Using Top-Producer Analysis to Improve Sales Results

Using Top-Producer Analysis to
Improve Sales Results
Mike Kunkle
Session TU218
.
Tue, May 24 | 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM | 702/704
The Premier Conference for TD Professionals
Come see us at Booth #858

Some Housekeeping
• Join the social circus!
– @Mike_Kunkle
– @Brainshark
– Hashtags: #TopProdAnalysis #atd2016
• SlideShare: http://bit.ly/mkatd2016
• Breaking rules: Deck is a resource
• Feel free to ask questions
• Award-winning Brainshark solutions
for improving sales readiness at
booth #858.
Using Top-Producer Analysis to Improve Sales Results – Mike Kunkle 2016 2

Agenda
• What is Top-Producer Analysis?
• Why do it?
• How to do it?
• What to do with it?

“Advice about how to figure out what’s
right for you, is better than advice
about what to do.”
~ Mike Kunkle
Hey, that’s me!
Final thought before we get started…

5
Top-Producer Analysis
What Is It?

What is Top-Producer Analysis (TPA)?
• Defining “top sales producer”
• Defining “Top-Producer Analysis”
• How bad practice has undermined “best practices”
• The 5 Mistakes to avoid during TPA
• Some context – where TPA fits.

Defining “Top Sales Producer”
My definition:
• A sales rep who has an acceptable blend of
the results, mindset, traits, knowledge, skills,
and behaviors that you want to replicate in
your sales force.
Consider:
• How the top 4% & 16% are different
• What criteria/KPIs/results matter most for the
future?
• Is the rep truly responsible for their results?
• Is what the rep does, replicable, repeatable
and trainable?
• Ask sales leadership to identify study
participants but validate with data.
Top 4%
Bottom 20%
Top 4%
Rest of Top 20%
(16%)
Middle 60%
Above Average
Below Average
Average
Bottom 20%
7Using Top-Producer Analysis to Improve Sales Results – Mike Kunkle 2016

Defining “Top-Producer Analysis”
My definition:
• A study to determine the (mindset, traits,)
knowledge, skills, and behaviors that top-
producers possess, that differentiate them
from other sales reps.
Consider:
• Are you doing this for selection, training, or
both?
• Do you have enough participants for study
reliability and validity?
• Should you focus on the top 4% or the rest of
the top 20%? Or both?
• Do you have the ability to analyze/crunch
data or a resource who can?
Top 4%
Bottom 20%
Top 4%
Rest of Top 20%
(16%)
Middle 60%
Above Average
Below Average
Average
Bottom 20%

Best Practices vs. Top-Producer Practices
Some common concerns on “best”…
• “Best practices aren’t really ‘best’… they’re just good practices.”
• “Who determines whether something is best or not? Isn’t that
immediately invalid?”
• “I’ve never seen a best practices study amount to anything.”
• “I tried that at a previous company and it was a waste of time.” *
* Grrr…

Best Practices vs. Top-Producer Practices
Why TPS is better than “best”
• Sales Utility Belt concept
• Sales Nuance is the new black
• Judgment is the superpower of selling skills.
Sales Judgment: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140816235048-834966-judgment-the-superpower-of-selling-skills
Sales Nuance: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-sales-nuances-why-you-should-care-mike-kunkle

The 5 Mistakes of TPA
• Mistake 1: Studying the wrong “top reps” and therefore,
cloning the wrong behaviors
• Mistake 2: Ignoring differentiators, compared to average
producers (continue | stop | start)
• Mistake 3: Leaving out the Voice of the Customer
• Mistake 4: Forgetting “what to STOP doing”
• Mistake 5: Implementing the resulting training ineffectively.

Sales
Performer
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Selection
Performance
Lever
Identification
Top-Producer
Practice
Capture &
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Training
Performance
Lever
Alignment
http://www.slideshare.net/MikeKunkle/aligning-performance-levers-for-breakthrough-sales-results-082011
How TPA Fits
Sales Performance Levers
• 6-Project Series
Performance Levers:
• Critical competencies,
knowledge, skills, behaviors
and conditions which must be
present for ethical, sustained,
high-performance to occur.

