The Perfect Salesforce

About the Author

Derek Gatehouse has dedicated over 30 years of his career to various roles in sales, including sales representative, sales manager, sales vice president, and sales trainer. His extensive experience across multiple industries has equipped him with a profound understanding of sales dynamics. Currently, Gatehouse serves as the CEO of Vendis Inc., a consulting and training firm based in New York. His book, The Perfect Salesforce, is a culmination of his decades-long quest to identify the elements that make a top-performing sales team.

Main Idea

The Perfect Salesforce explores the six best practices that distinguish the world's best sales teams. Gatehouse's central thesis is that traditional methods of building and managing sales teams—such as personality profiling, sales training, and motivational incentives—often fall short of producing lasting improvements in performance. Instead, he argues that a focus on identifying and leveraging natural talent is crucial for creating a top-performing sales force. Gatehouse emphasizes the importance of understanding the specific talents required for different stages of the sales process and aligning these talents with the right roles.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. The Essence of the Perfect Salesforce
3. The Six Best Practices
4. Natural Talent
5. Training for Performance
6. The Right Conditions for Success
7. The Talent-Based Hiring Process
8. The Perfect Pay Plan and Quotas
9. Sales Behavior Training
10. Result-Based Management
11. Growing the Perfect Salesforce

The Essence of the Perfect Salesforce

Gatehouse defines a top producer as a naturally talented individual operating under specific conditions that enable peak performance. The journey to creating such a sales force involves understanding the unique talents required for different sales roles and stages, and then casting individuals who possess these talents into the right roles. This approach is underpinned by three fields of study:

• The study of natural talent or ability
• Performance enhancement through training
• The impact of external conditions on performance

The Six Best Practices

The world's greatest sales teams adhere to six critical practices that are interrelated and essential for success:

1. Understand what arrangement of the 10 selling talents applies to your sale.
2. Sort the stages of your sales according to talent.
3. Cast the different selling roles using a talent-based hiring process.
4. Generate ultimate motivation with the perfect pay plan and quota.
5. Conduct regular sales behavior training.
6. Manage and develop your team by using result-based management.

Natural Talent

Natural talent is the cornerstone of top sales performance. Gatehouse asserts that without the innate abilities required for a task, achieving top performance is impossible. He emphasizes that natural talents are part of our DNA and cannot be taught. Therefore, identifying the specific talents needed for your sales type and reliably assessing these talents in candidates is crucial. He notes that 95% of American companies lack a methodology for identifying these natural talents.

"Natural talent is essential for top performance. It is part of our DNA and cannot be taught." - Derek Gatehouse

Training for Performance

Training can significantly enhance performance if three criteria are met: