Will vs Skill in Sales Performance

Most sales orgs aren't failing because of effort. They're failing because they're trying to scale hustle instead of skill. Here's what nobody wants to hear: You can only grind so much. You can only work harder for so long. You can only add more effort before you hit the wall. But skills? Skills have no ceiling. Skills compound. Skills scale. Every elite performer in every field knows this. Sales is the only profession where we still pretend more dials equals more mastery. Science says the opposite. Now let me be clear: Effort absolutely matters. You can't be lazy. You can't skip the work. Effort is the foundation. But effort doesn't scale. And here's what's actually happening: most orgs are burning people out by applying more effort to the wrong places. More cold calls to bad lists. More follow-ups on dead deals. More time in the CRM, less time on skill. That's not a strategy. That's a hamster wheel. So how do you actually develop skill that scales? Deep Practice Beats More Practice Elite performers grow skill by practicing in the struggle zone. Not easy reps. Not mindless repetitions. Precision, mistakes, and correction strengthen neural circuits. Most orgs give reps more calls, not better rehearsals. Retrieval Beats Review If your reps can only explain your value prop when the slide is on screen, they don't actually know it. Hustle says "watch this recording." Skill says "tell me the story cold, from memory." Desirable Difficulty Works Smooth training produces fragile skills. Hard, awkward, uncomfortable training produces durable skills. If your team never struggles in practice, don't be surprised when they crumble under pressure. Real Calls Are Messy Most training is blocked: Week 1 discovery. Week 2 objections. Week 3 pricing. But real calls? All that at once. Chunk it first, then apply it together. Skill scales when practice looks like the game. Experience Doesn't Equal Skill 10 years of selling isn't 10 years of growth. Most sellers hit "good enough" then skill flatlines. Only deliberate practice breaks the plateau. Hustle can't fix plateau. Coaching can. Here's the punchline: Hustle increases output. Skill increases capacity. If you want a team that gets better every quarter, if you want revenue that compounds, if you want leaders who aren't stuck in the forecasting hamster wheel... Stop trying to scale effort. Start engineering skill. Skills scale. Effort caps. Build skill, and the whole machine gets lighter. P.S. I got deep into the science of skill development about 6-7 years ago, and it completely changed how I approach sales enablement. Some of my favorites: The Talent Code. Make It Stick. The Science of Accelerated Learning. Rapid Skill Development. Moonwalking with Einstein. If you're serious about building a team that actually gets better, start there.

You can’t coach everyone the same way. Because not everyone on your team is stuck  for the same reason. Some have the drive but need direction. Some have the skills but lost their spark. Some might be in the wrong seat entirely. The Skill-Will Matrix helps you see the difference. So, you can lead with intention, not assumption. Here’s how it works: 1. Trusted Drivers (High Skill, High Will) Your A-players. High output, high attitude. ✔️ Give stretch goals ✔️ Let them mentor others ✔️ Recognize often ⚠️ Boredom can lead to disengagement. 2. Hungry Learners (Low Skill, High Will) They want to grow. They just need guidance. ✔️ Offer quick, clear feedback ✔️ Set up shadowing or small wins ✔️ Build confidence fast ⚠️ Motivation drops if left too long. 3. Drifting Talent (High Skill, Low Will) Skilled but slipping. Something’s off. ✔️ Have a real conversation ✔️ Reconnect to purpose ✔️ Give space and autonomy ⚠️ Resistance is a cue, don’t ignore it. 4. Misaligned Fit (Low Skill, Low Will) Low drive, low output. Likely a poor fit. ✔️ Set clear expectations ✔️ Explore new roles or exits ✔️ Act quickly and respectfully ⚠️ Delay drains the whole team. Here’s the truth: Effective leaders don’t just react to performance. They respond to what’s driving it. Because when you meet people where they are you move everyone forward. Where will you focus this week? 📌Follow Mo Bunnell for client-growth strategies that don’t feel like selling.

Everyone wants the revenue to rise, market share to climb, and sales to surge. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: revenue is a lagging indicator. It only tells you what has already happened. If you’re measuring success purely by outcomes, you’re diagnosing too late, like treating a fever without asking what caused it. Behavior must change before any sales team can grow revenue or capture market share. And behavior doesn’t shift because you asked it to. It shifts when you identify the root cause of what’s holding it back. Is it a Skill issue? A Will issue? Or a Way issue? * Skill is about capability—do they know how to do it? * Will is about motivation—do they want to do it? * Way is about systems—are you enabling them to do it? If you don’t know which one is broken, no amount of incentives or training is going to fix it. It’s not guesswork. It’s a diagnosis. Once the root cause is clear, the part most organizations skip is defining both leading and lagging indicators. Here’s the difference: - Leading indicators are behaviors and activities that predict success. Examples include the number of quality discovery calls, the adoption of a new process, and the frequency of manager coaching. - Lagging indicators are the results that show up after those behaviors take root. Think: revenue growth, deal velocity, customer retention. If you’re only measuring revenue, you’re reacting. If you’re measuring behaviors, you’re leading. In other words: don’t wait for the numbers to tell you something went wrong. Observe the signals that show what’s going right—or what’s missing. You can’t scale what you don’t track, and you can’t track what you haven’t defined. So, where do you start? 1. Diagnose the root: skill, will, or way? 2. Define observable behaviors tied to success. 3. Establish qualitative and quantitative measures for those behaviors. 4. Reinforce, coach, and track—before you forecast. Sustainable growth isn’t magic. It’s a process, and the teams that treat behavior as the leading performance metric are the ones that stop chasing results and start creating them.

𝐈 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐚 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤  𝐆𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐩 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐫𝐞𝐩 𝐢𝐬? 𝐀 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐫 𝐛𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫. 𝐘𝐞𝐩. 𝐍𝐨 𝐣𝐨𝐤𝐞. I had a conversation with a sales director last week that’s been rattling around in my head ever since. I asked him about his top-performing salesperson. Expecting to hear about a seasoned industry veteran with a watertight CV. Instead, he told me it was a former bartender. Someone with zero experience in heavy equipment. No network. No technical background. On paper, an immediate ‘no’. But this manager saw what others didn’t. He saw a professional trained in the art of human connection. Someone who could: ✔️ Build rapport with strangers, day in, day out. ✔️ De-escalate tricky situations with difficult customers. ✔️ Maintain a relentlessly positive attitude under pressure. The manager’s logic was simple. He could teach the product knowledge. He could provide the industry training. But he couldn’t teach hunger. He couldn’t teach the raw drive to show up every single day, ready to make one more call. As he put it: “I can train for skill. I can’t train for will.” It’s a sharp reminder for any leader. Are we so focused on finding the ‘perfect fit’ on paper that we’re overlooking the candidates with the perfect mindset? Sometimes the most valuable assets aren’t listed on a résumé.