Tall Sales No lumberjack, big blue ox or steel-driving man here, but would you settle for a sales team that can push its numbers from $18 million to $50 million in only five years? Here's how they did it.

In a way, it began with a bet. Or a dare. Certainly it was a promise. Whatever you call it, it happened at the annual meeting in 1994, a half-social, half-serious function celebrating the past year. Larry Gaynor, founder, president and CEO of The Nailco Group, was proud of his beauty salon product distribution company. And why not? He had a strong company, largely constructed by a formidable sales team.

Today, it is a selling tsunami.

Back then, it had made $18 million for the year, and The Nailco Group--TNG for short--was moving into a 100,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art complex. But Gaynor was bracing for a possible quitting epidemic--the new office in Farmington Hills, Michigan, was 20 minutes further from most employees' homes. And so Gaynor, who is something of a showman, boldly announced to his 65 employees: "When we reach $50 million, I'm going to buy each of you a car."