The Distribution Blog

If you lead a sales team in distribution, you’ve probably seen this story play out.

A top rep hits quota then stops chasing stretch goals. They do just enough to stay safe. 

You run contests. Adjust comp. Add happy hours. But nothing sticks.

The problem isn’t effort. Most reps don’t burn out because they’re working too hard. They burn out because they’re working hard on things that don’t matter to them.

That’s what Gary Corless figured out while scaling PSS World Medical from a $15M startup to a $2B industry leader. His reps worked harder than most: moving cities on short notice, building shelving for new branches, even hunting down boxes at the end of the day from local groceries to ship orders.

They didn’t love it because it was easy. They loved it because they understood the mission, believed in the strategy, and knew exactly how their effort would pay off.

That's the difference between managing salespeople and coaching owners. 

If you’re struggling to motivate your sales team, here are 5 tips from Gary’s playbook for building a sales culture that pushes hard, wins big, and takes care of the people driving the business forward.

1. Start with purpose, not numbers

It’s easy to default to the scoreboard. To walk into Monday’s meeting, point at last quarter’s numbers, and say, “We need to do better.”

But that isn’t leadership. That’s math with pressure.

When reps lose sight of the “why,” the job becomes a treadmill. They run hard but never feel like they’re getting anywhere. Progress feels empty. Goals feel like chores.

Instead of starting with quota, walk your team through this sequence:

Hearts → Minds → Behavior → Results

Hearts: Start with purpose.
At PSS, reps weren’t just selling medical gauze. They were building the first national physician supply company. They were helping doctors serve patients better. And when the company grew, their income and career grew too. That clear purpose helped their reps push through the hard days.

Minds: Make the plan believable.
Once someone is emotionally bought in, they then need to see how the strategy will actually work. Do this by helping them visualize what success looks like. Explain what changes when they hit quota and what that growth will unlock for both them and the team.

Behavior: Break it down into daily actions.
Big goals can feel overwhelming. Instead, focus on repeatable actions. How many calls per week should your inside sales team make? How much prep is needed for those calls? What does “great” activity look like on a normal Tuesday?

Results: Make the outcomes make sense.
Now it’s time to talk about quota. When reps understand the mission, see a clear plan, and know how their actions ladder up, the number is no longer a source of stress. It’s a byproduct of doing the right things.

2. Build owners, not employees

One of Gary’s biggest lessons: ownership drives performance more than pressure ever could.

At most companies, people do their jobs. At PSS, people owned their outcomes. Everyone from warehouse staff to sales reps understood how company growth affected their paycheck. They knew that the better the business did, the better they did.

The comp plan became the coach. It rewarded impact, not activity. If reps weren’t growing accounts, they saw it in their check. 

Remember, you don’t need a perfect comp model to build ownership. You just need to make sure every rep understands how their effort moves the business and how that effort comes back to benefit them.

3. Hire for hunger, then add skill

A lot of sales leaders lean on experience when hiring. But experience can come with baggage.

Gary learned this early. Many industry veterans already “know” what’s impossible. They’ve been around long enough to carry limiting beliefs, rigid processes, and old assumptions. By the time you untrain the bad habits, you could have coached a rookie into a star.

That’s why PSS often hired reps straight from college campuses. They looked for people who had proven drive. Gary’s examples included: athletes and students who worked their way through school. 

They weren’t always polished. But they were coachable. And when someone believes in the mission and has the right mindset, you can often teach the rest.

4. Diagnose before you prescribe

Growth plateaus happen. But most leaders react too fast and look too narrow.

When sales slow down, it’s tempting to immediately raise the activity bar, change the comp plan, or launch a new product line. But sometimes, the problem isn’t effort. It’s friction.

Gary’s advice: pause and ask what’s really going on. Look at internal and external shifts, like: 

• Has the market changed?
• Are competitors doing something different?
• Did you accidentally add more admin tasks that are stealing selling time from your team?
• Are reps spending too much time on low-margin products?

If you rush (or worse, skip) the diagnosis, you’ll end up fixing symptoms instead of solving the root problem.

Slowing down here can feel uncomfortable, especially for action-oriented leaders. But it’s the only way to build long-term momentum without burning people out in the process.

5. Let managers lead, not just support

This one’s easy to miss.

Gary shared how young managers often fall into a trap. They start doing the job for their reps instead of coaching them. They chase quotes, fix errors, respond to escalations, and before long, they’re drowning in tasks instead of leading a team.

Sure, support matters. But managers shouldn’t be assistants.

If your frontline leaders are bogged down in busywork, your team is just surviving instead of growing. You want your managers focused on coaching, diagnosing problems, and removing obstacles. Not running errands.

So make space for them to lead. And protect that space. Hard. It pays off.

The bottom line

PSS reps worked long hours and took on big challenges. But they knew why they were doing it. They believed in the vision, trusted the strategy, and saw the reward tied directly to their work. That’s how they grew from a $15M startup to a $2B medical powerhouse. 

If there’s one thing you learn from this blog, let it be this. You don’t prevent burnout by softening expectations. You prevent it by creating a culture where the mission is clear, the path makes sense, and the wins are shared.

In other words, your reps don’t need an easier job. They need a clearer one. One that feels worth it. And let's focus on activities that actually make a difference. 

When they feel like owners, you don’t have to push them. They’ll push themselves.

Want more of Gary’s tips for how to build a winning growth culture? Listen to the full episode.