If you want to do better than the old formula of 20% of the salespeople bringing in 80% of the sales, assess potential salespeople as part of the hiring process.

Break the 80-20 Rule by Assessing Salespeople

Eighty percent of turnover is caused by bad hiring decisions. The fact is, you only have a 14% chance of accurately predicting the future performance of a job candidate from an interview alone. There is also a very good chance that some of the information you collect from the application, resume or even from references will be false or misleading.

Maintaining a "C-player" where there could have been active contribution from an "A-Player" may be more costly still, especially when you consider the largely untracked effects of mistakes, bad impressions left, and missed opportunities of all kinds.

Assess Behavioral Selling Style

If their natural behaviors aren't conducive to selling your product, for your company, and to your clientele, salespeople will have to change themselves on a daily basis.

If they need to "become somebody they aren't naturally" in order to successfully sell, it becomes stressful and draining - and usually is short-lived.

The DISC Behavioral Style Analysis Sales Version provides the preferred selling style, which includes the preferred communication style and the behavioral tendencies that influence selling (cold callers vs. service-oriented, caller rejection, need for direction, time management, etc.)

Assess Sales Knowledge

If salespeople lack knowledge of certain parts of the selling process, whether through lack of experience or poor strategies learned, they will lose sales and waste time. This is the easiest weakness to correct, especially if the individual enjoys the behaviors you desire and is motivated. Knowledge can be gained through training and coaching.

The Sales Skills Index indicates the salesperson's knowledge of the selling process in a consulting sales position. It will tell you whether they know how to prospect, qualify, make a first impression, demonstrate, influence and close.

Assess Emotional Attitude and Self-Application

Do your salespeople see themselves and the world clearly? How do they apply themselves?

The Personal Talent and Skills Inventory assesses the emotional application of the person in terms of the attributes of selling. It tells whether they will prospect, qualify, make a first impression, demonstrate, influence and close.

Assess Passions and Priorities

The Personal Interests, Attitudes and Values assessment tells you the salesperson's motivators, which tend to be more pronounced in sales than in most other positions.

Salespeople will lack motivation if what is most important to them isn't being addressed at the job (compensation & benefits, work environment, etc.). In sales, such a lack of motivation is disastrous.

A salesperson may enjoy the behaviors of selling and be skilled as well. But if they are not currently motivated, they typically do not produce as well as those who are motivated. Also, certain values (passions, priorities) affect selling situations:

Salespeople with a high "Social" value cannot enthusiastically sell a product unless they believe it will genuinely help benefit their customer. Those with a high "Theoretical" value have a substantial advantage selling more complicated products and applications - they thrive on constantly learning more and applying the true solution (this can be a negative factor if they are expected to sell boring widgets).

Call for a complimentary consultation with Art Schoeck at 404-814-0739. If you prefer, use our contact form.