The Stupid 80/20 Rule........A Series (Part 1)

If you've been a sales professional for any length of time, I'm sure you've heard about the 80/20 rule.? For those not aware, the rule simply states that 20% of the sales team generates 80% of the revenue.? How insane of an accepted policy is this?? This means that you EXPECT 80% of your sales team to suck. Why is this still accepted in business today?

It could be the difficulty of motivating that dreaded 80%.? There is no need to motivate the top 20% because they self-motivate.? They win all the contests, win every spiff, and hold all the sales records.? They have all the respect, accolades, and rewards the company can offer.? But oh the 80% people are not so easy.? They never win, never compete.? They are just there to fill a seat.? So why not fire them all and just keep the 20%?? If that's not the answer, then why not motivate them to success?? Is that easier said than done?

At one point in my sales career, I worked for a large call center that gave away a car every quarter to the top salesperson.? Second and third place were rewarded with a boat and large screen TVs.? The problem was that those top 3 salespeople simply rotated between first, second, and third every quarter.? The 80% were never in the running and never had any desire to even try.? The quarterly contest did not motivate the 80%, on the contrary, they were unmotivated.? I suggested to the Vice President on how to motivate the rest of the team.? It wasn't a popular suggestion but after implementing it, the company saw sales records that it had never seen before.? Simply put, the suggestion was to fire the last place salesperson for the quarter.? NO ONE wanted to be last and get fired, so everyone busted their butts to beat last place.? Just so you know, no one got fired because of the amazing sales produced and the delight of management.

Motivation is sometimes about perception.? When the 80% perceives that they do not have a chance to succeed, they quit, sit back and collect a paycheck.? Challenge them with their employment and they move into high gear - proving that they did have the ability to compete with the 20%ers.? There are many ways to motivate, and not all include the potential loss of one's job.? A great sales leader will find a way to motivate the 80% and not let most of his team suck.

The point I’m trying to make is that sales managers/Directors/VPs (whatever title you have) should not accept the rule and not allow most of their sales force to underperform.? So here we go, I’m writing the first in a series of articles about the stupid 80/20 rule.

Part 1 (today) is about understanding/evaluating the individual salesperson

Part 2 (9/12) will be about why many exceptional salespeople make horrible sales managers

Part 3 (9/19) will be about the process needed for sales success

Part 4 (9/26) will be about how to put the entire process together to increase productivity of the 80%ers

As a business consultant, the first thing I do when I have been hired to turn around a broken sales team is giving every person a survey questionnaire.? One specific question asks them to tell me the three things they would change if they were the CEO.? Another question is "do you feel your suggestions/ideas are being heard by management?"? This gives me a baseline of the person and an understanding of what they consider the good, bad, and the ugly of their department/company.?

I then take this information and use the SPIN selling process, interview the salespeople, managers, and key decision makers for the company.? What I am looking for is the Situation (why the sales person has this job), the Problem (why they are one of your 80%ers), the Implication (how much they cost you in revenue and how happy/unhappy they are in their role), and finally the Needs Payout (what they can do if they have the right motivation and process).?

The next thing I do is to find out what specific motivation each person has.? See my blog on “Push My Button Please” (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/push-my-buttons-please-bob-rollins-aka-salesguybob/?trackingId=WXnVxjyb3lIbTIBaoPMELQ%3D%3D) to learn about the different types of motivators people have.? People are driven or motivated by many different things, the most common are money, praise/accolades, advancement, or flexibility.?? Once you understand this you can "push their button".? You often have elements of several involved in a person's motivation, but one should be the overall driving factor.

Now, let's put this all together and see what we have.? ?I know the salesperson’s feelings on the company, what they would do to change what they don't like, and what drives them in life.? Sometimes with a large enough team, I would immediately have changes that need to be made as a company to improve sales.? Other times, I would find people in sales roles that needed to be set free to pursue their life's goals (fired).? From this "evaluation", I can lay out a plan on how to motivate each person.?

This is not an easy process and takes considerable time.? For a sales manager wanting to improve sales though, it is vital to creating success from your 80%ers.? Stay tuned for next week's addition to the series.? Part 2 (9/12) will be about why many exceptional salespeople make horrible sales managers.