compassionate with salespeople who aren’t performing. Reps must produce a minimum of $6,000 of new margin per month. If a rep misses this target in three out of any four months, they are gone. “We learned the hard way that, if you let people not produce or not perform, it brings down the whole company,” says Carr. When the rule was first put into place in 2010, Heartland quickly lost half its sales force – but key metrics soared. Before the rule, average monthly production was $2,500 per rep; today, it is $8,500. Moreover, today’s sales team is producing more than $10 million per month – more than twice the amount the larger pre-2010 sales team produced.
6. All-star compensation category. Sales reps who produce more than $10,000 a month for at least eight months in a 10-month period become All-Stars and their residual compensation is increased by one-third. “We have created so many All-Stars I just can’t believe it,” says Carr. “In 2010, we had about 30 All-Stars. Today, it’s about 200 in any given month.” How does Heartland afford it? Production efficiency. With so much revenue coming from so few people, Heartland shares its wind- falls with the people who produce them. One final aspect of Carr’s unique selling model: the
core components have never changed. While it has been tweaked to plug holes and prevent abuse, the basic structure, policies, and philosophy of the sales model have remained unchanged since the company processed its first card transaction in 1997. “In other companies, sales reps get successful and then, all of a sudden, their territory shrinks or their commission is reduced because the com- pany or the new CEO or new CFO thinks the rep is making too much money,” Carr observes.
The Heartland Sales Structure: 1 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER 9 REGIONAL SALES MANAGERS 100DIVISION MANAGERS 300TERRITORY MANAGERS 1,000SALESPEOPLE
HOW HEARTLAND DRIVES SALES
Tony Capucille, Chief Sales Officer of Heartland Payment Systems offers an inside view of the company's Sales Operations Center.
Heartland would never make those changes because
they aren’t right. They aren’t treating others the way Carr insists on always treating others – with dignity, respect, and straightforward honesty. For Carr, it’s the only way to do business and the only way to live.
How $250 Is Rescuing Thousands of Disadvantaged Students W
hen Robert Carr was a senior in high school, he was awarded a $250 scholarship from
the Lockport (Illinois) Women’s Club. He was overwhelmed that someone would give him money for college simply because he needed it. He remembers thinking: “Someday, I’m going to give that back.” Boy, has he paid it back.
When Heartland Payment Systems’ balance sheet improved dramatically in 2001, he sent a check for $5,000 to the Lockport Women’s Club, thank- ing them for their support of him all those years earlier. When the group
invited Carr to attend their 100th anniversary meeting, he made an im- promptu decision to donate $100,000 to pay five $20,000 scholarships for local students in financial need. Still wanting to do more, Carr launched the Give Something Back Foundation, which aims to put at least 2,000 poor and working-class kids through college. It is well on the way to reaching that goal. Initially, the foundation selected 12th graders as scholarship recipients; today, they choose 9th
graders in or-
der to give them something to aim for during high school. Students who are chosen for a scholarship
must maintain a B average, stay off drugs, and exhibit good conduct throughout grades 9-12. Mentors and tutors work with the students to help keep them on track. So far, 87 percent of those who are selected in 9th
grade go on to
college and 96 percent of those graduate from college in four years. “The students are so appre- ciative that someone is interested in them and invested in their suc- cess, they don’t want to disappoint us,” says Carr, adding that his greatest inspiration today is put- ting kids, who wouldn’t otherwise be able to go, through college.
SELLING POWER JULY 2016 | 29 © 2016 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.
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