Why do 40% of new hires end up in the bottom 20% after six months?

That’s not my stat. That’s McKinsey’s. In their 2017 Marketing & Sales study, “For top sales-force performance, treat your reps like customers,” they found that onboarding and enablement often spike early but fade fast. The result? Most reps never reach full productivity.

The takeaway for leaders is simple: training isn’t a one-time event. It’s a lifecycle.

The best teams don’t just launch playbooks; they personalize, reinforce, and evolve them the same way marketing teams nurture leads. If 40% of your new hires are slipping into the bottom tier by month six, the question isn’t “who did we hire?” It’s “what system did we drop them into?”

Let's fix this.

— Cliff