Why salespeople still love President's Club

Published: Wed, 11/12/25

Updated: Mon, 11/17/25

November 12, 2025

TOGETHER WITH

Welcome back to The Quota, where we spend hours staring at a screen so you can spend twenty minutes staring at what we made on your screen. In this week’s carefully-constructed issue, we’ll look at the history of President’s Club. Then, we’ll share a Sales Fail about checking LinkedIn, and give some advice to a veteran seller who took a lower-level role. Enjoy!

NUMBER OF THE WEEK

Email-only campaign lead rates have fallen by 29% year-on-year.

Source: Sopro

SALES ROUNDUP

Here’s what’s happening in the sales world this week:

A 23-year-old man is behind bars after allegedly pulling a knife on a car salesman during a test drive at an Albany dealership. Anthony Ayala, 23, of Utica, had been test-driving a 2026 Dodge Durango with a salesman when he pulled back into the dealership. At that point, police said, Ayala pointed a knife at the employee and demanded the keys. The victim got out of the vehicle, and Ayala allegedly took off in the stolen Durango. You can read more about it here.
A UK car salesman who moonlighted as a loan shark has been told to pay back his victims to the tune of over £150,000, or go back to prison. The 55-year-old lent money to several people illegally over a four-year period. Now the car salesman, who is said to have bullied and intimidated his victims, has been given a time frame of when to pay back his ill-gotten gains or face a spell back in prison. You can read more about it here.

FEATURE

Photo by jeff91764 licensed as CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

A (short) history of President’s Club and why salespeople still love it

Every spring, the best sellers board flights for a few days of celebration (and often debauchery) on a beach or somewhere warm. It’s called Presidents Club, and for decades it’s been the highest form of recognition a salesperson can earn. The locations change, the logos change, but the meaning stays the same: Club is how companies say thank you in a language salespeople actually understand.

When Selling Became a Sport

The tradition started in the 1950s, when companies like IBM, Xerox, and AT&T began formalizing large national sales forces. Managers needed a way to motivate hundreds of traveling reps without permanently increasing pay. Recognition programs were cheaper than raises and more effective than memos.

IBM’s “Golden Circle” became one of the earliest examples. A reward trip to Bermuda for top performers, complete with engraved watches and photo ops with executives. Xerox followed with its own “President’s Club,” issuing custom blazers with crests embroidered on the pocket. The message was clear: the quota wasn’t a target, it was a ranking system. Hitting it meant you were elite.

These early clubs created the mythology that still defines sales culture: performance equals identity, and recognition is the purest currency.

Selling the Dream to the Sellers

By the 1980s and ’90s, the Club trip had evolved from an incentive into spectacle. Companies produced glossy videos of winners sipping champagne on yachts, narrating their success stories like brand ambassadors. Corporate sales meetings opened with highlight reels of the previous year’s destination — Hawaii, Monte Carlo, the Caribbean — to make the next year’s targets feel tangible.

Hitting Club became a personality trait. Sales floors were decorated with framed photos of winners; reps who missed quota by a hair got sympathy but no status. The system created both loyalty and quiet resentment, which is exactly what it was designed to do.

The culture reached its caricature in pop culture moments like Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), where Alec Baldwin’s character yells, “First prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Second prize is a set of steak knives.” The line captured how fierce the competition between sellers at companies of all types had become.

Recognition as Currency

The psychology behind quota clubs is straightforward and effective. They rely on intermittent reinforcement — the same principle that keeps people checking slot machines. When recognition comes rarely and publicly, it becomes disproportionately powerful.

Behavioral research shows that variable rewards trigger stronger dopamine responses than predictable ones. In sales, that translates into constant striving: the next deal, the next quarter, the next trip. Companies amplify it by turning recognition into ceremony — stages, trophies, spotlights, and exotic trips.

For many reps, President’s Club is more than a prize; it’s proof of worth. Missing it by a fraction can feel like public failure. That dynamic is why the system survives every management fad and market cycle.

