Is there pressure to make President’s Club?

Making it to President’s Club is one of the top honors a sales rep can achieve in their career. The award is effectively a recognition program for top sellers—a way of incentivizing great performance and (hopefully) raising the bar across the organization. The accomplishment comes with bragging rights and usually a coveted, all-expenses paid trip. Not all companies have a President’s Club of course, and those that do will have their own requirements around quota attainment and overall performance.

That got us thinking here at Revenue Brew: how much of a seller’s day-to-day is spent worrying about beating out their peers and packing their bags for Aruba, versus just being the best seller they can be?

“Inherently there’s a lot of pressure in [sales] regardless of if there’s a vacation or not,” said Vin Matano, founder of B2B influencer marketing agency Creatorbuzz and a multiple-time President’s Club recipient. “If you’re close, then I think salespeople will go the extra mile to make sure that they’ll try to make it, but I think President’s Club or not, it’s just inherently a job that has a lot of pressure.”

Under pressure

One of the reasons an initiative like President’s Club might not inherently pile the pressure on reps is because, according to some experts, the requirements aren’t far off from existing sales quotas.

“President’s Club can serve as a really incredible motivator, but I don’t think the kinds of sellers who [are] not making President’s Club is make or break—they’re always going to hit their quota every time,” said David Rosenstein, two-time President’s Club recipient and senior account executive at 30 Minutes to President’s Club. “The sellers who think that President’s Club is out of reach may have a different relationship with hitting their sales targets.”

Rosenstein said sales reps who have already attained President’s Club could feel pressure to make it year after year to meet expectations and set precedents for their teams.

“Now the expectation is you are going to be a really great seller and the goal is to continue to deliver,” he said. “Typically, there’s not a lot of wiggle room in terms of, ‘Are you or are you not going to hit quota?’ Of course you’re going to hit quota. Of course you’re going to overachieve. It’s just a matter of to what extent are you going to overachieve because I’ve seen you do it in the past.”

Best practices

Being a strong seller is undoubtedly the foundation for making it to President’s Club. Rosenstein thinks that for many sellers, what’s holding them back is discipline rather than skills. His advice for sellers is to work for a company that motivates you, sell a product you believe in, have a regimented lifestyle, and understand how many deals you need to hit quota. In an era where sellers have access to AI-powered SaaS platforms that can forecast ramp-up time and territory potential, there is no shortage of tools to help in this task.

Rosenstein also suggested sellers take advantage of often free resources like podcasts, articles, training programs, and coaching. (We covered some of the benefits of coaching and performance improvement programs in our conversation with Owner.com’s Kyle Norton earlier this summer.)

Rosenstein and Matano both also stressed staying on top of daily tasks to stay ahead, with the sales leaders both highlighting prospecting and cold calling. Matano also noted that sellers shouldn’t let deal fallout discourage them.

“Sales is a ‘no’ business,” he said. “You’re going to hear ‘no’ more often times than you hear ‘yes.’ There’s the cliché—but it’s also very true—every ‘no’ is closer to a ‘yes.’ You’re going to hear a lot of noes, and you’re going to lose a lot of deals before you close your big deal. Any deal that you lose, you can always learn something from it.”

The road ahead

Sales is one of the most important functions of a revenue organization, but the way sellers are prospecting, managing pipeline, prepping discovery, and closing is changing fast. Changes in sales tech are a critical part of the equation, and the growth of platforms for sales teams to upskill will help level the playing field for some. Big picture: Marshal your talents, and the tools around you, and President’s Club might not be a pipe dream after all.