32 It also makes a non-issue of what is often an immense worry for hiring managers: What if I invest in them and then they leave? Let’s face it, worrying that this will give people permission to leave once the tour is completed makes no sense. The fact is they don’t need your permission to leave. Employees can leave at any time. The Tour of Duty keeps them from doing it behind your back, and it creates a win-win for both them and for you. The ultimate goal, of course, is re-enlistment. After the initial Tour of Duty, if both the employee and the company want to consider re-enlistment, another tour can begin. Each tour should provide an in- creasingly challenging mission. Here’s what this can look like for a seller completing three Tours of Duty: Investing in your sales team is vital to see growth and success, and the Tour of Duty concept might just be the direction to take to ensure you are moving toward improving sales performance. TITLE SCOPE SALES GOALS GROWTH GOALS BILLING TOUR LENGTH TOUR OF DUTY #1 Account Rep Allowed to call on just 3 categories of business Close 4 targets and convert 2 to key level Make a capabilities presentation to GM and DO Bill a total of X dollars Typically takes 8-10 months TOUR OF DUTY #2 Account Executive Allowed to call on a total of 5 categories and slight increase in commission Close 8 targets and convert 4 to key level Sell at least 10 clients an integrated solution Bill a total of X dollars Typically takes 10-12 months TOUR OF DUTY #3 Senior Account Executive Allowed to call on any category and another bump in commission Close 12 targets and convert 6 to key level Sell a least 4 deals that are a minimum of 6 months Bill a total of X dollars Typically takes 10-12 months Beth Sunshine Partner, VP Talent Services The Center for Sales Strategy