20/60/20 Rule and Time Management

Author: Charlie Johnson, Consultant-Leadership Practice

We all know the concepts that you get 80% of your business from 20% of your customers.  The same rule often applies to sales teams.  Every sales team member falls in one of three categories.

20% of your sales people are top performers- These top performers can operate with or without a manager and will use their manager as necessary to guarantee their success.  Most of these people are career sales people, self-reliant and capable of achieving success through their own efforts which includes relationship building, being customer centric and creating loyalty from their accounts.  Generally this top performing group doesn’t need call sheets and other tools they are given, they have them already.

60% of your people are either new or low in tenure, learners- These are either new hires, potential top 20%ers, or a potential turnover.  They are the ones who truly need a manager, leader and coach.  Their future is up to the involvement of the manager who is responsible for their development.  If their manager doesn’t provide the developmental tools they will look to their peers in the top 20% to get the answers to their problems.

20% of your sales people are heading toward resignation or termination- Thispart of a sales team are bad hires, turnovers in waiting, and a drain on the team and the energy of their manager.  New managers are always trying to save these people, because they are nice people but not good sales people.

Great coaches make tough decisions. Who do I keep on the team and who do I cut?  In many instances members of the bottom 20% are turnovers in process, they will either resign or be terminated.  This problem is amplified because people quit working about six months before they resign. They are spending their time finding a new job, not selling or servicing their customers.  That is why the coach needs to make a quick decision on who to keep and who to let go.

That assessment can only be made by spending your time in the field with each rep.  No matter what anyone tells you, what you see is the best they have.  Nobody purposely screws up in front of his boss.  Meetings cancel, but good people have high outcome activities to rely upon when something does cancel.   People in the lower 20% are the ones that have late meetings and long lunches.  People in the top 20% will leave you exhausted and starving.

The 20/60/20 rule has been part of the problem for many of the people and companies that I have worked with.  We spend too much time on whether they are “good guys” versus whether or not they are performing up to their potential and maximizing our company’s sales results.

It is not sensible or explainable, but people you like get mulligans that people you don’t like don’t.  We often hang on to low performers because we like them personally and make excuses for them.  It starts in the hiring process and proceeds throughout their careers.

Another aspect of successful management is comparing your priorities to the time spent on three key activities:

• Developing your sales people
• Meeting with key customers or working on projects.
• Doing administrative activities.

When we chart these three this is what we often find.

You can do your own math on this to see if you are spending your time on the right activities or are you caught in the trap of spending too much time not developing your people.

Story Time:

A new Regional Manager with 7 people in his region was constantly bragging about Al (fictitious name), and complaining about Tom (fictitious name).  When I worked in the field with this manager we spent one day with Al and the second day with Tom.  What I observed is both sales people had identical days.  We went to two hospitals each day, had a case, met with the materials manager and OR director, had a long lunch, and made some friendly doctor calls in the afternoon.

During our post visit review, the manager continued to tell me what a horrible day Tom had and what a good day Al had.  I shared with him that both days were very similar, but because he liked Al he saw it as a good day, and Tom had a bad day.  I pointed out that his feelings for both people was affecting his objectivity and we built an objective measuring tool based on standard and model day activities, rather than personal feeling.  The manager went on to be promoted several years later and now runs his own company.

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