So what exactly is excellence to a salesperson?
Not an easy question to answer.
“Excellence” probably means different things to everyone.
Because every salesperson has different potential and differing talents (some better, some worse), each salesperson’s level of excellence varies widely.
In “The Secret of Setting the Bar High” we discussed that a sales manager sometimes needs to be a dictator.
And when it comes to sales performance, the top-performing sales manager is positivey “Stalin-esque”. He is completely INFLEXIBLE on what he wants from his sales reps. However, he is completely FLEXIBLE on how each rep will go about getting it.
Even though the potential of each salesperson is varied, the level of excellence in sales is very clear, quota is the only true measuring stick. So, here it is:
1. If a salesperson has never achieved quota, excellence is hitting quota, period.
a. However, after the sales rep hits quota two or three times, the goal of excellence then becomes #2.
2. Any goal that both exceeds quota and is also a stretch for the salesperson, while at the same time being realistic.
What is far exceeds? Let your salespeople tell you this one. Your job is to play editor-in-chief when they tell you.
Reel them in if they shoot too high and crank them up if they shoot too low.
My experience has been that most salespeople, somewhat eager to “impress the boss”, set their goals way too high. With unrealistically high goals, these salespeople end up just getting frustrated while simultaneously engendering skepticism and losing interest in your message.
They soon become discouraged and disengaged. Safeguard against that by being extremely critical of their direction.
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Add a comment to this post and tell me what you do to prompt your salespeople to achieve excellence.
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