You might be thinking to yourself, “Yeah!  That sounds like a great idea!  Better yet, why don’t why we just tar and feather them while we’re at it!”   Broker’s, I’ll let you enjoy that fantasy for a little bit longer.

Ok, are we ready to proceed?  By “drawn” I’m talking about drawing up a plan to improve your current sales-force roster by either taking them to the next level, providing additional support for those who are already experiencing great results or even “releasing” them to find new opportunities at other companies.   This release methodology has been commonly referred to as, “re-introducing them to the marketplace!”  

Be honest with yourself; how many of your salespeople need to be re-introduced?  It’s no doubt that organizations all across North America are filled with bad hires, desperate hires and low hanging fruit that affiliated with them during the surge of new entrants over the last few years.   Keep the following goal in mind when recruiting; every new hire should be an upgrade to your current roster.

When I mentioned “quartered” I am of course talking about the tried and true management technique of quartiling your salespeople into four distinct categories that are based upon their annual revenue contribution, but more specifically, base it upon how much the company gets.  Not all compensation plans are equal.   Using the first four letters of the alphabet, categorize all of your them into A’s, B’s, C’s or D’s.   

A = Top 25%

B = 26 – 50%

C = 51 – 75%

D = Bottom 25% in level of annual company dollar contribution.

I’ve even seen companies that base this quartiling of their salespeople on a number of factors including attitude, level of engagement/participation, their energy level and their production.   This is how the alphabet would look in this scenario:

A = Able (Able to be successful and highly engaged; with or without you!)

B = Best opportunity for improvement in all these areas.  They need your support.

C = Can’t seem to move them up the scale.  They need intervention or remediation plan.

D = Done (Re-introduce into the marketplace)

Once you’ve established the basis for your quartiling, put a plan in place to recognize and encourage the A’s.  Secondly, move as many of the B’s to the A level through accountability and education.  Then place the C’s into a remediation program to get their skills up to par in order to see results within a specific time period.  Finally, release those D’s!  

Soon you’ll come to realize that being “Drawn and Quartered” is a very good thing!

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