Trust today is binary: vouched or never. The fix — nobody needs full trust on day one; they need a rung. Applies to everyone: vouched, scouted, family included.
| Rung | May touch | Gate up |
|---|---|---|
| R0 · Probation | Floor + bench only. No safe, no solo custody. Buddy + daily reconciliation. | Verification + 30-day trial clean |
| R1 · Supervised | Counter under senior; stock in pairs. | 3 clean months + reference file done |
| R2 · Trusted | Counter + recorded stock movement. | 12 months + zero discrepancy |
| R3 · Inner circle | Safe & valuations — maker–checker never off. | Owner's written sign-off |
A ₹2–3k hike is a 5–10% raise at this band — the cheapest poach in India, on staff YOU trained. Flat cash is directly comparable; a vesting pot is not. Change the game:
Legal because it vests: unvested money was never earned — nothing is deducted, nothing to dispute. Pair with: relieving letter conditional on full handover · 12-month non-solicitation · confidentiality survives exit.
Plus, kill single-point dependence: every process one head carries alone (billing, old-gold exchange, safe custody) → one-page SOP + one trained backup. A catastrophic exit becomes an inconvenient one.
| Commitment | Owner | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Four rungs written (one page, gates included) | ||
| One real candidate scored on the ladder | ||
| One exit priced honestly → sizes the loyalty pot | ||
| Consultant pack handed over (clauses below ↓) |
Salesmen crib about price and competition because their target depends on price and competition — two things they don't control. In a commodity trade the crib is built into the scoreboard. Move the scoreboard to what they DO control. Not a CRM. One register page per salesman, read aloud every Monday.
| Line in the register | Why it works |
|---|---|
| Dealer visits done vs the week's beat plan | Effort becomes visible — no more "market is slow" |
| New counters opened this month | Growth he can create regardless of price |
| Sample folders / display boards placed | Tomorrow's orders, planted today |
| Payment days on his dealers (collections) | Money in the bank beats billing bravado |
| Cribs filed with naam-batao | See the rule below — cribs become intelligence |
Accountability is not a lecture — it's a page with your name on it. Each salesman owns a named dealer list. His page, his numbers, read aloud Monday over chai. Nobody is accountable for a shared number; everybody is accountable for his own page.
Why the current incentive is silent: a per-sheet scheme that only one man in the company ever qualifies for demotivates worse than no scheme — it proves the game can't be won. Keep it as the upside; the register bonus becomes the reachable first rung. It also ends the review trap — monthly reviews where nothing happens on misses, until a firing month arrives (22 salesmen → 14). The register brings small consequences weekly, so a massacre is never needed again.
You already have the content — a 7-day induction and online product material. Content was never the gap: digital training didn't move sales because the three skills you named (accountability, ownership, the will to succeed) don't live in material — they live in rehearsal. And training died the day the production head left: never let a habit depend on one man again. This cadence needs no trainer — the register supplies the material. Registers first, training after. One meeting, not two.
| When | How long | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Daily (optional) | 1 voice note | One price objection + the answer line, on the sales WhatsApp group they already have |
| Monday | 15 min | Role-play ONE lost deal from last week's registers — one man plays the dealer, everyone hears the answer that should have been given |
| Monthly | 30 min | One competitor's board on the table. Cut it, compare it, price the difference — his men should know it better than the competitor's men do |
| Quarterly | 1 hour | The best salesman teaches his best move. Status for him, skill for the rest, zero cost |
What to teach — the 80% most owners miss: not product specs. The dealer's own maths — margin per sheet, rotation speed, claim costs. The day your man can show a dealer he EARNS MORE on your board despite a higher rate, the price conversation ends. That one skill is the whole syllabus.
Free win — formalise the WhatsApp claps: you already appreciate wins on the group, but only when someone happens to post. Make it a ritual: every Monday after registers, one owner-signed "Performance of the Week" post. Predictable recognition beats accidental recognition — and it costs nothing.
Your facts first: retention is already 85% — the leak is specific (entry-level sales managers, leaving for earnings and growth), and moonlighting today is one unproven Bangalore rumour, mostly unrelated side work. But the real gap is paper: your offer letters carry no confidentiality, conflict-of-interest, or exclusivity clause at all — even a proven case would be un-actionable. Fix the paper before the problem. Three simple layers, then the pot:
| Commitment | Owner | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Register printed · Monday meeting fixed (day & time) | ||
| First crib converted with naam-batao, in front of the team | ||
| Clauses M1 + M2 drafted with consultant → into every offer letter (none carry any clause today) | ||
| Loyalty pot sized for one salesman band (use the calculator) |
Two live views: the Platform Tree — everything that exists and under what, with gold numbers showing today’s meeting order — and the 90-Day Roadmap — what happens after the meeting. Click any box to open it right below.