The numbers are staggering: 78% of sellers missed quota last year, while just 14% generated 80% of all revenue. Top performers are now outselling their peers by 11x - the largest performance gap we've ever seen in sales.
"The delta between top performing sellers and the rest has grown to the largest point we've ever seen,"
says Guy Rubin, CEO and Founder at Ebsta. After analyzing 655,000 opportunities worth $48 billion in revenue and surveying over 2,000 CROs, Guy has uncovered exactly what's driving this massive performance divide, and more importantly, how to close it.
The question isn't whether this gap exists. It's what you're going to do about it.
In this article, we'll explore Guy's four proven strategies for transforming your B and C players into consistent revenue generators.
Before diving into solutions, it's crucial to understand why this performance gap exists. According to Guy's research, the problem isn't that B and C players lack motivation or basic selling skills. The issue is that most organizations have never systematically studied what their top performers actually do differently.
"We need to understand what top performers do at a granular level,"
Guy explains. This isn't about surface-level observations like "they're good at building rapport." It's about diving deep into the specific behaviors, activities, and approaches that separate A-players from the rest.
The good news? Once you identify these patterns, you can replicate them across your entire sales team. Guy's research proves that with the right approach, B and C players can rapidly close the gap with their top-performing colleagues.
The first step in closing the performance gap is conducting a forensic analysis of your top performers. Guy's team discovered some fascinating patterns that most sales leaders would never notice without proper data analysis.
Through their comprehensive study, Guy's team identified specific behaviors that consistently separate top performers:
Time investment: A-players spend 4x more time with customers than average performers. This isn't just about longer calls, it's about deeper engagement throughout the entire sales process.
Stakeholder engagement: Top performers engage 6+ stakeholders before leaving the discovery phase. They understand that complex B2B sales require buy-in from multiple decision makers and influencers.
Qualification efficiency: A-players qualify out non-ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) deals 25% faster than their peers. They're ruthless about focusing their time on winnable opportunities.
Once you've identified these patterns, the next step is creating clear, actionable playbooks that your entire team can follow. Guy emphasizes that these playbooks need to be specific and granular.
Instead of saying "engage more stakeholders," your playbook should specify exactly how many stakeholders to engage, at what stage of the process, and what questions to ask each one. Instead of "spend more time with customers," define what activities constitute valuable customer time and how to structure those interactions.
The key is making success replicable. As Guy notes,
"When you show people the specific behaviors that lead to higher win rates, all of a sudden, the penny drops. They understand why you're asking them to do these things."
One of the biggest barriers preventing B and C players from adopting A-player behaviors is administrative overhead. Guy's research shows that sales reps spend far too much time on non-selling activities – time that could be invested in customer relationships.
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Modern AI technology, like SellMeThisPen can handle much of this administrative burden, freeing up your sellers to focus on what actually drives revenue. Guy's team found that AI can effectively:
Analyze call recordings: Instead of manually reviewing hours of call recordings, AI can identify key moments, track talk time ratios, and highlight areas for improvement.
Examine deal progression: AI can analyze deal patterns, identify potential roadblocks, and suggest next steps based on successful deal precedents.
Maintain CRM hygiene: Automated data entry and updating ensures your CRM remains clean and actionable without requiring manual seller input.
When B and C players are freed from administrative tasks, the results are dramatic:
This isn't just about efficiency, it's about enabling your entire team to adopt the time-intensive practices that make A-players successful.
Guy's research revealed an interesting trend: 45% of companies have moved to full-cycle pipeline management, where sellers touch the entire journey from prospecting to post-sale nurturing.
The traditional model of passing leads between SDRs, account executives, and customer success creates friction in the buyer experience. Guy's data shows that full-cycle approaches deliver three key benefits:
Smoother buyer experience: When buyers work with one trusted advisor throughout their journey, they're more likely to move forward with confidence.
Higher efficiency: Fewer handoffs mean fewer opportunities for deals to stall or fall through the cracks.
Shorter sales cycles: When sellers own the entire process, they're more motivated to move deals forward efficiently.
Moving to a full-cycle model isn't right for every organization, but Guy's research suggests it's worth testing. Start with a pilot program involving your strongest performers, then expand based on results.
The key is ensuring your sellers have the skills and support needed to manage the entire customer lifecycle. This might require additional training in areas like customer success and account management.
The final step in closing the performance gap is using data to drive behavioral change. Guy emphasizes that sellers need to understand not just what to do, but why it matters.
"When you show people, look, on average your win rate's 12%. But if we can get five stakeholders actively brought in with this much engagement, our win rates are 38%..." Guy explains, "All of a sudden, the penny drops. They understand why you're asking them."
This is the power of data-driven coaching. Instead of generic advice about "engaging more stakeholders," you're showing specific cause-and-effect relationships that directly impact revenue.
Data drives behavior change because it makes the abstract concrete. When sellers see that specific actions lead to measurable improvements in win rates, deal size, or cycle time, they're naturally motivated to adopt those behaviors.
The key is presenting data in a way that's immediately actionable. Guy's team focuses on metrics that sellers can directly influence through their daily activities.
One of the most encouraging insights from Guy's research is how quickly B and C players can improve when given the right tools and guidance.
"As long as we've got sellers that are hungry, that want to win. And we take away any distractions from them and show them through the playbooks how to win. The speed in which they end up getting closer to the A players is so fast," Guy observes.
This isn't about completely restructuring your sales organization. It's about systematically removing barriers and providing clear guidance based on what actually works.
The sales performance gap doesn't have to be permanent. Guy's research proves that with the right approach, B and C players can rapidly adopt the behaviors that make A-players successful.
The key is moving beyond generic sales advice to data-driven insights about what actually works. When you study your top performers, remove administrative barriers, and show clear cause-and-effect relationships between behaviors and outcomes, transformation happens quickly.
Remember, this isn't about finding better salespeople – it's about helping your existing team perform at their highest level. With hungry sellers, clear playbooks, and data-driven coaching, you can close the performance gap faster than you might think.
In this episode of SellMeThisPen Podcast, Michael and Guy dive deep into the 2025 Ebsta Benchmark Report, discussing the unprecedented sales performance gap and sharing four proven strategies for transforming B and C players into consistent revenue generators.
Guy Rubin is the CEO & Founder at Ebsta, the Revenue Intelligence Platform, and a Pavilion CEO Ambassador. He's passionate about helping B2B sales teams scale their revenue engine through data-driven insights. Guy's team analyzed 655,000 opportunities worth $48 billion in revenue and surveyed over 2,000 CROs to uncover the best practices that lead to efficient growth.
