TopGrading

As CEO, your passion and commitment about raising the bar of sales force expectations can awaken a sleeping profit giant…asleep right under your nose.   TopGrading: raising everyone to “A-Player” status.

Take this simple exercise and calculate how much profit improvement potential exists within your sales force.  And the beauty is, you won’t have to spend any more in payroll or marketing expenses to get it.

Ask yourself these four questions about your sales force:

a) On average, how many new prospect contacts does my average seller make a month?

b)How many would the ideal sales person make, if you TopGraded by raising your sales force standards to those of a “A-Players”.

a) On average, what is the closing ratio (%) of an average seller?

b) And an A-Player?

a) On average, what’s the dollar value of the average sale of the average seller?

b) What would it be for an A-Player?

a)How many A-Players do you have now?  

b)Subtract this number from the total # of sellers you employ.  This represents your “talent gap”.

Now, multiply 1a times 2a times 3a.  This represents the “old-you”.

Now multiply 1b times 2b times 3b times 4b times 12 months in a year.  This is the how much incremental revenue you could book this year, simply by raising your expectations.  Staggering isn’t it?

So how do you get these results?

Raising your performance expectations demands your sales team improves in three areas, and you in one:

For them:

Your sellers must be more effective at prospecting.  That means creating a prospecting plan and holding them to it.  It means calling high in your prospect’s organizations.  It means creating and delivering a compelling message about the problems you solve for prospects.  It means planting their feet and getting appointments instead of sending literature.

Your sellers must improve their closing ratios.  It means learning how to listen to prospect’s real problems.  It means getting your prospects’ to discover your company is worth a premium.  It means getting prospects to make and keep commitments.  It means delivering powerful, moving presentations that hit your prospects’ real needs, every time.  It also means your sellers stop wasting time with people who are not going to do business with them.

Your sellers must raise the amount of money they ask for.  It means calling on larger prospects.   It means eliminating discounting.  It means getting your price, at your terms, and having your customers delighted to give them to you.

The commitment you, as CEO must make and live up to:  You must do whatever it takes to abolish mediocrity in your sales force.  If you don’t have the best…develop those that aren’t, or replace them with those that are.

How A Simple CEO Mindset Shift Can Triple Your Profits