From Blazers to Instagram

The modern version of Club looks different, but not by much. SaaS companies, fintech firms, and startups now host annual “Clubs” in destinations that feel equal parts vacation and branding exercise. Instead of Polaroids and blazers, there are drone shots, LinkedIn posts, and branded hashtags.

Many winning reps document every moment — champagne toasts, matching resort outfits, beach games with senior leadership — turning what used to be a private reward into public content. On LinkedIn, the caption usually reads “Grateful to be part of this incredible team.” The subtext: I’m still winning.

Some companies have even added “virtual Clubs” for remote employees, sending swag boxes and staging Zoom celebrations. It’s cheaper and easier to scale, though most reps still say it feels hollow compared to a trip.

The Backlash

On sales forums and Reddit threads, you’ll find plenty of skepticism. Reps complain that Club has become a political game — that territory assignments, inherited accounts, or renewal-heavy portfolios decide the winners before the year begins. Others argue it’s just corporate optics, a chance for leadership to post pictures of happy employees while quietly tightening headcount elsewhere.

The resentment is real. Missing Club by a few thousand dollars can feel devastating when your peers are boarding flights to the Bahamas. The ritual may be outdated, but the hierarchy it reinforces is as sharp as ever.

Yet for all the cynicism, nobody wants to cancel it. Even critics admit that Club gives shape to a job defined by rejection and volatility. It’s a finish line that can still make chaos feel like a game.

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MEME OF THE WEEK

Source: Instagram -- Sales Humor

QUIZ

What is the oldest watch brand in the world?

A. Patek Philippe
B. Blancpain
C. Longines
D. Cartier

SALES FAILS

Each week, we bring you the most cringe-worthy sales moments from across the web. To submit your sales fail story for consideration, click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

I was selling HR software as my first gig out of college. I had been prospecting a VP for about two months with no response. I'd check her LinkedIn profile every week or so to see if there were any updates I could use as a conversation starter. After my fifth or sixth email, she finally replied: "I can see you've been viewing my profile every Tuesday for the past few months. It's honestly kind of creepy. I'm not interested."

I stared at my screen in horror. I had no idea LinkedIn showed who viewed your profile (I know, I know). I'd been essentially stalking this person on a weekly schedule, and she'd been watching me do it the entire time.

The worst part: I'd been doing this same "research strategy" with at least 15 other prospects. How many of them had noticed? How many were creeped out but never said anything?

I immediately went to my LinkedIn settings and turned on private browsing, but the damage was done. I started wondering if that's why my response rates had been so terrible. I still check LinkedIn for research, but now I'm paranoid.

Anonymous Location Withheld

GRAPH OF THE WEEK

Source: LinkedIn Poll -- November 2025

WORTH A PEEK

Is tech sales the highest paying industry? Where else are people making big bucks right now? A recent Reddit thread asked this question, with some great responses. If you’re looking for the next thing or just want to get a lay of the land, check out the conversation here.

ASK THE QUOTA

Want to submit a question and be featured in our advice column? Click here. (Don't worry, you'll remain completely anonymous).

Dear Quota Team,

I’ve been in sales for over a decade. I've managed teams, closed seven-figure deals, and trained reps who are now managers themselves. After a layoff, I took an SDR job at a startup to stay active while the market cooled off. The role’s fine, but my manager is in his mid-20s. He doesn't have much experience but he was a part of the founding team so he has a senior role. He insists on “coaching” me on cold-call tone and email subject lines.

I get that I’m technically an SDR now, but it’s hard not to roll my eyes when I’ve done this longer than he’s been in the industry. I’m trying to stay humble, but it’s wearing thin being coached on things I used to train others on. How do I earn respect without sounding defensive or jaded?

Annoyed in Location Withheld

Dear Annoyed

You took the job knowing this would be your role. Respect in sales isn’t granted based on your resume, it’s earned every quarter. If you want people to see you as more than an overqualified SDR, outwork everyone, hit your number, and make your manager’s job easier. You don’t have to like the setup, but rolling your eyes won’t change it. The fastest way back to senior status is to deliver like a veteran seller. Good luck!