When employee screw ups are costing you money

24 Oct 2026 · 1 min

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0:47

In this brief YouTube dialogue, a sales leader (Speaker A) expresses frustration that the sales team consistently misses quota and demands higher‑performing hires. Speaker B counters by introducing a diagnostic rule: if fewer than about 80% of reps meet quota, the underlying issue is likely a systems problem—such as flawed scripting, poor lead quality, or an ineffective sales playbook—rather than a pure people or leadership problem. He advises that organizations should first audit and fix their sales systems because doing so is cheaper, faster, and more equitable than replacing staff, and only after system fixes should they consider personnel changes.

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Our sales guys are consistently not hitting quota. We used to be fine, but now it seems like things are broken. I don't know what to do about it. I need people who can get it done.
So if we've got a quota, I want to know that 80% of the team is hitting that quota. And if 80% of the team isn't hitting the quota, then there's either a systems issue, so some, some problem with the scripting, um, or, you know, with the leads that are coming in, or it is in fact a people or a leadership problem. And so what I want you to get dialed in is exactly what your sales playbook is. I cannot stress the importance of let's solve for systems first and then people, because if you find that you have multiple people that just keep failing over and over and over again, it's probably not a people problem. It's probably a systems problem. It's so much cheaper. And I would argue fair to solve a systems problem than a people problem, and it's a lot faster.