Last week we talked about why we've normalized less than 90% quota attainment, but more importantly the REAL constraints actually keeping these teams from performing.
The real bottlenecks.
If you haven't read it go check it out here (Why Your Competitors Accept 60% Quota Attainment)…
This week, I wanted to break down an exact 90 day plan to actually fix your team.
So if you ARE indeed the one with the underperforming revenue team, then this is for you…
And honestly this will apply to any department. So if you have a team that could be better,
regardless of their function, this will be hyper helpful.
First, we have to agree on the most prevalent problem is that's causing this mass normalization
of underperformance.
I mean, how often do we hear something like?…
"We're pacing 45% of quota"
“Our best rep just quit. Two others are on PIPs"
"I’m starting to think we should just blow up the whole department and start over.”
Sound familiar?
“I think we should just fire everyone and start over.”
The team wasn’t broken.
The vehicle was.
Could you imagine firing your whole team…
When a 90-day fix could’ve saved them?
— #Mitchell Miles (#@mitchellbmiles)
2:28 PM • Oct 9, 2025
Likewise, me and my team hear this all too often.
One of the business I partner with had an issue with the CRO leaving and it didn't end well at all to say the least.
It hurt the culture, profit, overall team morale AND P&L was quite close to worst case scenario.
They came to me for help and on the first conversation I had with them they said, "I think we should just fire everyone and start over".
They were fully convinced it was a talent issue. Unsalvageable even.
However, as I'm sitting at my desk auditing their entire department, I noticed…
Every rep was following a different sales process
The pricing structure was so complex, it was like trying to read launch codes
Their playbook hadn't been updated anytime recently
There were talks of some offline "group chat" between the teams
Every department was siloed
Politics, bureaucracy, gossip
This wasn't a talent issue, this was a vehicle issue.
People (talent)
Vehicle (the system and environment the talent operates within) Without derailing the topic today with too many details of this story…
We turned it around within 90 days and didn't lose one original rep from the team. Same people. Same market. Same product. The only thing that changed? The vehicle.
While their competitors continue to normalize systematic underperformance, this CEO decided to treat 47% quota attainment like what it actually is…
A systemic defect that needed to be fixed.
The difference between broken revenue teams and high is this:
It’s the willingness to systematically diagnose and fix the underlying architecture that creates performance.
Most leaders approach broken revenue teams backwards. They fire people first and fix systems last.
But what I’ve learned after helping hundreds of companies transform their revenue operations is the fastest way to fix a broken revenue team is to fix the vehicle first.
The talent then becomes the easy part. With that said, let's get into HOW to actually fix the vehicle.
I’m going to walk you through the exact 90 day framework we use to transform any team into a high performance team.
And more importantly, I’m going to show you how to diagnose whether your revenue team is actually broken or just misaligned.
Because the treatment is completely different. As I say often… you misdiagnose, you mistreat. So diagnose accurately.
So let's cover that first…
Broken VS Misaligned: How to Diagnose
There’s a critical difference between these two states (broken VS misaligned), and misdiagnosing the problem can be a very very expensive mistake.
In both time AND turnover cost.
A broken revenue team has fundamental structural problems.
Leadership consists of promoted top reps instead of qualified and developed leaders
Lack of assessing performance into buckets
No real process to replicate what your top performers are doing in order to elevate the rest of the team
Ramp process for new hires is duct taped together
Underperformers get moved to other departments
A misaligned revenue team has capability problems. The talent is there. The systems work. But there’s a gap between what people know how to do and what the business needs them to do.
Too often leaders I talk to assume they have a broken team when they actually have a misaligned team.
Misaligned teams can be fixed with training, coaching, and tactical adjustments. You can get results in 30-60 days.
Broken teams require systematic reconstruction. It takes 90 days minimum, and trying to rush the process actually makes everything worse.
I learned this the hard way.
