October 01, 2024

24: How Middle Management Can Build a Million-Dollar Profit Cult (and Why You Should Join)

32 minutes

In this episode of the Tapped In Sales Podcast, Bud and Mikey dive deep into the critical role middle management plays in driving profitability within beer distributors. This conversation covers how middle managers, team leads, key account managers, and more, can align their incentives with company goals to create a high-performing culture that moves beyond traditional volume metrics.

But first, they kick off with a fascinating discussion on world record-breaking pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis, who has broken his own record ten times. Why would he do that? Simple – aligned incentives. Mondo maximized his earnings by strategically breaking records in increments, demonstrating how understanding incentives can drive consistent, high-level performance. Bud and Mikey draw a parallel to middle management's role in structuring success in beer distribution.

Key topics include:

Mondo's Genius Move: How the pole vault star maximized his earnings through aligned incentives and what that teaches us about sales strategy.

Defining Middle Management: Who’s in middle management, and why their role is crucial in executing company strategy.

Aligning Incentives Across Teams: How to structure compensation for team leads, area sales managers, and key account managers to create alignment from top to bottom.

The Profit-Driven Culture: Building a culture where profitability metrics like GP per case replace outdated volume-centric goals.

Transitioning to Variable Pay: Mikey shares his experience moving from a fixed salary to a variable compensation structure, the challenges, and the ultimate performance-driven rewards.

Maximizing ROI on Effort: How to structure pay to encourage performance, discretionary effort, and team growth.

Building a Profit Cult: How aligning everyone’s incentives, from the president to the merchandisers, creates an unstoppable, performance-driven organization.

Whether you’re a distributor owner, sales manager, or aspiring team leader, this episode is packed with insights on transforming your organization into a profit-focused machine through smart incentive structures.

Resources Mentioned:

Mondo Duplantis' record-breaking story

VXP Tech’s profit alignment strategy

Where to Find Us:

Catch Bud and Mikey at booth 713 during the NBWA Annual Convention in San Diego! If you're in the market for ideas to improve middle management engagement, performance, and profitability, drop by for a chat.

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By VXP Tech

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