Interesting questions… IMO all sales people are not created equal. What I mean by that is, a hunter and farmer are very different animals, therefore, the measurement on what makes an A, B, and C player will be different as they require different skill sets.
IMO, a hunter CAN play a farmer, but a farmer CAN’T play a hunter.
So a HUNTER who hits there number every year, but maybe not at 200% of plan could be more valuable than a FARMER who achieves 200%.
Generally speaking, I look to hire people who are at the top of their game for the role I am looking to hire for the company size I am working for, and for someone who can add to the team. So, without digging into the details
(1) an A player is someone who regularly hits their number, willing to take on challenges, and willing to help others and themselves.
(2) a B player is someone who may fall just short of their number (~90th percentile), coachable, will not back away from a challenge, and will contribute to help others elevate their game.
(3) a C player, I have found is someone who lacks drive, ambition, not coachable, and will not put the time in.
Everyone want the A player, but they are super hard to find. A true sales leader will help make a B player and A player.
I think this is a GREAT question. IMO and in my experience, I’ve seen “Sales” people hit their quotas and go to President’s Club, and I still wouldn’t necessarily call them an “A-player in sales”.
Some say sales is a “Numbers game”. Others say “It’s timing and luck”. I like to think that “A-players in sales” are individuals who know how to build lasting relationships, based on trust and mutual respect. An A-player in sales is someone who knows how to understand their customer’s business and their business challenges and can appreciate their pain and their sense of urgency and their case for change.
They also understand where their customer’s rank with their self-named peers and competitors. They take a holistic view of their client’s business and the industry they’re in, to identify what’s BEST for the customer.
I recently heard a sales “Leader” say that we need to have “Leverage” over the customer. I understand where the comment come from: We definitely don’t want to “Give away the store” but who wants to be in a relationship where one person has “Leverage” over another? Sales should be built on mutual respect and mutual benefits. This has worked for me for well over two decades and I have tons of former clients who I continue to stay in touch with.
Also, an A-player in sales also knows how to leverage their own internal, extended Team for the company they represent. A-players are a direct reflection of their company and their Leadership. A-players know how to leverage the strength of their Team and also recognizes areas of weakness, so that they can coach and mentor the members of the “Squad”, similar to what a quarterback does in American Football. An A-player in sales can come to the “Line of scrimmage” and call plays from the “Playbook” or they can adjust and adapt, and make an “Audible call” on the fly.
This to me is an “A-player in sales”, not just someone who hits their quotas or goes to President’s Club. That’s just my opinion.
A players are people who go beyond the norm for their customers (not talking discounts) and have long-term cherished relationships. I had a customer tell me he looks forward to our calls because it’s like going to therapy. I help him to calm down and examine his challenges and brainstorm on ways to solve the problems. Is that going beyond the norm or doing your job?
“A” players aren’t only defined by their individual performance, however they always over perform on what is required of them. Additionally, “A” players are team players that lift the team(s) around them. They support their peers in their efforts, share best practices, and also provide coaching and mentoring for junior members of the organization without asking for anything in return. A true “A” player is humble and prefers to share the credit for their success with the larger team around them.
Judging the scale of the person by their quota achievement alone isn’t an effective way to build a team.
A great question. Numbers can often demonstrate a track record + consistency in overachievement. With that said, the values of “winning as a team” truly differentiate those who can over acheive on their own vs those who can help to replicate such for others hoping to develop. A 200% + attainment at face value is great but some questions to consider are “how are you engaging with customers to drive value?” “can you trust your champion to truly help you engage with other teams?” and “how well can you develop human connections that in result in business outcomes for customers”.
To this day, I find that taking a “problem-solving” approach and being passionate about 1. what you sell 2. the problems you help resolve with your service/product will help to maintain a consistent track record of success.
There’s a few ways to look at this… when you consider the numbers, according to RepVue, the industry average quota attainment in 2022 was 48.3% - not sure about the sample size, but adding for reference: What companies have the highest quota attainment? | RepVue
Anything where over half of people fail to achieve something, is by definition very difficult. The people that find a way to consistently do that, and overperform, are statistical outliers.
I think you also need to look at the sales org bigger picture… Do they help the team get better? Are they continually looking at ways to improve processes? Do they take initiative to speak with product and share their experience in the field about what customers are asking for? Do they come up with solutions based on challenges they are coming up against?
Agree with most of @greg.nishihira’s points, especially that a great sales leader and/or sales culture can develop B players into A players. It’s all about continuous learning, adapting, and to @steven.schneiderman’s point, it’s also about playing the long-game and developing lasting relationships by having integrity and the customer’s best interests in mind.
I finished FY23 in the low 90’s and was very disappointed but customers stopped pursuing projects due to finances – not because they didn’t like what I offered. This is out of my control. Doesn’t make me any less of an A player. And that’s part of the science of sales, understanding what you can control and what lies outside your control. You do what you can. Sometimes 90% is 100% as it was compared to my peers last year.
A-players are confident and have a grasp of their business and customers. They do the right things and know what they can control and what they can’t. Results are a product of so many variables, including those that you can’t control, I’ll not hold just that alone.
Ranking sales in any order is ‘risky’ business, and does not come down to quota achievement alone. One aspect is the theory of high performance sales teams (not sales people). Looking at other replies here, this is clearly a shared view. You don’t want a lone wolf or bully in your sales team - even if they achieve 200% of quota. Such a person will poison the culture and lead to overall performance drop and attrition. So broaden the lens, include the softer skills of EQ and ability to solve problems, work with others, motivate and lead virtual teams, etc.
Thanks everyone for all the responses and discussion here on unpacking the A-player definition. There are clearly nuances to hunters and farmers as @greg.nishihira identifies and then there is a lot more to sales than just hitting quota attainment as most of the group here are identifying.
It’s clearer to me now that when Sales Leaders often refer to A- or B-players their definition won’t always be consistent. Also, the definition has many facets that go beyond raw numbers and include the ability to build relationships, trust and collaborate with a full sales team.
It seems that a good next step would be for sellers to ask their CRO or Sales Ops leader to give their definition. Getting leadership clarity for upcoming performance reviews, especially for areas that go beyond the commission plan, is important to know how to win with customers while developing your career.
It’s always great to exceed your number. Anyone in sales knows that some years, you may get what looks like an arbitrary number, especially if you had great results the year before. The more impactful way to measure a great salesperson -
Did they grow their current business
Are they building trust with their customers
Were they able to bring new customers and or departments on board
Are they willing to give of themselves to the company and their team, mentoring, etc?
It is about consistancy more than about annual perfomance. When a seller is asked by the customer for information what is going on in his/her own company, that is when you have an A player.