The Evolution and Future of Presidents Clubs

The Problem with President's Clubs

President’s Clubs are a stalwart of sales.

As a reward for hitting your annual target, you get to go to Monaco, the Caribbean, Mexico, or some other luxurious destination.

There have been few changes to the core notion of Presidents Clubs over the years (other than perhaps tackling a global pandemic and lack of travel rights) but they vary slightly by organisation.

• Anyone achieving over 100% of the quota qualifies and goes.
• Anyone achieving over 100% of quota qualifies but only the top 10 in terms of % get to go
• Additional places are available for supporting roles or not

But they all have a fundamental flaw. They don’t align to a modern sales workplace.

As an example, a Finance Director in an e4enable customer had been charged with achieving a steadier spread of bookings over the year - not leaving it to the last Qtr to book 50% of their business. Sales were due to launch a presidents club for everyone hitting over 100% of the plan. But the two don’t align. President’s Club was about achieving a single goal, irrespective of when the bookings landed. It was driving behaviour that was contrary to the business or finance goals.

Another example arose when Sales Enablement was tasked with transforming their sales culture into one of continual coaching and development. They were struggling with an annual cycle of development that peaked in the first 4 months of each year but was non-existent by the end of the year. The motivation of sales was to hit quota and get to Presidents Club, which meant the second half of the year was focused on that, not development. The cycle is perpetuated.

A CRO of an organisation was seeing a really slow start in sales in the first quarter of the year which corresponded to a huge drop in pipeline generation at the back end of the previous year. The sales teams were focused on closing business, which is great, but at the cost of ensuring they were also building a pipeline to push for a fast start to the following year. This behaviour was encouraged and reinforced by the President’s Club qualification criteria.

The thing is, in sales, we all love a President’s Club. A reward for all the hard work throughout the year. So how do you get the balance?

Rethinking President's Club Qualification Criteria

We need to rethink and realign what we are trying to achieve in having Presidents Clubs.

• Is it aligned with ‘What Good Looks Like’ for your organisation?
• Does it support achieving the wider goals of the business?
• Does it promote positive behaviours?
• Does it reward revenue built on behaviours that are counter to the values and objectives of the business?
• Is it working across the right timescale?
• Is it working against other departments in the business and causing friction?

Richardson's Top Tips for Improving Your President's Club Pathway

Think about your perfect pathway and profile of President’s Club attendee:

• You need to start with the end game - i.e. they need to exceed their quota for the period. Whilst President’s Club qualification needs to evolve, we are still in sales and we’re driven by revenue,
• Think about the demands and challenges from sales and the wider business e.g. Do you want to smooth out quarterly attainment / Do you need to ensure the team continues to build pipeline
• Map out the minimum expectations in skills and behaviours you want to foster across the sales teams. If you are promoting positive behaviours like proactive learning, supporting others, or even updating CRM, they should be part of your criteria. This avoids rewarding those who don’t exhibit these behaviours.
• Think about the stage your business is at - are you keen on career progression or transforming knowledge? In that case, have the team complete learning or coaching objectives that promote this development
• If you are struggling to break down knowledge silos across the business, you might even want to get everyone to complete a video win story to finalise the qualification.

The resulting plan doesn’t have to be complicated to manage. Set out the pathway, enroll the sales team and it promotes accountability by enabling each sales rep to track where they are and what they need to achieve.

The resulting President’s Club Pathway might look something like this:

The result is a President's Club pathway that is automated, transparent, and integrated into their 1-2-1 rhythm

As the sales profession continues to evolve, so must the vehicles we use to drive and motivate our desired outcomes.

Now is the time to get the balance right and put your money where your mouth is!

Click here to contact us to find out how Richardson can build and automate your performance pathways and integrate them into your wider coaching and development programme.