Bullock Strategic Partners

Bullock Strategic Partners

Sales results are a lagging output of a leading set of behaviours.

We offer a one-day workshop and supporting program for sales managers in financial services - installing the operating rhythm that turns reactive performance reviews into predictable production.

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The opportunity

The problem isn't talent. It's management.

Most sales teams that miss target have the talent and the products. The gap is management — performance reviewed reactively, at month- or quarter-end, when the shortfall is already locked in.

The status quo

Performance reviewed after the fact

  • Results reviewed at quarter-end, after the shortfall is locked in
  • Targets set annually, then quietly forgotten by April
  • Pipeline risk surfaces too late to act
  • One-to-ones happen when things go wrong

The program installs

A disciplined management operating rhythm

  • A scorecard everyone watches weekly
  • Targets cascaded to the individual week
  • Pipeline risk caught in week two, not week twelve
  • A structured one-to-one with every direct report, every week

What the program teaches

Three disciplines, one operating rhythm.

Three disciplines, one rhythm. Track gives you the data. Cascade gives you the targets. Talk is where the coaching happens.

01

Track

Track the activities that drive results.

Lead indicators caught daily and weekly - not just lag indicators reported monthly. Few metrics, used to coach, beat many used to police.

02

Cascade

Set targets to the individual week.

Annual to quarterly to weekly, broken down to the smallest unit a manager can coach. Everyone knows what a good week looks like.

03

Talk

Hold a weekly one-to-one with everyone.

A structured 30-minute call with every direct report, every week, without exception. The single highest-leverage habit in the program.

What gets measured and reviewed every week gets done.

What leadership gets

Outcomes a CFO and a CRO would both recognize.

Real business outcomes that show up in forecast accuracy, quarter-over-quarter consistency, and the way the team handles pressure.

Forecast accuracy
Targets cascade to the individual week and reconcile to the plan. The numbers that go to senior leadership are the numbers the team is actually working to.
Revenue protection
Pipeline risk is caught early enough to act on, not just explain. A shortfall spotted in week two can be fixed; a shortfall discovered in week twelve can only be reported.
Predictable production
Consistent output quarter over quarter, less dependent on heroics. Reps know what a good week looks like, and managers can see when one isn't shaping up.
Accountable culture
A standard cadence of weekly one-to-ones across every team. Accountability stops being a quarterly event and becomes a Monday-morning habit.
Manager capability
Front-line managers who coach to the numbers with confidence, rather than recite them. The biggest lift is in the layer of leadership closest to the customer.

The toolkit

Three layers of coaching, one operating system.

Sales-management discipline is a chain. We install the structure and tools for every link in it, so you can see at every layer whether the rhythm is actually happening.

01

Manager observes rep

Field Coaching Note

A one-page tool managers use during ride-alongs to capture observations and identify one strength to reinforce and one thing to coach next.

02

Manager coaches rep

Weekly One-to-One Structure

A 30-minute structured call template that turns those observations into next-week behaviour. The single highest-leverage habit in the program.

03

Senior leader observes manager

Coach-the-Coach Sheet

A tool for VPs and regional directors to observe their managers coaching, with the same "one strength, one thing to coach" structure. The cadence repeats up the chain.

When the chain holds, performance becomes predictable. When it breaks, you can see exactly where.

The foundation

Grounded in research. Adapted for financial services.

The program rests on two bodies of work in sales management and organizational behaviour, adapted from the original research for the specifics of banking, wealth, and asset management.

Jordan & Vazzana

Cracking the Sales Management Code

McGraw-Hill, 2012

A research-based framework separating Results, Objectives, and Activities. Provides the A-O-R model and the five sales-management processes used throughout the program.

Buckingham & Goodall

Nine Lies About Work

Harvard Business Review Press, 2019

Source of the "attention not feedback" posture, and the Cisco natural experiment showing that weekly one-to-ones produce a lift, monthly barely worked, and every six weeks or less actually hurt.

Why cadence matters

Cisco's natural experiment across thousands of teams found three distinct outcomes from the same intervention - the difference was frequency:

Weekly

Significant lift

in productivity — the intervention worked

Monthly

Barely moved

the needle — marginal, forgettable effect

6+ weeks

Negative impact

teams were better off with no one-to-ones at all

The data is clear: weekly one-to-ones drive results. Less frequent means the discipline stops working — or worse, works against you.

The facilitator

Built by a practitioner who has run the playbook.

The program is built on disciplines that have been implemented, refined, and re-implemented across more than twenty years of Canadian financial services.

David Bullock

David Bullock

Founder, Bullock Strategic Partners

David is an accomplished business executive and wealth-management leader with more than two decades in senior roles across Canadian banking, credit unions, asset management, and wealth advisory. He has held CEO, SVP, and Managing Director roles at firms including Aviso Wealth, Thrive Wealth Management, NEI Investments, BlackRock Canada, IFDS, Russell Investments, and CIBC.

His work has consistently focused on the discipline that separates sales teams that hit plan from those that don't: a clear-eyed view of the activities that drive results, targets that reach the individual week, and a weekly coaching rhythm that holds even when the calendar gets busy. The program he facilitates is built on the same disciplines he used personally to deliver the results below.

He holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto and the ICD.D designation from the Rotman School of Business Directors Education Program.

>$2.2B

Net cash flow turnaround

NEI Investments, under 2 years

$4.3B

Net sales 2020-2022

Aviso Wealth

$1B

New Fund Launch

Russell Canada Fund Launch Record

#1

on Credential platform

12 consecutive months

Selected leadership roles: SVP, Head of Wealth Distribution, Aviso Wealth · CEO, Thrive Wealth Management · Managing Director, Head of Retail, BlackRock Canada · EVP, IFDS Canada · Managing Director, US Sales & Client Service, Russell Investments · Senior Vice President, CIBC.

Engagement

Three ways to start.

We start most engagements with a single pilot delivery, often expanding to follow-up implementation support or a multi-cohort rollout. The right entry point depends on the size of the management team and the timeline.

Start a conversation

If this maps to something you're working on, let's talk.

Most conversations begin with a 30-minute call to understand the team, the targets, and the gap. From there, a proposal follows within a week.

Email David
dwbullock1@outlook.com   ·   416-605-1816