- April 24, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
It’s been several months since I wrote a new installment of my ongoing series, The Biblical Sales Force, where I discuss the similarities between the Bible and the sales team. For newcomers to the series, the previous installments are:
Part 1 – Hiring and Firing
Part 2 – On Boarding and Coaching Salespeople
Part 3 – Numbers: Metrics and KPIs
Part 4 – Accountability
In part 5 it’s all about Consequences.
Deuteronomy is the 6th chapter of the Old Testament where God shares his commandments, doctrines, declarations, ordinances and statutes with Moses. Most people are familiar with the Ten Commandments but God didn’t stop there. In Deuteronomy, God commanded Moses to share dozens of laws. God had a big plan for the Israelites and His laws were a major part of that plan.
Most companies have plans – business plans – which lay out the short and long-term goals. In order to achieve the desired outcome, the sales team must follow Sales Leadership’s strategic plan, which includes specific critical requirements (laws) that must be met.
When comparing the laws in Deuteronomy with the requirements in a strategic plan, one thing stands out as a major differentiator. God had consequences and Sales Teams typically lack those consequences. God’s consequence for committing some of the crimes was getting stoned to Death (termination), while Sales Leadership’s consequence for failing to carry out the strategic plan is to ignore the crime. Possible Death versus living to Sell Another Day. Let’s look at eight examples each from the Bible and compare those with eight from the Sales Team.
Crimes In the Bible That Were Punishable by Death:
- Cursing your parents
- Incorrigible rebelliousness
- Violating the Sabbath
- Cursing God
- Adultery
- Homosexuality
- Pre-Marital Sex
- Being a witch, sorcerer, wizard, or medium
Crimes at Companies Where Excuses are Made and Accepted:
- Failure to fill the pipeline
- Failure to close a forecasted sale
- Failure to hit the forecast
- Failure to meet quota
- Failure to hire productive new salespeople
- Failure to retain a top account
- Failure to meet KPI’s
- Failure to fully Qualify an opportunity
What do you suppose would occur if sales leaders imposed real consequences?
One sales leader contemplated this very question and went through the possibilities in his mind.
He thought that he could say, “I want you to know that effective Monday, booking five new meetings per week will be a condition for continued employment at Participation Trophies Unlimited.”
In a normal week, two of his eight salespeople will book two meetings each. He wondered what would change and he guessed that by the end of the following week, three of his eight salespeople would book five meetings each, three would book three meetings each, and two would still fail to book any new meetings. He was thrilled that the team could book 24 new meetings, 20 more than usual, however, following through with consequences would require him to terminate all but three of his salespeople, leaving him between a rock and a hard place.
After thinking it through, he decided that the consequences, while delivering pipeline growth of 5x/week, are much too risky for him personally. After all, he can’t have five open territories all at once, and he doesn’t have the appetite to recruit and onboard five new reps this quarter. The status quo never sounded so good to him!
Could the sales leader mix a little baseball into the equation?
What if he compromised with himself and reduced five required meetings to three?
What if he modified the consequences to align with baseball’s three strikes and you’re out?
He would still have to terminate two salespeople, and those two did need to be terminated. At the same time, he would be sending a message to the rest of the team that he will no longer accept complacency or mediocrity, and if his salespeople fail to perform, they will be terminated. Consequences and follow through. Just like in the Bible.
And how would the three strikes work?
The first time a salesperson fails to book three meetings in a week is strike one and it would be a reminder of the forthcoming consequences if the sales leader must discuss this topic twice more with this salesperson. It can also be a warning that just one more conversation – strike 2 – will result in a consequence, which while less unpleasant than termination, would still be unpleasant. This could be anything from a reduction in the size of their territory, having an account reassigned, a reduction in salary, a reduction in the percentage of commission paid, or no longer getting reimbursed for certain expenses, like cell phone or fuel. A third occurrence of this conversation will result in termination.
What can a sales leader do to prepare for exponential pipeline growth and the impending loss of some salespeople? Rejoice! Less is more. Recruit! Start recruiting before you notify the team of your plan but make sure you avoid the pitfalls detailed in this article.
Leading a sales team should be fun and exciting and you get to experience that when you make things happen. Take charge. Put rules and expectations in place but enforce them. Coach them and guide them. Give them the training, coaching and tools they require, but don’t enable them. If you would like some help, feel free to reach out.
On May 6, at 3pm ET, I am hosting a 30-minute walkthrough for CEOs on What Your Expectations of a Sales Leader Should Be. Learn More/Register