August 6th, 2012, 2:31 pm

Consider this….

You have a sales force of 400 people carrying a quota of $1 million in sales per year.  Your very top sales people generate 50% more than the current quota or $1.5 million per sales year.  You wish all your reps could produce like those at the top tier. 

Knowing that your stars are usually unconsciously competent – you can’t just ask them what they do better or differently.  So you analyze their performance, taking note of their best and proven practices and develop a model – a Profile of Exemplary Performance.  Now, you leverage this model to enhance the performance of your remaining sales force.  Even if a small number of “average” reps improve their performance to the “star” level – you’ve made a shift in your performance curve!

So what does that really mean?  What is the real value of doing this?  Well, the implications of this shift are significant.  By producing greater results with your existing sales force, the biggest percentage of the increased value falls directly to your bottom line.

Consider our example; let’s assume all the representatives made improvements to their performance, improving their results 20% beyond their current level – this would equate to $100,000 increase in revenue per rep.  They would generate $40,000,000 in additional revenue.  Now, that’s the real value of stars!