The Sales Team PlaybookOnboarding, coaching and reviews.

Customers first, features second. By Friday they should have heard real buyers describe the problem, met the teams they’ll rely on, and sent their first messages with you beside them.

Closed revenue tells you how a new rep is doing months too late. Activity counts, like dials made or connection requests sent, only tell you they were busy. Watch the numbers in between, the ones that turn into pipeline, and look at them every Monday.

The 9-Box puts each person on two lines: how they’re performing, and how much more they could do. It borrows its shape from the matrix McKinsey built with GE in the early 1970s to decide where to invest across business units. Used well on a sales team, it turns a vague worry about someone into a plan for them.

Performance: the numbers you already have

Score the quarter against the plan you agreed: pipeline created, meetings held and revenue won. Allow for the patch. A strong rep on a thin territory can look worse than an average one on a rich one.

Potential: evidence, never a hunch

Potential is where bias gets in. In a study of nearly 30,000 management-track staff at a large North American retailer, women were rated 8.3% lower on potential despite stronger performance ratings, and potential ratings explained about half of the gap in promotions (Benson, Li and Shue, American Economic Review, 2026; MIT Sloan).

So the board scores potential on three things you saw this quarter, each 0, 1 or 2: learns fast, handles more, lifts others. Have two people score separately, then compare the evidence before you compare the scores.

The hard box, done fairly in the UK

Start the conversation early, in private, and follow the Acas Code of Practice: support and training first, then a written improvement plan with specific objectives and a reasonable timescale, the right to be accompanied at formal meetings, and warnings that say what has to improve and by when (Acas). Tribunals can adjust awards by up to 25% where the Code wasn’t followed. Acas consulted on a new Code in summer 2026; the 2015 Code applies until it changes.

For dismissals from 1 January 2027, the Employment Rights Act 2025 cuts the qualifying period for unfair dismissal from two years to six months and removes the cap on compensation (GOV.UK timeline, subject to Parliament; section 25). So run the fair process every time, whoever it is.

Some teams need more hands, some need an experienced seller in the deals, and some need both. These are the two ways we work, as part of your team and in your name.