Your best reps are often "unconsciously competent" and can't explain their own success. Before an SKO, leaders must help these individuals deconstruct their process and build a prescriptive presentation, translating their individual "art" into a replicable science for the entire sales team.

Promoting top individual contributors into management often backfires. Their competitive nature, which drove individual success, makes it hard to share tips, empathize with struggling team members, or handle interpersonal issues, turning a perceived win-win into a lose-lose situation.

Don't conflate confidence with self-assurance, which is the *accurate* assessment of one's skills. Many top performers downplay their expertise out of a false sense of humility. This incongruence can be misinterpreted by others as manipulation, confusion, or a risky inability to self-assess.

Top performers are frequently unable to teach their skills effectively because doing and teaching are separate abilities. Their verbal explanations may be inaccurate post-rationalizations. To truly learn from the best, ignore their narratives and instead meticulously observe and replicate their specific, observable behaviors.

Transitioning from a top-performing rep requires a mindset shift from doing to enabling. A new leader's role is not to teach their specific 'Michael Jordan' method, but to align company and personal goals, then focus on removing obstacles for each team member's unique path to success.

When a sales leader consistently fails to attract A-players, it's a vote of no confidence from the talent market. Top performers are signaling they don't believe that leader can advance their careers, which is a major red flag about the leader's own capabilities and future success.

Top salespeople aren't just skilled; they've mastered their internal psychology. Most performance issues stem from fear, lack of information, and self-limiting beliefs, which prevent them from taking necessary actions like making calls.

Managers often enforce sales tactics rigidly without understanding the underlying principles. To be a true coach, a leader must grasp the 'why' behind every tactic (e.g., 'no demos on the first call'). This enables them to teach reps not just the rule, but also the context for when it's smart to deviate.

To scale a sales-driven business, the top-performing individual must transition their focus from personal deal-closing to codifying their successful behaviors into a trainable system for others. Their value becomes their ability to make anyone a great closer, not just being one themselves. This identity shift is essential for exponential growth.