Sales
Performer
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Selection
Performance
Lever
Identification
Top-Producer
Practice
Capture &
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Training
Performance
Lever
Alignment
How TPA Fits
Sales Performance Levers
• 6-Project Series
Performance Levers:
• Critical competencies,
knowledge, skills, behaviors
and conditions which must be
present for ethical, sustained,
high-performance to occur.

14
Why Do It?

Why Bother with TPA?
Primary Reasons
• More effective sales onboarding
• Better business outcomes
• The mythical and elusive Sales Training ROI.
Sales onboarding: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141006015758-834966-sales-onboarding-twice-as-good-half-the-time

Why Bother? The Outcomes | Bottom-line Results
Yup, Real Examples:
• A $398MM revenue increase, $9.96MM net profit increase and a 400% ROI
• Increased sales/rep by 47% through changes in territory management &
sales coaching
• Improved average profitability/rep by 11% in 4 months
• Improved processing efficiency (order pull-through) by 16% in 6 months.
• Newly-hired 4-month employees outperformed a control group of 5-year
employees
• Increased sales/rep in the 3-months after training by 2.3 per month (average
revenue increase of $183K per class or $36.6MM in 12 months).

Why Bother with TPA?
Value-Added Reasons:
• Improved relationship/credibility with Sales
• Land and expand strategy
• Buy-in for initiatives
• Helps at budget time
• Career impacts.

How To Do It?

19
Sales
Performer
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Selection
Performance
Lever
Identification
Top-Producer
Practice
Capture &
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Training
Performance
Lever
Alignment

Sales Performer Analysis
Who to Study
• What is my performance criteria?
• What are my performer categories?
• Who is in which buckets?
• WHAT:
‒ Identify top, average & low
producing sales reps.
‒ Identify top, average & low
producing sales managers.
• HOW:
‒ Analyze a year of sales data &
create a weighted scoring system
across multiple metrics/products.
‒ Some discussion & surveys with
managers.
• WHY:
‒ Provides a mix of performers to
study in various ways, to determine
true differentiating factors.

Example of Sales Metrics / Performance Criteria
Metrics Quarterly Weighting *
Create a weighted scoring system…
# of Sales Med-High (2-3)
$ Volume Low (1)
Velocity Med (1-2)
Avg # Sales/Rep High (3-4)
Avg $ Vol/Rep Med-High (2-3)
Cross-Sell Percent Med (1-2)
* Review the last 12 months & the last quarter. Consider weighting the quarter more heavily. Blend the scores.

Example of Performer Categories
Top New Reps
New = >30 days, <271 days
39
Top = In the Top Quintile of all metrics
Top Seasoned Reps
Seasoned = >365 days (many 5+ years)
307
Top = In the Top Quintile of all metrics
Average Reps Selected randomly, between mean and median production 298
Low Producer Reps Selected randomly from the bottom 20% 348
Top SM Producers Top = In the Top Quintile of all metrics, personal production 15
Top SM Team
Managers
Top = Top Quintile all metrics, w/o SM results + survey of their Mgr 52
Top SM Both
Top = In Top Producer group personally + Top Quintile all metrics w/o SM
results + survey of their Mgr
5
Average SM (Team) Selected randomly, between mean and median production 79
Low Performing SM
(Team)
Selected randomly from the bottom 20% 32
Often “top” includes tiers:
4% | 10% | 15% | 20%
n =

Example of Analysis – Sales Reps
Low
High
4th Quartile
Mean Avg.
Median
Sort Descending
Highlight 4th Quartile
Apply Weighting
Repeat & Total
Highlight 4th Quartile

Consider things like:
• Avg Productivity
‒ Avg # and $/rep/time period
• Engagement: % of team
producing and/or goal %/rep
• Total Team Sales: $ and #
• Avg Time to 1st Sale (new reps)
• Avg Time to productivity (new)
• Pipeline Stats:
‒ Conversion %
‒ Velocity
• Cross-sell Ratios or Penetration
• Trend Indicators (actual # last
month, avg/month over 13
weeks, avg/month past year)
• Survey Their Managers
‒ Remove the “luck” factor
‒ Remove “inherited territory”
‒ Remove “one great rep.”
Example of Analysis – Sales Managers

