The Sales Boss

CHAPTER 11 Who Gets My Time 
and Attention?

Superstars hang out with superstars and sometimes with promising new talent. They don’t waste time trying to get someone to be a superstar who isn’t motivated and talented. If you look at most sales managers, though, you will see that they spend an inordinate amount of time on the people who are performing the worst.

Think about your experience: Maybe you open up your email and learn that Frank had yet another “sure deal” fall out of his forecast. He is frantic to see whether there are any price concessions that can be made to tip the scales back in his favor with the prospect. Frank assures you that it’ll be worth it! Before you know it, you are working the phones to see what can be done to salvage the deal. Soon it is lunchtime and you’ve not done any of the things you wanted to do. You’ve done Frank’s job! You worked for Frank.

The good news is that if you improve your ability to attract, hire, and on-board superstars, you won’t waste time with mediocre salespeople. In the meantime, make sure that you are spending the greatest share of your time with your A-players. In a study conducted by the authors of The Challenger Sale, Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson, it was noted that the gap between an average and a star performer was 59 percent in a transactional sale. This gap widened to an astounding 200 percent in a complex sales environment. Who do you think you will get the best results from in relation to your time investment?