Hi Everyone,
I just received this email from my friends at Peak Sales recruiting and thought it was worth passing on. Peak’s Managing partner Eliot Burdett will be speaking at a special 1/2 day event we are hosting following the Sales Powerhouse Event April 28th. This session is designed for Sales managers a business owners only and Eliot will be speaking on hiring top sales talent.
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As a sales force leader, you are constantly watching the performance of the team, evaluating who is doing well and who needs a push to perform better (or, to be blunt, who needs a push all the way out the door).
The bottom-line way to evaluate your sales reps is on quota attainment, but even your top reps have a bad quarter once in a while, and in a market like the current one, the rate of reps missing targets may be higher than normal. For many companies 60+ % of the reps are below target. So holding reps accountable becomes a little tougher than usual. Of course, you can look at activity levels and there are several comprehensive and sophisticated assessment tools for evaluating your reps, but often in times like these, they still don’t provide much separation across your team.
So what else can you look at?
One test that was shared with me by a successful leader and tech veteran is a is something he called the simple success formula. It is a crude test, and doesn’t replace the other measures, but is useful in times like these. He evaluated staff in terms of the following combination of characteristics:
Desire + Discipline + Skill
The simple success formula applied to sales it looks something like this:
1. Desire
– are your reps motivated by the company and sales mission, their job and role on the team, do they work with passion and enthusiasm, do they operate with a sense of urgency? Do they regular have self chats to control their emotions and focus on the goal? Do they sound like they want to be on your team more than any place else?
2. Discipline
2. Discipline
– does the rep demonstrate the strong work habits – ie showing up to work early, planning their time, avoiding procrastination and focusing on the top priorities, working smart and finding the best path from A to B, keeping good notes, learning from mistakes, etc.
3. Skill
– does the rep have the experience, skills and abilities required to exercise good judgment and effectively perform in their role? Do they have the aptitude to easily acquire the skills they are missing (much easier if they have desire and discipline)?
The rule of thumb is that all three are required to be a top performer and the first two are mandatory to be a member of the team at any point in time. How does your team stack up?
ps. You may also want to check out our blog for more tips and advice on sales leadership for sales leaders: www.managingthesalesforce.com
All the best,
Brent Thomson | Co-Managing Partner
Peak Sales Recruiting Inc.
Toll Free: 800.964-0946
Web – www.peaksalesrecruiting.com
Peak Sales Recruiting Inc.
Toll Free: 800.964-0946
Web – www.peaksalesrecruiting.com