Two years ago, I was working with a CEO who was convinced his revenue team was just “not working hard enough.” Classic misalignment diagnosis.
So we started with motivation tactics…
Team meetings, setting targets, plenty of recognition, etc Results got worse.
Then we tried training…
Sales methodology, role plays, objection handling, etc. Still worse.
Finally, I did a systematic audit of their revenue architecture.
Here’s what we found:
Their comp plan rewarded quantity over quality, so reps were chasing small deals
Their CRM was so complex that reps spent 40% of their time on data entry instead of selling
Their marketing qualified leads were actually unqualified, creating friction between sales and marketing
Amongst many others issues. Stuff like this is death by a thousand cuts. Once we rebuilt the architecture, the same “unmotivated” team started hitting quota consistently.
This is why diagnosing is so important. When you rush to treat symptoms, you miss the underlying causes. And every tactical fix you try just adds more complexity to an already broken system.
But when you slow down to systematically diagnose and rebuild the foundation, performance improves dramatically and permanently.
As Proverbs 21:5 says:
“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.”
The same principle applies to revenue transformation.
Most leaders underestimate what they can accomplish in 90 days of systematic change and overestimate what they can accomplish with quick fixes.
“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in three years.”
After doing this over and over, I’ve identified the exact sequence that creates lasting change without burning out your team or disrupting your existing business.
This 90 day protocol breaks down into three distinct 30 day phases:
Each phase builds on the previous phase. Each phase has specific deliverables. And each phase creates momentum for the next phase.
Trying to skip phases or rush the timeline undermines the entire process.
Here’s how it works…
Phase 1 (Days 1-15): Leadership Role Realignment
The biggest mistake I see leaders make when trying to fix broken revenue teams is assuming their managers know how to manage.
Usually they don't, not even close.
Most "sales managers" are just promoted top reps failing to identify and transfer what worked for them.
This is going to be a culture shift, so approach with care.
The first 15 days are about realigning your management team on what their actual job is:
Quality control + talent development while giving all the praise to their team.
Most managers think their job is to be the hero.
They think leadership looks like being the "main character" while getting paid more and getting all the credit.
Wrong.
In reality leadership looks like taking all the blame and giving away all the credit.
Their job is to make their reps the heroes.
This is the mindset shift you need to create:
Being a producer is inherently a selfish role (you focus on your own numbers)
Management is inherently SELFLESS (focus on others)
Most resist this, I get it, because their entire identity has been built around individual achievement.
For years, their self worth came from being the best performer. Now suddenly, their success depends entirely on other people's performance.
During this first phase, you need to have explicit conversations about:
What success looks like for a manager vs. an individual contributor
Why developing others is actually more difficult (and more valuable) than individual performance
How their influence multiplies when they focus on elevating their team instead of themselves
Phase 2 (Days 16-45): Coaching Framework
Remember, this is the majority of the leadership role: quality control (QC) + talent development.
It would be a mistake to assume this person already knows how to QC…
Which essentially is made up of
Identifying what's being done well
What's not being done well
Then giving effective coaching and feedback to the team based on their observations
So one of the best things you could do the first 30-60 days is to train your managers on HOW to QC and give feedback.
This is a gradual process, not an immediate change.
Step 1: Baseline Assessment
Have each manager complete a call review and send it to you, not to the rep their QC’ing. This will reveal their current diagnostic ability and provide a baseline.
What you're looking for:
Do they understand what is truly going wrong and why?
Do they give positive reinforcement or just critique?
Are they over coaching (trying to fix more than 2-3 things at once)?
The first few weeks, they will likely be way off.
That's normal.
Your role is to train them in 1:1s on HOW to execute proper call reviews.
Step 2: Systematic Development
By the end of 30-60 days, you should be in sync on what effective coaching looks like.
