When companies focus on coaching their top and bottom performers, they actually miss out on the full potential of their sales force: the mid-range performers.

Even world-class coaching can have a marginal impact on your weakest or strongest sales reps, according to the Harvard Business Review.

Your mid-range performers are the middle 60 percent of your sales team. They have the will to succeed; they need help refining their skills to deliver more. Research shows you can improve sales performance by 19 percent with effective coaching for the middle 60 percent.

Will + skill = peak sales performance.

Here are three ways to make this equation work for you:

1. Collaborate 1:1 and face-to-face

At least once a week, sit down with each rep individually. Discuss ongoing deals and important accounts. Share practices from your top performers.

Most reps can’t identify their own areas of weakness, so identify their strengths and weaknesses together. Review a rep’s recent progress, and plan for the coming week. Create a plan to get her on track for better sales. Provide her with the resources and availability that she needs to succeed.

2. Set achievable goals together

Use what you discover in these 1:1 meetings to set quantifiable goals for each sales rep. Be specific. Be realistic. Reach agreement. Reps need to accept responsibility for their progress, so buy-in is critical.

3. Select the right sales metrics

Sales reps sell to their incentive compensation plans, so make sure your incorporate these quantifiable goals into your sales compensation strategy. This means choosing the right metrics.

Use only the metrics that matter most, generally no more than three to four. Using too many metrics can position your compensation plan for failure. Check out these actionable ways to get your sales performance metrics right.

Conclusion

It all boils down to quality. Quality time, quality plans.

In my next post, I’ll share three more ways I’ve seen reps become motivated to outperform themselves.

Please share your insights and experiences below.