Data Crunch
Partner with smart people with stats
software to crunch data

26
Sales
Performer
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Selection
Performance
Lever
Identification
Top-Producer
Practice
Capture &
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Training
Performance
Lever
Alignment

• WHAT:
‒ Identify the competencies, knowledge, skills,
behaviors and conditions that must exist for
ethical, sustained, high performance to occur.
‒ Formulate hypotheses about what the levers
are for frontline sales and sales management
roles.
‒ Confirm and validate the levers through
research.
• HOW:
Through discussion, surveys, interviews,
focus groups, and observation of frontline
sales reps and their managers.
• WHY:
This will confirm where to focus your efforts
capturing Top-Producer Practices, which
provides training/coaching content.
Performance Lever ID
What to Study
• What are the Performance Levers?
• What’s working?
• Why?
• How will you figure it out?
REMINDER: Performance Levers…
• Critical competencies, knowledge, skills, behaviors and conditions which must be present
for ethical, sustained, high-performance to occur.

Formulating the Hypotheses
• Start with known practices
• Talk with:
– Executives
– Other leaders
– Frontline sales reps
– Frontline sales managers
– Sales operations, enablement, and other sales
support staff
– And, hopefully, customers
• Label the big buckets and detail the tasks
• Don’t get married – you’re just dating
• Build surveys to confirm the hypotheses.

Identify the high-level
Performance Levers (hypotheses)
Document the potential tasks for
the Performance Lever
Ask what you’ve missed
Survey Design

Survey Design
Clearly define Performance Lever
Define the role
Add instructions for
completing the survey

Survey Design
• Rate the statement provided.
• How much do you agree it’s a
Performance Lever?
• If rated 1-2, next question.
• If rated 3-5:
• Importance & Difficulty
• And in some cases:
• Frequency: Actual & Should
• In addition, you should ask what you missed, by Lever, and a handful of other
questions – such as normal demographics & Continue | Start | Stop.
Using empathy statements to acknowledge a prospect’s situation/feelings
Survey Design

Look familiar?
Partner with smart people with stats
software to crunch data

33
Sales
Performer
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Selection
Performance
Lever
Identification
Top-Producer
Practice
Capture &
Analysis
Sales & Sales
Manager
Training
Performance
Lever
Alignment

TPA: Capture & Analysis
How to Study Them
• What separates the top from
others?
• What is replicable/trainable?
• How will I determine both?
• WHAT:
Document the practices and
differentiating behaviors of top
performers, which can be replicated and
trained.
• HOW:
Through discussion, interviews, focus
groups and observation of the frontline
sales reps and managers identified
during Sales Performer Analysis.
• WHY:
To share practices broadly and
(re)design training around them.

Data Collection Methods
• Interviews
– In-person, phone, web conference
• Focus Groups
– In-person, webinar
• Field Observation
– top performers (A)
– average (B+, B, B-)
– ninth decile (C/D, not new)
– top new reps (great ramp-up)
Getting the Straight Scoop
• What really happens “out there”
• Account for the Hawthorne effect
• Trust, truth and strict confidentiality
• Autonomy, mastery and purpose *
* Thank you, Daniel Pink (author of Drive)

36
What To Do With It?

Now what?
How TPA feeds your…
• Effective Selling Systems
• Effective Learning Systems

Effective Selling System
• Ensure market and buyer persona
knowledge
• Align sales process to buying
process with decision/exit criteria
• Create buyer engagement content
that aligns with decision/exit criteria
• Use sales enablement tools to
manage, share, and track content
and improve sales efficiency and
effectiveness
• Use a buyer-oriented, consultative,
solution-focused, outcome-driven
sales methodology
• Train reps to engage buyers in
valuable business conversations and
to create real value and
differentiation, through their
customer, business, financial, and
solution acumen
• Use analytics to track training,
content, sales behavior, and
outcomes
Effective Learning System
Analytics
Buyer Personas
Buying Process &
Exit Criteria
Buyer Engagement
Content Creation
Sales Process &
Methodology
Sales Enablement
Technology
Market &
Business Acumen

