Matt Ryder argues that relying on one exceptional salesperson is a trap. When companies optimize everything around a unicorn closer, the business collapses if that person leaves. He learned this the hard way: his employer went bankrupt after he departed.
The part most people miss when they're trying to scale a sales system is that they don't understand that you have to have a system that allows mediocre reps to produce the most amount of your revenue. If you rely on unicorn level closers, then your business will go bankrupt the moment they leave. Because chances are your business is not good enough for a unicorn level closer. And unicorn like level dudes are always getting offered different positions. And the chances are that you're not the most expensive with the best leads. It's just the way that it is. And they're always going to move on how they work. I remember when I was at a business, I put in tons of things because I'd been a business owner for years and valued leads, and I was a highly skilled rep and I did all the things and I outsold everyone else in the team about 4 to 1. That's like, combined. So I was about 80% of the overall revenue myself. And they were asking me questions and they were optimizing the marketing off me. And I had to sit down with the owner and specifically said, do not do that. I'm just a lot better than these guys and I'm doing a lot more things to make sure that this works because I want to get mine. And they were like, nah, the leads are great. And I was like. And I left because I'm not loyal to that business, like, whatever. And they went bankrupt within about four months. Because their leads were optimized for me, their pipeline was optimized for me. And when I stopped doing all of the things that I was doing to be as successful as I was in there, no one else could replicate it. And they just thought the closers were shit. But in reality, they just had a system that was optimized for someone who was doing unusually good things. It's like optimizing your offense for Steph Curry when Steph Curry can leave. It's why they have contracts. If he leaves, that team's fucked up.
