Your top performers are watching how you handle the laggards

A founder called me last week. His revenue growth programme (Outgrow - it’s the best) had been running ten weeks.

The top of his sales team was on fire. New conversations. New opportunities. Customers being called for the first time in months.

But the numbers were uneven.

Some people were logging every day. Some were logging once a week. Some not at all.

He asked me what to do.

I asked one question.

“How many of your 22 customer-facing people are actually doing the work?”

He paused. Did the math.

“Maybe seven.”

About a third.

Three thirds.

Every team I’ve ever installed a growth or coaching system into looks the same.

Top third does the work. Picks up the phone. Asks the DYK questions. Logs every call. Follows up before Friday. Their numbers move.

Middle third drifts. Means well. Was on a customer call. Will catch up tomorrow. Implements when reminded. Stops when the reminder stops.

Bottom third doesn’t do the work. Says “my customers don’t want to be called.” Says “we already have great relationships.” Says the system is “not how we sell here.”

They are the loudest voice in the team meeting.

That is the trap.

The trap.

The founder was thinking about softening the cadence. Dropping the weekly logging. Letting the bottom third opt out of the daily calls.

To keep the peace.

I asked him what he wanted his sales team to look like in twelve months.

“Hitting our number.”

“No. What kind of people.”

“People doing the work.”

“Then why are you redesigning your system around the ones who aren’t?”

The room went quiet.

Same shape. Different room.

This is not just an Outgrow problem. This is every system any founder or leader has tried to install.

The bottom third of your team takes the most management time and moves the fewest numbers.

The bottom third tells you the new system is “too much.”

The bottom third books a meeting with you to explain why their territory is different.

You can build your business around them.

Or you can build it around the top third.

You cannot do both.

What I told him.

Three things.

One. Make the standard explicit. Write down what you expect every customer-facing person to do every day. The proactive calls. The DYK (Outgrow DYK) questions. The logged form. Most founders don’t, because it feels harsh. The cost of not writing it down is that everyone gets to interpret the standard differently.

Two. Tell them clearly. Sit each person down. “This is what doing the work looks like in this business now.” Most will surprise you. Some won’t.

Three. Move on quickly from the ones who won’t. Not in anger. Just quickly. Their seat is worth more than what they are putting into it.

The cost of not doing it.

He knew this. Moving people on felt like he was failing them.

So I gave him the line.

You are not failing the bottom third when you move on.

You are failing the top third every time you don’t.

The top third are watching to see whether you will protect the standard or dilute it.

Dilute it and they stop logging too. Quietly. You won’t notice until you look up one day and the system has died across the whole team.

That is not a sales operation. That is a complaint line.

What I am doing in my own work.

Same thing. Right now.

I am not extending advisory invitations to founders who book the call and “get busy” before the first session.

I would rather have ten clients doing the work than fifty looking at the system.

The bottom third can come back when they’re ready.

In the meantime, I am rebuilding and growing revenue with people who are ready to do the work.

That is the standard.

The number follows.

— Sid

Outgrow Certified Advisor

CEO, Outgrow LLC