Sales Blog for Sales and Sales Management

Often when I ask a sales manager or executive "how are your sales results year to date?", I get a reply that falls into the category of 'stack ranking'.  Success Factors assessment company will tell you that stack ranking for sales performance, sales activity, sales pipeline and the like is important and meaningful. But, and this is a big BUT, only if it is put into perspective of the expected outcomes and you gain insight from the data that you are looking at.

In other words, when a prospective new sales hire tells me that they are the top sales person in their district in year over year growth, that doesn't tell me much.  If everyone else in the country is having a terrible year, then being number one means you are the best of the worst.  So this comparison of being 'top of the heap' certainly is not going to predict any sales success for my company.

I looked up an old coach of mine from my freshman football year in college.  I happened to find out that he spent several years at a university on the east coast, recently retired as the head coach and is now an administrator in the athletic department.  In his bio, it said that he ranked 2nd all-time in games coached and 2nd all-time in wins.  I did the math.  The teams averaged 3.2 wins a season.  This is a team that has perennially struggled to field winning teams, so it is more of a reflection on the school's great commitment to academics rather than athletics.  And by the way, the coach was and still is, I'm sure, a great guy.

But the point is this - top of the heap in selling only is significant if, in fact, you are comparing yourself to the right heap.  Being the best of the not-so-good really doesn't mean much.

Here is the standard that I suggest for all of our clients:  Your highest and best.  When you look in the mirror at the end of 2010, can you say that your results as a sales professional represent your highest and best?