Redefining the PIP & Smarketing

Fifteen years ago I got fired by surprise. I thought a stretch role was going well — my manager traveled constantly, we talked maybe every two weeks — until HR pulled me aside and said, "No one else thinks it's going well. Here's your PIP." I told that story to Tom, Brandon, and Carson on Mastering Modern Selling, because it's the reason I now believe every single person on a team should be on some kind of improvement plan, all the time, not just the ones about to be shown the door.

We got into a Clari report that found the bottom 50 percent of sellers at most companies are generating only about 7.5 percent of total revenue — which doesn't mean you hired half a team of bad people, it means the market shifted and what got them there stopped working. A quarterly, 90-day conversation — what's working, what's not, what skill are we building next — beats an annual review that shows up as a surprise. We also talked about smarketing and the rule of 40, and why buyers now expect 17 touches before they'll take a call, so sales and marketing can't afford to be strangers.

A goal without a plan is a wish. That's true of an annual revenue number, and it's just as true of a person's career — the PIP conversation works when it's about where someone is headed, not just where they fell short.