How a 1% Improvement in Your Sales Organization Can Earn You Millions

The top sales representatives garner praise, and the bottom of the pack gets help. What about those of you in the middle? You know, the other 80%. Management tends to cultivate stars and clean up after the stragglers. It’s our instinctive reaction to fix what’s broken and coddle the golden goose. But let’s look at the facts. Here are three ways to improve your revenue with your organization’s biggest asset: its middle.

1. Recognize that BIGGER > is better

Visualize 1,000 employees.

Your middle doesn’t have to stay average. Remove the dollar signs and imagine the potential of 800 sales representatives. It’s not rocket science. There are simply more of them. Devoting time and effort to weak salespeople yields mediocre ROI. Over-developing your stars propels them into your competitive orbit. Instead, invest in those who are just a few degrees of competence away from excellence.

Laggards (the bottom 10%) haven’t demonstrated their potential, gazelles (the top 10%) have already figured out how to leverage it – but the herd (the middle 80%) just needs a push to start running with the gazelles. Companies are judged by what they consistently show. In other words, your average salespeople. Improving the middle of your team will boost your company’s standards. All you have to do is…

2. Develop Your Employees by Just 1%

The Great Britain cycling team wasn’t always made up of Olympic contenders. When Sir David Brailsford became technical director in 2003, he taught a philosophy that might be subject to much ridicule in most locker rooms: do 100 things 1% better. The British brought home gold from Beijing, London, and Rio.

Do the math on Brailsford’s tenure. Now do your own math: 1% more calls, 1% more contacts, 1% more contracts, plus 97 other points of improvement. Micro-gains add up. By investing resources in this group of employees, “the herd” will deliver increased results due to their numbers. Combine this objective with the gold medal strategy to reap the benefits. Training itself is another topic, but it’s worth noting that technological advancements are stimulating managers and their sales forces like never before.

3. Act Now, Prune Later

Just because sales force turnover is much higher than in other professions doesn’t mean yours has to be. Logic would dictate cutting the weakest links. That’s not wrong in itself, but try to improve first before replacing. When you change your middle team, the rest changes too. Wait, then prune. Some laggards on the chopping block will pivot to form the new middle team. The perpetually mediocre will be ready for the axe, exactly where you left them.

Pruning your team is crucial for maintaining a healthy organization. Encouraging them will give them extra motivation. How is up to you. Meanwhile, remember the 1% butterfly effect. Organizational change is ambitious, but your tactics can start small. A million snowflakes can cause an avalanche.

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