Top leads go to top closers. The others have to earn their stripes. Sharpening their chops on whatever comes their way. No business can afford risking great leads on average or below average salespeople.

Definition of a lead

At the most basic level, a lead is a potential customer who has reached out to you wanting more information about your product or service.

The definition of ‘sales’ is simply the action of selling something.

Put the two together and any salesperson worth their salt should by definition of their role be able to close 9 out of 10 times. Time and time again it has been shown that 80 percent of your business is generated by 20 percent of your people. Great sales people are a rare find which is why it is important to let them do what they do best—close.

If any one of your salespeople thinks it is unfair that the leads are not spread out equally then they may want to rethink why they became a salesperson in the first place. I say this because over the past two decades of being surrounded by world-class sales organizations, nothing is clearer than the fact that sales superstars thrive on bloody-knuckled competition, possess endless quantities of killer confidence, and strive with all they have in them to be the top-ranked on every list, every time… period.

Harvard Business Review states that payouts to the sales force is B2B’s single largest marketing investment costing $800 billion a year. Sales positions can yield a highly lucrative career, because it takes a special breed and not everyone can do it. You’ll hear your top sales people saying they love what they do. When you are good at something you love it. Those complaining or giving excuses are the ones failing and should be more focused on stretching their vocal cords selling.

This may be brutally honest, but sales is brutal. It is also pure JOY.

By Richard Goering, VP of Sales and Operations, Shingle Corp