. The vast middle ground is people who see sales as a job with freedom and autonomy, and do jsut enough to keep the job. They are there for a job, not because they're passonate about the job. People who are unsuited for the job, drop out quickly.

[Jon Rhiddlehoover]

I actually work in that exact environment right now. I know that in my company, the sales force has 3 35 and under salesman out of 15 total. I know that two of them are the top sellers in the company. There are two things that come to my mind when I think about our gap. First, is the generation difference. The older guys are comfortable with their way of selling and do not feel comfortable changing with the times. If there are more effective ways to sell, or more economical strategies, and they do not change, they will be surpassed by those who will. That leads me to my second thought that the salesmen in my company that are older, will not upgrade their sales technologies, or strategies to improve their production. It might be one of those, "Can't teach old dogs new trick's" things. I am in the construction industry in Dallas, and that might be the reason for the lack of change. They might also get frustrated with the other salesmen for setting a bar that, to them, might be unattainable. Or, God forbid, they are on the golf course too much. Not sure if this theory is correct for all industries and companies, but I know it is valid for us.

[Neil Warren]

A common theme in our replies here appears to be that “it’s true of everybody, all life, all human endeavours”?

Look around at the population at large, and ask how many are going to land on the Moon, discover e=mc2, perform the first brain transplant, climb Everest, explore the bottom of the ocean, stop global warming, etc. etc..

If the problems you’re reflecting on are at all typical of the US at the moment, might it also be one of those “Decline of the xxxxx Empire” issues (Egyptian, Roman, British, you name it), where the pioneering enthusiasm of the earlier years/centuries slowly gets replaced with a kind of indulgent apathy that refuses to recognise that all world champions have to stay in peak physical and mental condition to retain their crowns?