Build a Minor Leagues System for Sales Reps

Continuing with yesterday’s post on Sales Rep Training Programs for Startups, it’s also important to build a farm system where you can nurture and train junior outbound cold callers (business development reps) into polished senior account executives. I like to think of this as a minor leagues system whereby reps have an automatic promotion to the next level based on results, not timelines.

Here’s an example minor leagues farm system progression for sales reps:

• Try outs – Business development rep that does outbound calling and sets appointments — makes the team once a certain number of appointments have been completed
• Single A – Account executive with entry-level salary and quota while continuing to refine the skills and working towards a goal (e.g. $3M in bookings or $1M in annual recurring revenue)
• Double A – Nice salary, quota, and on target earnings increase with a new, incremental goal (e.g. additional $3M in bookings or $1M in annual recurring revenue)
• Triple A – Additional incremental bump in salary, quota, and on target earnings with a new sales target to reach the highest rank
• Major leagues – Senior account executive title for the most successful reps with the highest salary, quota, and on target earnings

As you can see, the model isn’t that complicated since it has a series of promotions based on results, often with the increase in quota making the increase in salary functionally equivalent financially for the company. Plus, junior people trying to get into sales like seeing a 5 – 10 year career path laid out in front of them that’s based on performance, and not time or seniority.

What else? What are your thoughts on building a minor leagues system for sales reps?