So you’ve hired some new salespeople.
In their previous jobs, they were top performers. People in the marketplace have great respect for them. Their network is both wide and deep. Just being around them on a daily basis gives you more confidence that they’ll be the fire that ignites your company’s growth. You leave them alone to do their thing—get out into the world and sell! Instead, how many strong salespeople haven’t worked out, left their job for another, or have had great starts only to fizzle the longer they’re with the company? So many companies stop supporting their salespeople once they’ve been hired. They think that, if they hire great people, those people will perform no matter what. That simply isn’t the case.
If we applied that thinking to Peyton Manning’s transition to a new team, how would that work? Imagine Peyton’s first day. He would probably get through the playbook, meet the other players, and learn how the team’s operations work. Peyton would get his locker and office, attend some team meetings, and fill out the necessary paperwork—then things would start to slow down. The expectation would be, “Peyton, go out and win us some games. See you on game day.”
“What about practice?” asks Peyton.
“We don’t have practice.”
“What about game day prep, watching films, and coming up with a game strategy?” puzzles Peyton.
“You’ll be fine, just go out and feel your way through it.”
“I am going to hit the gym,” Peyton comments.
“I guess you can, but we won’t support you. You need to do that on your own time if you think it will help.”
We respect Peyton’s work ethic and the preparation and practice he puts himself through for each game. We know that’s what makes Peyton a top performer; yet, when companies hire their own top performers, they don’t treat them the same way. Companies have no system to track their top performers’ progress (QB rating, completions, TDs vs. Closing ratios, number and quality of calls made, etc.). There’s no exercise or training program to develop and maintain the new hire’s skills. There’s no sales strategy or process. On top of that, the coach or sales manager may not have the skill set to manage and coach the sales team.
If a top performer like Peyton Manning would struggle in this kind of environment, how can you expect your top performers—or even your middle-grade performers—to do well? How do you expect to build a world-class organization if you’re not treating it the same way as a team that’s working towards a Super Bowl?