For Better Sales, Don’t Target Top or Bottom Performers; Move the Middle

When looking to improve sales performance, managers tend to focus on either the leaders or laggards. The logic is: if managers can “fix” those under-performers and/or manage to get even more from the top 15% percentile, they should be able to do much better. While that sounds good, in theory, it doesn’t work. An article in the Harvard Business Review, proved the opposite is true. If you want to move your sales performance, move the middle, not the top or bottom performers.

Looking at the numbers

Let’s say you manage a sales team of 100 employees. The bottom performers, about15% of the group, are each producing 10 productivity units a month. Your middle performers, 65% of the salesforce, produce 20 productivity units a month. Your top performers (20% of the workforce) produce 35 productivity units a month. Now let’s do the math:

• Bottom performers produce 150 productivity units/month
• Middle performers produce 1,300 productivity units/month
• Top Performers produce 700 productivity units/month

Here’s another angle:

• Your 15% bottom performers produce 7% of your performance;
• Your 60% middle performers produce 60% of your performance; and,
• your 20% top performers produce 33% of your performance.

Where is it best to focus? Most managers intuitively point to the bottom (“If only I can get them to 15 units a month”) or to top performers (“They’re doing so well. Can I get them to perform even better?”). The truth is getting the middle tier to take on the attributes of top performers is the best use of time and effort.

Marrying capabilities and motivation

To turn mid-level performers into top-level performers, two things need to be addressed – capabilities and motivation.

Such salespersons need to acquire new capabilities and receive guidance as to how they can be better at what they do. But, providing employees with better training but not addressing their potential motivation issues, can have an adverse, almost cannibalistic effect on the organization.

After their training commences and they have successfully  acquired new capabilities, many seek better terms and leave for competing companies. All too often, employers expend substantial resources to develop employees, only never to see a yield on that investment. What companies need to do is motivate their employees to remain on-board.

On the other hand, highly motivated employees who lack sufficient skills can also be disastrous for your organization. These kinds of workers do not execute at a high level and often create multiple “fires” which need to be put out by colleagues. Despite potentially being well-intentioned, these employees may be causing the organization more harm than good.

So, in order to achieve the desired transference of employees from the mid-level group to the top-level group, both motivation and capabilities need to be addressed at the same time. This is where gamification can (and does) have a significant role to play.

Using gamification to “move the middle”

With gamification, “high performance” can be translated from an abstract concept to a set of behaviors and activities which are the emblematic of high-performance employees. Using analytics, you can see exactly what makes high performers better than others. You can derive the knowledge, motivation, recognition and behavior that make up a high-performer.

Then, you can recreate “high-performing behavior” in other employees. Using narratives and games specifically designed for your organization, employees are encouraged to participate in various activities and behaviors. Over time, usually between 30 and 90 days, these will become their work-habits (we estimate the time it takes to form habits. They have the potential to transfer mid-level performers into the high performing category and have a substantial impact on your organization.

Imagine what would happen when instead of having 20% high performers, your salesforce has 30% high performers. This would mean a 7% jump in sales results.

Avoiding gamification design pitfalls

Gamification will only prove beneficial when done correctly. If you do not take the time to properly prepare and design your gamified solution, you may find yourself scratching your head attempting to understand why those benefits are nowhere to be found. Some, if not most, of these mistakes are easily avoidable.

First, it’s important to be willing to implement the program long-term. Too often organizations want to try out gamification mechanics for a short period of time. They do not understand creating a real shift in habits and in organizational culture takes time. One way to avoid this is to plan your organization’s strategy in a way that offers small, short-term benefits, in addition to the long-term benefits you are planning for the future.

Second, in some organizations change may be met with suspicion, if not outright hostility. It is important to be sincere and clear about the goals that you’re trying to achieve. We recommend marketing the process internally by naming it according to the goals it is set to achieve. Some examples we’ve seen used by organizations are “adoption processes,” “change journey,” and “change management.”

Most important, think of gamification as a new way to boost sales performance and, in the process,  manage it better. Done right, it helps salespeople by coaching them, providing guidance about desired behaviors, and creating intrinsic motivation by communicating to employees how their behavior matters to and for the organization.

For over a decade, Centrical has partnered with organizations across industries to help boost sales performance by engaging the middle. Learn more about how we can help your organization by requesting your personalized overview today.