How to Tell if a Sales Rep is an A Player

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In today’s Follow Up:

• A players vs B players 💰️ 

• Sales follow up tip of the day 🧠 

• Wild sales stories?

• Sales news around the internet 🗞️ 

• Sales jobs, job market & a meme 😂 

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The Difference Between A Players and B Players.

A players are sorta like good drivers… Everyone thinks they are one.

But if you’re an A player, and you’ve worked around B players, you know firsthand that there’s a difference.

It’s easy for managers and companies to say that they only hire A players, and even easier for sales reps to say that they are one. But with only 20% of the workforce considered A players, it’s impossible for everyone to be one.

So, how can you actually tell the difference between an A player, a B player, and even a C player?

Brad Jacobs has come up with the best formula to determine this.

Brad has done a lot in his career, including founding 5 different billion-dollar companies like Waste Management, United Rentals, and XPO. He’s learned a thing or two about hiring sales teams and spotting A players vs B players.

The formula starts with a scenario Brad says you need to think about.

Imagine a sales rep walks into your office and says ‘I quit’. They say there’s nothing you can do to stop them, and they’re taking another job with a competitor.

How do you react?

C Players

If your initial reaction is something like:

‘Great. I needed to get rid of you anyways.’ - You’ve got a C player.

On the flip side, if you’re an individual contributor, what would happen if you told your boss you quit? Would they be totally fine with it? If so, this may be a sign that they see you as a C player.

C players continuously have performance issues and should be let go as soon as they’re identified.

B Players

If your initial thought is:

‘That’s not ideal, but I can live with it’ - You’ve got a B player.

And on the flip side, if your boss would be bummed, but ultimately ok with you leaving, you’re likely seen as a B player.

Every team will have B players, and that’s ok. But when B players hold a leadership role, they’re likely to hire C players… and that’s when things go downhill.

A Players

Lastly, if your initial thought is:

‘Oh crap… we can’t afford to lose this person’ - You’ve got an A player.

And on the other hand, if your boss would do whatever they can (within reason) to keep you on the team, congratulations. You’re likely an A player.

Now, here’s the caveat.

Just because you might struggle selling a certain product and come across as a B player on one team, doesn’t mean you can’t be an A player on another.

There are countless stories of top reps leaving a team for a hot new opportunity, only to come back for their old job when they realize the new role wasn’t a good fit.

But if you’re building a sales organization, always remember the golden rule:

A players only like working with other A players. If you hire a B player, they’ll hire C players.. and when you have a team full of B and C players, you’ll lose all of your A players.

That’s enough alphabet letters for today.

Wild Sales Stories 👀 
(We want to hear from you!)

Do you have a crazy sales story?

A time when you:

• Failed miserably

• Landed a big deal

• Or did something so outlandish, you can’t believe you’re still employed?

We want to hear about it!

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*Note, sales stories will be published in The Follow Up anonymously unless otherwise agreed upon.*

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Sales Around The Web 🗞️ 

📈 When revenue goes flat, most CEOs want to hire expensive sales reps, when they actually need a sales system that scales.

📞 The Harvard Business Review breaks down the best way to structure customer service calls for more sales.

🤖 New research from Salesforce shows that 77% of workers will trust fully AI-powered coworkers in the near future.

👀 Sales reps discuss the best industries to sell in, besides SaaS or tech sales.

Checking In On The Job Market

Bed made & devet cover = $10K bonus. 🤔 

Sales Meme of the Day