Every sales organization has three categories of reps: Thrivers, Survivors, and Chevrolet Drivers. Thrivers are star performers, few in number but consistently great year after year. Survivors are low-performers. The majority of salespeople sell somewhere in between; they are Chevrolet Drivers, good reps who fill the anthill shaped center of the sales performance bell curve.
Why this three-segmented talent reality matters so much is that with unemployment at 10 percent and entrepreneurs at 20-22 percent, more and more fledgling business are forced to wade the swift waters of a murky marketplace with uncertain hopes for survival and sustenance. It’s hard being a little guy who works for him or herself. Doubly hard if you are not a skilled salesperson and competing against those who are.
Sales is a profession, a very fair one that financially rewards excellence, and one of the few ways sub-scholars can earn a wonderful, legal living. Selling is performance based; the better someone does the more he or she will earn. This is not the case for teachers, police officers, pharmacists or government workers. Their income is slotted, regardless of competence.
Thrivers are a company’s most valuable top-line resource because they generate significant chunks of revenue. Big wins make all good things happen: bonuses, corporate and career growth, profit sharing generation, expansion options, acquisition alternatives, and stock gains (just to name a few).
But star Thrivers are rare, and these pied pipers of high performance are in greater demand than supply. Companies depend on Thrivers to sustain because they lead by example. When one leaves, his or her exodus is a tremor that reverberates throughout the organization.
Survivors, on the other hand, are low performers who drag down profits by providing no return on their cost. They are easily replaced, so companies are taking advantage of the tightening economy to cut these disposable workers en masse. Organizations can shuck many but rarely manage to rid themselves of all. Some Survivors have too many political connections and the survival instincts of cockroaches.
Although Survivors contribute little they can subtract a lot, especially if a corporate culture tolerates the noise-pollution of the minds of their Chevrolet Driving co-workers. For this reason I urge clients to have zero tolerance for negativity.
The big, wide middle of the bell curve–the vast majority of salespeople–are Chevrolet Drivers. These are good, loyal, conscientious salespeople who do their best to deliver the corporate promise by working hard and in good faith. They are vital to every company and it is this populace that will hatch the next generation of Thriving superstars. Just as Chevrolet Drivers can be negatively influenced by grumbling defeatists (the Survivors), they can also be inspired to greatness by the positive influence of high-performing Thrivers.
Smart companies know this and take full advantage. Mediocre businesses do not. They are oblivious to attitudes, influences, and worker motivation. In bad and struggling companies, leadership is detached and the animals have taken over the zoo. The number who care is clearly outnumbered by those who don’t.
In a tight economy the key to improving sales performance is to relentlessly develop and convert more Chevrolet Drivers into high-performing Thrivers. It’s also smart to weed out and replace the Survivors with motivated candidates who aspire to be somebody some day and are willing to work hard to get there. Raise what’s expected and accepted, and you’ll raise the stature of the sales team.
Selling for a living is spectacularly fair and can be richly rewarding. Top sales organizations take full advantage.