Progressive Human Development Services

How great is great?

The luxury of having a well-functioning sales team is a clear indication of strong leadership and hands-on, progressive management. (For a clarification on the difference between leadership and management click here.) Above all, it is a tribute to your dedication, hard work, and passion. It is a testament to your ability to connect with the group, inspire trust and loyalty, teamwork and excellence. And in many respects, this makes you exceptional.

But let me ask: How great is your team exactly? And as mentioned on this page, compared to what?

As we understand, most teams have an 80/20 rule. 80% of the revenue is produced by 20% of the group. This is accurate in the vast majority of North American businesses, regardless of their line of industry. The truth is that there are real social and psychological reasons why this is the case, but more importantly, you do not have to accept it.

Let’s first establish the 4 categories of people that are representing your team:

The Finest: Always on top of their game, it seems that these people cannot be mediocre even when they try to be. Making the whole process seem easy as pie, it appears that they could perform with their eyes closed and hands tied. Although they are small in number, they form the core of your team around which everyone else revolves. Always surpassing their budget, they also set the upper limit of achievement for the entire office. They often have a dislike for paperwork and business rules but have mastered human relationships which give them the ability to bring in an astonishing amount of high-quality customers. Highly functioning on their own, they require minimum supervision and motivation preferring to be left alone and away from meetings unless used as a means to be publicly rewarded for their achievements.

The Respectable: Not quite able to reach for the stars, this dedicated group of employees is extremely enthusiastic and loyal. Hardworking, they will often try to make up for their shortcomings by investing more work hours than anyone else. Sticklers for the rules, the majority will want to grow within your company, juggling the sales cycle, the sales periphery such as administrative tasks, and the leadership aspect, all at once. Often in need of management approval as well as new knowledge, the leadership time requirement is above the finest group but less than the dependable average and the uncertain. Loving structure, they will feel lost without it. Always meeting their quotas, their accumulative exploits is quite considerable.

The Dependable Average: Working to live and most certainly not living to work, these individuals have their own personal benchmark regardless of your stipulations and plateaux. Not conforming well to your overall vision, they will have a tendency to drift on and off their budgets. Having little to no ownership characteristics, the finger pointing will have a tendency to be directed outward instead of inward blaming all but themselves. Misery loving company, this group has a tendency to prey on the worst of the group as well as the uncertain, sometimes being the creators of rumors and gossip. Believing that your requirements are grotesque regardless of the level of difficulty, they will often challenge your vision, and it’s followers. In no hurry to learn new tricks, they will work harder to refute and reject change. With a degree in broken promises, these individuals will require constant supervision, management, and encouragement, being only second in leadership time commitment. More focused on reinventing the wheel in order to make their job easier, and reluctant to listen and apply constructive criticism, continuous mistakes abound both in sales and administrative tasks. Many in numbers, their collective contribution provide them with a unique “dependable status.”

The Uncertain: This group contains two distinct types of individuals. On the one hand, you will find the newcomers. Being unfamiliar to the profession or at least new to your environment, these people usually take time to learn, acclimate and move to either category above. To that effect, their contribution and existence in your company remain uncertain. The other ones are the individuals who are currently underperforming and are, therefore, on a performance improvement plan. Having usually fallen from the dependable average category, their monetary input is quasi-nonexistent. They will either shape up under your careful guidance or be gently escorted out of your business and replaced.

Since these 4 groups have an established functionality based sociological, psychological and practical reasons, it would be foolish to try to eliminate one category, thus merging all individuals into one, such as the finest group for instance.

But two actions can be taken to raise your team’s revenue in addition to moving individuals from group to group:

The first goal is to dedicate time and effort to the top team, the finest, in order to raise the perceived set ceiling as high as possible. As mentioned the finest, unknowingly and inadvertently set the cap for what can be achieved in a particular environment. They are wrongly recognized by all other groups to be working most efficiently, harder and smarter, making it impossible to get better results. Thus, inaccurately so, no one perceives the possibility to produce more. For this reason, each group set their own ceiling lower than the group ahead of them. For instance, if the finest provide between 80% to 100%, the respectable will be more than happy being within the 60% to 80%. The dependable average will be content in the 30% to 60%, while the uncertain will navigate the dangerous water of the 10% to 30% range. Since all individuals are rather comfortable in their particular group, increasing the profitability of the finest makes every group perform at a higher level in order to compete and stay within their percentage and in their respective groups. For most, falling down a category is less than desirable making the process achievable.

The second goal is to eliminate the perceived ceiling and replace it with an average standard. In essence, you will be removing a contained and set amount of production, which has two ends: a top and a bottom,(minimum-maximum) and replacing it with an average benchmark having two open ends: no top, no bottom(middle of the scale). This technique will not eliminate the group’s entities, but it will compel most individuals to achieve more through a different vision. It will eliminate underachievement due to the group effect and solidify the entire team’s effort closer together.

This is exactly why Progressive Human Development Services is the necessary help you require to bring your team to the next level.

But who has the time? No leader has negotiable time to spend strategizing, implementing and managing these goals. Not by a long shot. This is why most teams quickly plateau, leading to the ups and downs that businesses encounter. Indeed, most industries will experience 3 to 4 extreme lows during a year, costing a significant amount of money each time. Our technique eliminates them, thus saving during these occurrences, and provides an overall yearly progression higher than normal, raising revenue margins continuously.

With our assistance, goals will be set and achieved while you continue your day to day activities and concentrate on the many other aspects of your business.

How great is great? Well, now that there is no ceiling, no top, no maximum, let’s get to work together and witness what your team can truly accomplish.

 Contact us now for a free consultation meeting. Click here