The makings of a championship team

Posted: January 31, 2014 | Categories: Management, Sales

As an executive coach, teams count on me to help them build a team that is destined to be the best.  We all know that teams who win championships have more than just talent:  They have learned how to work together synergistically.

Yesterday, I was talking to a business owner who was ready to build his winning team.  We went over some key components of championship teams.  I will share them with you:

Base monthly production.  This is the monthly sales quota.  It is determined by how much you need a team or individual to sell monthly to meet the basic requirement.  Let’s say this is 100K.

Monthly over-achievement goal:  For every dollar over quota, the salesperson gets an added percentage – say 8-10%.  Even though sales focuses on production, the only practical way I have found to determine performance bonuses is on collections.  The money has to be in hand.

Quarterly consistency goal:  It is not uncommon for a salesperson to “take a breath” when they have had a great month.  “Taking a breath” should be for holidays or their own free time.  Here is how a quarterly consistency goal works:  With the 100K per month as the quota, suppose you end up with 320K in collections at the end of the quarter.  You would receive an added bonus based on the 20K that exceeded your quota.  Normally this bonus would be around 8% of that 20K

Annual bonus:  An annual bonus is an added kicker for consistency.  If we take 12 x 100K, we get $1.2 million.  Any amount over $1.2 million would translate to a year end bonus.  (Usually around 1%)

Team incentives:  I find that team incentives can make a big difference in sense of urgency and synergy.  These are usually done in four month segments.  For example, the first one of the year would go through April 30th.  If the specific goal has been reached, you have a team outing – like going to Dave & Busters or Blue Man Group.  This can give the team a cause to celebrate.  It is also important to have a sales meeting the next day, so that we don’t lose any momentum.  That meeting would be well-planned, and would include the nest “summit” and the reward for its achievement.

Visibility:  The current goal should in “in your face” on a white board or a flip chart with names and stats.  There can also be aggressive email communication to support the chart.  Every time you get a win on the board, it makes headlines.  This sounds a little zany, but that is typical of teams that go for the championships.

Go for it!

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