Effective Selling System
• Ensure market and buyer persona
knowledge
• Align sales process to buying
process with decision/exit criteria
• Create buyer engagement content
that aligns with decision/exit criteria
• Use sales enablement tools to
manage, share, and track content
and improve sales efficiency and
effectiveness
• Use a buyer-oriented, consultative,
solution-focused, outcome-driven
sales methodology
• Train reps to engage buyers in
valuable business conversations and
to create real value and
differentiation, through their
customer, business, financial, and
solution acumen
• Use analytics to track training,
content, sales behavior, and
outcomes
Analytics
Buyer Personas
Buying Process &
Exit Criteria
Buyer Engagement
Content Creation
Sales Process &
Methodology
Sales Enablement
Technology
Market &
Business Acumen

• Ensure training content matters
• Design great learning (active,
blended/flipped learning)
• Engage sales managers
• Sustain knowledge/transfer skills
• Coach to mastery
• Measure learning and
performance
• Manage performance
• Lead and manage change
Training
Content
Design
Managers
Transfer
Coaching
Measures
Perf. Mgt.
Integration
Alignment
Change
http://www.mikekunkle.com/2014/07/30/stop-wasting-money-on-sales-training/

Using Top-Producer Analysis to Improve Sales Results – Mike Kunkle 2016
Mike is a training and organization effectiveness
leader with special expertise in sales force
transformation
• After his initial years on the frontline in sales and sales
management, he spent the next 21 years as a corporate
manager or consultant, leading departments and projects
with one purpose – improve sales results.
• Today, in his role at Brainshark, Mike uses his in expertise
in best-in-class learning strategies, methods, processes,
and change leadership to develop the capabilities of sales
representatives and sales managers to drive business
results.
• Mike freely shares his own sales transformation
methodology, speaking at conferences and writing online
(see examples) and can be reached on various social
media sites.
• LinkedIn
• Twitter
• Google+
• SlideShare
Let’s
Connect!
About Mike Kunkle
43

About
Brainshark is a leading sales enablement company that helps businesses harness the power of
content to drive sales productivity.
With Brainshark, companies can:
• TRAIN: Prepare sales teams with on-demand training that accelerates onboarding and keeps
existing reps up-to-speed and in-the-know
• COACH: Hone performance with sales coaching that ensures reps make the most of every
buyer interaction
• ENGAGE: Empower salespeople with dynamic content that can be created quickly, imported
easily and accessed anywhere
• arm reps with the right content and resources for any selling situation to better engage buyers
and close more deals.
• ANALYZE: Brainshark analytics enable organizations to track sales content effectiveness and
make smarter decisions that drive results.
Thousands of companies – including more than half of the Fortune 100 – rely on Brainshark to
improve sales productivity and increase the impact of their sales, marketing, and training. Learn
more at www.brainshark.com

Links
Throughout this deck:
• This deck on SlideShare: http://bit.ly/mkatd2016
• Sales Nuances: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-sales-nuances-why-you-should-care-mike-kunkle
• Sales Judgment: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140816235048-834966-judgment-the-superpower-of-selling-skills
• Aligning Performance Levers: http://www.slideshare.net/MikeKunkle/aligning-performance-levers-for-breakthrough-sales-
results-082011
• Sales Onboarding: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141006015758-834966-sales-onboarding-twice-as-good-half-the-time
• Hawthorne Effect: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawthorne_effect
• Drive (Dan Pink’s book): http://www.danpink.com/drive
• Effective Learning Systems: http://www.mikekunkle.com/2014/07/30/stop-wasting-money-on-sales-training/
About Top-Producer Analysis:
• http://www.mikekunkle.com/2013/03/17/how-to-increase-sales-with-top-producer-practices-part1/
• http://www.mikekunkle.com/2013/03/20/how-to-increase-sales-with-top-producer-research-part-2/
• http://blogs.richardson.com/2013/08/05/which-top-producers-should-you-study-to-develop-sales-training-programs/
• http://www.insightsquared.com/2015/08/performance-lever-sales-ops/
• http://blog.hubspot.com/sales/sales-methodology-magic-or-madness
• https://www.td.org/Publications/Blogs/Sales-Enablement-Blog/2014/04/Improve-Sales-Performance-with-22Nd-Century-Selling-
Skills

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