A sales leader's primary accountability is to understand the 'why' behind team results. If you cannot specifically articulate why each underperformer struggles and why each top performer succeeds, you are failing to hold yourself accountable as a leader.

Shift the perception of accountability from a negative consequence for poor results to a positive process of analyzing what's working (to do more of it) and what's not (to stop doing it). This framing encourages buy-in and growth.

A company reliant on a single charismatic closer cannot scale. To build a repeatable process, identify one or two key, effective actions your top performer takes and build a systemized framework around them for the entire team to adopt.

Go beyond ad-hoc coaching and build a scalable system. Create a dashboard for each salesperson tracking key leading indicators (e.g., pipeline generation). Reviewing this data weekly allows leaders to spot specific gaps and deliver precise, data-driven coaching across a large organization.

Managers often spend disproportionate energy on low-performing employees. The highest-leverage activity is to actively invest in your top performers. Don't just leave them alone because they're doing well; run experiments by giving them bigger, more visible projects to unlock their full potential and create future leaders.

Performance Improvement Plans (PIPs) are reactive and punitive. Instead, create a culture of continuous growth with a "Sales Improvement Program" (SIP) for every team member, including top performers. This frames development as a constant goal, not a punishment for failure.

Instead of focusing solely on quotas, hold reps accountable for controllable inputs and behaviors, like the number of sales calls. This approach provides clear data for coaching and pinpoints the root cause of performance issues, rather than just judging the outcome.

Effective coaching follows a three-step process: Identify a metric-based performance gap, validate the specific rep behaviors causing it, and then co-create a coaching plan focused on improving those behaviors, not just the lagging metric.

Viewing quota as a lagging indicator, Figma's CRO warns that managing to the number creates "lazy leadership." Performance management should instead center on a detailed framework of inputs: behaviors (e.g., collaboration) and competencies (e.g., discovery skills), giving a real-time view of a rep's effectiveness.