Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
I received the IDC Sales Advisor Newsletter in my email today and while it was about the importance of cross-selling, they said it is important because 50% of reps aren't making quota.
Forget cross-selling! If 50% of your reps aren't making quota you have bigger problems than whether or not they are cross-selling!
There are only five possible reasons why reps are not making quota:
- Their sales managers aren't able to coach them up. Develop or replace the sales managers.
- They can't be coached up because they aren't right for the role. Evaluate and replace those who cannot be saved.
- They need to be trained and developed. Develop them.
- Your product is over-priced, obsolete, inferior, or has no market. Discontinue it.
- Your quota is too high. Raise it. Yes, raise it!
Of course, there is more to it than that...
Number 3 alone has dozens of possible sub plots and number 2 is likely to cause a rerun if you don't change your hiring, selection and on boarding process. Numbers 1, 2 and 3 are all intertwined. Chances are if you have a problem with number 1, you also have problems with numbers 2 and 3.
Back to the main point. There is no excuse for 50% of reps not making quota. Instead of wishing and hoping that something will change, change something!
