Advanced Skills for MD's, RM's, SVP's and Partners
Ask any top athlete what a 1% improvement in their performance would mean. In the Olympics it’s the difference between a gold medal or not being on the podium. In golf it’s the difference between winning majors or staying on the tour. What would it mean to your firm if all of your top producers won one more large engagement per year?
According to the USGA, I am an average golfer with an index around 15. I don’t practice. I just play, which is why my index hasn’t changed much over the years. Sometimes I wonder how good I could be if really focused and hired a full-time coach like pro golfers do. Let’s say that coach and my hard work knocked 10 or even 15 strokes off of my index. That would be a training miracle, but unfortunately it would have zero return on investment because I still couldn’t sniff the pro circuit much less win. (OK I could probably make pocket change betting with my friends.) If however, that coach could help a top golfer improve by one stroke per tournament, about 1/270, it would result in millions in winnings. In the season ending FedEx Cup one stroke could be worth $11 million alone.
Most training dollars are spent on mid to low level people. The objective is to get them to perform more like your top producers. Little or no money is spent on training the top people because they are already very good, or so the thinking goes. But even a small improvement in your best is much better than a big improvement in the rest.
That is why we target top producers to help them take their game to the next level. The company realizes a much better return (10 times better!) sooner by investing limited training dollars in top producers. Also, in my training classes it’s the best people (the Phil Mickelson’s) who learn the most. They get and use it faster. That is what made them your best people in the first place.
Top producers are fighting the biggest battles. In business there is no prize money when you finish second. All of the spoils go to the winner. And the difference between winning and losing is razor thin. I interviewed a woman who had recently chosen a service provider for a $300 million project. When asked why she chose the winner over the competitive alternatives, she explained that she thought they were a little more responsive. Think about that. After countless hours of research, preparation, interviews, proposal writing and presentations the second place finisher in this competition lost business worth $300,000,000 for lack of a few timely phone calls. What would it mean to your team if you won just one more “bake off” this year?
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Bob Potter is the author of Winning In The Invisible Market: A Guide to Selling Professional Services In Turbulent Times and Third Level Selling training series. He is also the Managing Principal of RA Potter Advisors, a marketing and sales strategy consulting practice for service providers. www.rapotter.com You can reach him at [email protected] or (415) 717-1662.