In my 25 years as a sales person, national sales manager and sales management consultant, I’ve seen firsthand that larger sales forces don’t always generate more revenue, let alone enhance margins. I’ve helped many local companies re-size their sales force while increasing revenue, reducing sales expenses and enhancing margins.
So think quality, not quantity. Like my colleague and author of “The Rockefeller Habits,” Vern Harnish, says, “One great employee can outperform three good employees.”
The shrinking work force will force companies to sharpen their recruiting and retention strategies. In a recent survey, business owners in the Twin Cities who are looking to hire salespeople this year admitted that it has already become more difficult to find good candidates than in previous years.
Top-line results may or may not be an accurate indicator that you should rethink your sales organization. The outright failure to meet revenue goals is obvious, but other red flags are rising cost of sales, eroding margins, increasing competitive pressure, excessive turnover, and blaming other parts of the company such as marketing and product development.
Step 1: Identify
In order to determine what it takes to be successful in selling your products or services to your buyer, you need to break down the components of your selling environment. When I helped a client that manufactures and sells inks internationally detail their sale so that they could grow margins, they recognized the need to shift from a transactional sale to department heads to a solution-based approach to C-level executives.
This strategic shift required salespeople who were confident interacting with presidents and CEOs about financial concepts commonly discussed in the board room.
Examples of other considerations are as follows:
Complexity of the sale – Is there one decision maker or more than one? How many committees are involved?
Market conditions – How many active competitors do you have?
Decision-maker characteristics – What level in the organization are you selling to? Their education? Socioeconomic status?
Pricing – How do you compare with the competition?
We found that there are a minimum of 17 variables to consider, each having a dramatic impact on what skills, talents and beliefs are needed for a salesperson to be successful. Drill down to each of the many variables in order to arrive at an accurate picture of the critical qualities your ideal salesperson must have.
Step 2: Assess
When you have a clear understanding of the essential traits for success, assess your current sales force to learn:
Who is capable of accomplishing your strategic objectives?
What kinds of help – coaching, training, etc. – is needed to improve poor and mediocre performers, and who in these groups will or will not respond?
How can you improve your top performers?
By getting accurate data on each salesperson’s four crucial elements – desire, commitment, taking responsibility and positive outlook – as well as data about the “hidden” fears that sabotage their sales efforts (creating “bloated” pipelines, proposals that never close, etc.), you can be accurate in choosing which team members you’ll stake your company on. You’ll also learn about personal fears that will inhibit performance and if those fears can be overcome.
The ink supplier learned that 75 percent of its current sales force was trainable and coachable. We created personal development plans for each salesperson’s specific needs, because we knew it would pay off. However, we had to make some difficult decisions regarding the other 25 percent!
DANGER: When your company’s future growth and profitability is on the line, don’t fall prey to “Fuzzy-Does-It” syndrome, mistaking personal warmth for sales ability. Objective data derived from proven instruments that have been used with repeated success bypass personal biases for more accurate outcomes.
Step 3: Use tools
A scientific approach to evaluate behavioral styles, workplace motivators and personal skills that drive sales results will reveal a sales candidate?s various capacities, including accountability, customer focus, emotional control and handling rejection.
Talent and capacity: The Skills Index assesses cognitive structure and measures how people think. This assessment identifies areas of strength where your salespeople are most effective in focusing their time to achieve the desired results. There are 23 talents. For example, we can determine valuable insights into a person?s ability to manage conflict, work as a team, solve problems and focus on results.
Emotions and behavior: DISC helps analyze how salespeople act – observable behaviors and emotions. This tool does not assess the right or wrong of a person’s behavior or why – only how different individuals approach problems and people, at what pace and using what procedures. This information is vital in determining if there is a match to the selling position as well as understanding how to maximize the natural giftedness of each salesperson to accomplish corporate goals.
When a job requires us to use our natural behavioral traits, we increase the probability of success. In ground-breaking research published by Target Training International in 2006, the top behavior patterns for top-ranking sales people are: persuader, promoter and conductor.
Values and attitudes: Workplace Motivators is an assessment that provides insights into what energizes a person. Understanding the workplace motivators of your sales teams will help you not only determine if they are a good fit for the sales challenge, but also if they are a good fit with your culture.
When conflicts arise, you’ll have insights into the “why” behind the behavior. Of course, the data also helps us appreciate the values of others that may differ from our own.
Commit to assessing future candidates objectively and consistently. Examine your sales management processes (coaching, motivating) and systems (compensation, CRM, scorecard, best practices) to ensure that they work synergistically to support sales success.
Establish clear metrics for good, better and best performance. Then your sales force can be small and mighty.
