Plan recognition and growth that fits each person on your team.
Managers often reward a salesperson in the way they would want to be rewarded themselves. They also tend to plan that person's future as a promotion into management. Both habits miss when the person wants something different, and people differ a lot in how they like to be recognised and how they want to grow.
Take a manager who wants to mark a rep's excellent quarter. At the team dinner, the manager calls the rep up and hands over a small trophy while everyone claps. The rep smiles, sits down quickly and looks uncomfortable for the rest of the evening. The following week the manager learns that the rep hates being singled out in public and would have preferred the Friday afternoon off.
Recognition only works if it lands the way the person wants it to. The same applies to growth. A promotion path that excites one rep can feel like a threat to another.
These are the main kinds of recognition people value:
Public praise in the team meeting. A private word or a short note, for people who find public praise embarrassing. Money, through a bonus or a better account. Time, such as an afternoon off after a hard month. New responsibility, such as leading a project or being trusted with a bigger client.
You can't reliably guess which of these a person values. People often assume others want what they themselves want. The fix is to ask each person in a one-to-one what kind of recognition they actually value when they have done something well. Write the answer in their file and use it.
Wei Ming, a sales manager, asked everyone on the team. Aisha, a senior seller, wants larger accounts and does not care about public praise. Mei Ling wants a private thank-you and the occasional afternoon off. Raj likes being mentioned in the team meeting, because he had felt behind for months. Hui Min, the newest team member, said she was not sure yet how she likes to be recognised, which is a fair answer for someone new. Wei Ming wrote each answer in that person's file.
Recognition does not need to be large to matter. It does need to be specific, as Lesson 9.1, Culture is what you tolerate, shows. It also needs to come soon after the thing it recognises. A thank-you three months late tells the person you were not paying attention at the time.
Some recognition needs approval. Before you promise anything that has a cost, such as time off or a bonus, check what your company allows. An unkept promise does more harm than no promise at all.
Sales careers do not have to lead only to management. Many teams have, or could have, three broad paths. A senior seller handles larger or more complex accounts and carries a higher quota. A specialist becomes the expert in a product, an industry or a stage of the sales process, for example a solutions consultant who runs demonstrations for the whole team. A manager leads people, which is the path you took.
Write each path down so your team can see it. For each one, note what the next step involves, what skills it needs, and roughly how someone would show they are ready. If your company has no formal paths, describe what is possible informally and be honest about what is not possible.
Some people don't want to move up, and wanting to stay in your current role and get better at it is a valid goal. For someone staying in role, growth might mean mastering a harder type of deal or learning a skill such as negotiating with procurement teams.
Letting people teach others is one of the most useful growth steps you can offer, and it costs almost nothing. You could ask a senior rep to buddy a new hire, as Aisha did with Hui Min in Lesson 3.4, Build a 90-day onboarding plan. You could ask someone to run a short session in the team meeting on something they do well. You could invite a rep to score candidates with you in a hiring round, as Daniel did with Wei Ming in Lesson 2.4, Run a mock hiring round.
Teaching builds skill, because explaining how you sell makes you understand it better. Coaching is the core skill of the management path, so it gives anyone heading that way direct practice. Teaching also builds loyalty, since people tend to value a team where they are trusted and are visibly learning.
Coaching takes time, and that time should count. If coaching a new hire costs a rep several hours a month, reflect that when you judge their month, or agree with your own manager how it will be credited.
Every six months, sit down with each person and write a short growth note together. It records the person's goal, the next step towards it, two specific actions for the next six months, and what you will do to help. Keep it to half a page. Most of its value comes from the conversation and from having the agreement written down, so that six months later you can both look back at what was agreed and whether it happened.
Base the goal on what the person has told you, in a stay interview or a one-to-one. Don't base it on what you assume they want.
Daniel, on Wei Ming's team, wants to manage one day. His growth note sets the goal of becoming a team lead within two to three years. The next step is to build coaching experience. His first action is to buddy Hui Min from month four of her ramp, with a fortnightly check-in with Wei Ming on how it is going. His second action is to run two team-meeting sessions on handling finance directors. As the manager's part, Wei Ming will ask about a team lead role at the next planning round and share the answer with Daniel.
Aisha's note would look different, because she wants to stay a seller with bigger clients and has no wish to manage. Daniel is on the management path and Aisha is on the senior seller path, and each of them deserves a plan.
In the activity below, you will draft a growth note for one team member. Base the goal on what that person has told you, in a stay interview or a one-to-one, and not on what you assume they want.
Draft a growth note for one person on your team, with their goal, their next step and two actions for the next six months.
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