Here's the criteria I look for…
Listen for 3 specific things: What went well, what could be improved, what to practice
Start with positive reinforcement: Always begin with what they did right
Limit implementation: Never try to fix more than 2-3 things at once
Be specific: "Make more calls" isn't coaching. "isolate and quantify the problem after you've identified it by asking _______ " is coaching.
Make it precise and actionable.
Phase 3 (Days 46-60): Quantitative Measurement Systems
Now that your managers can diagnose qualitative performance issues, it's time to identify where deals are systematically falling through quantitative analysis.
Remember to always do both quantitative and qualitative analysis.
Quantitative data tells us there's a problem
Qualitative analysis tells us WHY and WHAT the problem is
And do this consistently, so you can properly track deal progression and accurately forecast revenue projections.
I'm tellin ya… there is nothing like having maximum awareness.
From a founders perspective that's such a valuable trait to have in a revenue leader AND as a revenue leader, it's hard to do the job otherwise.
Here's how to systematically track deal progression:
1: Opportunity Mapping
Track every deal from opportunity created → closed won and identify exactly where deals are falling.
2: Live Deal Reviews
It will become clear which stages of your sales process have leaks.
3: Scorecard Implementation
Create standardized scoring systems that enable streamlined evaluation of deal quality and rep performance.
The power of this approach is precision.
Instead of guessing why performance is inconsistent, you have data that shows you exactly which capabilities need development.
And this is compounding because then you can precisely coach and develop your team even more.
Awareness is powerful.
Phase 4 (Days 61-75): Management Cadence
This may sound elementary but I've learned most revenue leaders, honestly most professionals in general, don't know HOW to work.
Their day and workflow is so inefficient.
I think it's incredibly valuable to give a revenue leader a rough workflow that they can optimize over time for themselves.
Core activities:
Call Reviews
Coaching Reps
Review Data
Deal Cycle Involvement
Sample Leadership Day Structure:
Team Huddle (3-5 x week / 60 min)
Celebrate wins
Key announcements
Live deal review
Call review training (50% best practices, 50% improvement areas)
Deep Work (1-2 hours)
QC
Strategic projects
Process improvements
1:1s (3-4 hours)
Individual performance feedback
Coaching and training
Goal alignment
Deal Involvement (1-2 hours)
Live call participation
Deal strategy sessions
Executive alignment
The difference between effective and ineffective managers comes down to how they systematically structure their time around the activities that actually drive team performance.
If time is capital. Time management, therefore, is the art of investing your hours to maximize your long term return.
Ever leader should be obsessed with this.
Most leaders approach broken revenue teams backwards.
They fire people first and fix systems last.
— #Mitchell Miles (#@mitchellbmiles)
10:27 PM • Oct 9, 2025
Phase 5 (Days 76-85): Effective Meeting Structures
Ok let's talk about meetings.
I like to simply give a checklist and rough agenda, but ultimately your rev leader needs to know what a good meeting looks like.
So it's best to show them and have dialogue about it.
Here's a rough checklist…
Is everyone engaged?
Is overall morale positive?
KPIs and current pipeline status
Are we on pace for quota?
Team Meeting Agenda:
Celebrate wins (always start here)
Key announcements
Forecasts & projections
Call review training (50% best practices, 50% improvement areas)
Live deal involvement and best practice sharing
Every meeting should have both recognition and development components.
People need to feel appreciated AND challenged to grow.
Phase 6 (Days 86-90): Continuous Development Framework
By day 90, you should have built a systematic capability for ongoing leadership development.
Measure your managers across two dimensions…
Quantitative development (did key success metrics improve?)
Qualitative development (problem solving skills, awareness, feedback from the team is positive, etc)
Assess the improvements and continue doing the inputs.
If the metrics and anecdotes still don't look perfect (there should still be SOME level improvement), remember you're working with humans and this stuff takes time.
As Scripture reminds us:
"The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty."
As long as you stay steady and consistent, your leaders will be pillars within your org and ultimately your revenue team as well.
Until next time,
THE MILES MEMO