Whenever I do sales and telemarketing coaching, one of the first questions I ask is who is your top seller, what is he or she earning, and who is in second place?

Invariably, there is one lead dog, and the rest of the pack lags far behind her.

To me, this is a dangerous situation.

What happens if she leaves, is stricken by illness, or is otherwise incapacitated? Your sales will plummet, overall, and you wont have a strong apprentice who can do her headlining act, so to speak.

More significant, are these problems, when there is only one sales leader:

(1) That person defines what great performance is, and that may not be the very pinnacle of potential achievement.

(2) Its lonely at the top. All leaders need competition so theyll be forced to get better.

(3) You send an unconscious message of dependency to the leader. I dont know how to produce another YOU, is what it says. This can go to her head, and if shes immature she might use this as leverage against you or become a behavior problem.

(4) Your confidence wont be high, because youll feel overly dependent on her production.

So, the first thing we try to do is to recruit, train, and motivate someone who will give the existing leader a real challenge for the leadership spot.

This will show other sales reps that higher performance is possible; they can challenge the top dog with impunity; and they can, and perhaps will be replaced unless they get moving in the right direction, and fast.

You can give motivational sales talks until youre breathless, and it wont make the point nearly as dramatically or convincingly as bringing in a strong number two.

So, go to it!