How focused are you on the 80% guys?

How focused are you on the 80% guys?

Over the many years of working with Sales Teams, I’ve noticed the following ratio at almost every company…

– Roughly 10% of the team are top performers and are amazing regardless of the quality of leadership they receive because they rarely need it. They are going to do it no matter what. These guys are focused and usually have a Growth Mindset.

– Roughly 10% of the team are under performers. No matter what you do to help them it never quite works out for them. There are all sorts of reasons for this…lost the heart for the job, no self-belief, lack of confidence, gone into the valley of reasons and excuses…one or more of these. They usually have a Fixed Mindset.

– Then there’s roughly 80% of the team who are there or there abouts. Some months are good, some are poor…or maybe they just hit target but don’t go far beyond it…even though they could with a bit more effort.

Your biggest wins are in the 80% crowd

These guys want to do it. They see the top performers above them and want to be them. They are a mix of mindsets which causes them to either try new approaches apprehensively which impacts on the results they can achieve OR avoid new approaches for fear of failure or humiliation. When they are brave enough to try they generally get a mediocre result, so they pull back and feel less eager to try again.

These guys are the ones that really need your support to step out of their comfort zone. Coaching them every step of the way so they don’t go running back to the safety is the surest way to develop them to greatness.

The more support you give this portion of your sales team…the greater the sales increase you’ll get.

Were you in the top 10% as a sales person?

If you were, this makes it even harder for you to have empathy with the other 90% of your team. You can’t understand why they just don’t get on with it. Simply do the things that create results. What is the matter with these sales people I hear you frustratedly ask!!!

I come across this situation all too often in sales leadership…I hear things like, they are just lazy, useless, a waste of space, incompetent, not fit for purpose…the list goes on and on.

And yet…when these sales leaders realise that not everyone is like them and some people simply need a helping hand, a leader that believes in them and someone they can turn to when they are having a tough time, they suddenly see the potential. Then they start to see the results once the 80% crowd start to shift their thinking.

They won’t all become top performers but they’ll all do more than they are doing now. How would you like an extra 10% from each of these guys? How about 20% Some will even double their sales when they get the support they need to get to the other side of the fog of fear and negativity.

Just to be clear…being supportive doesn’t mean being nice all the time. You need to push and challenge them beyond where they are comfortable and this makes them uncomfortable. When done well these tough conversations will be the things they remember most about working in your team…and with fondness!

Until next time,

Leigh 🙂