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How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Performance -- Part 2
Another key reason why companies suffer from 80/20 performance is their processes for hiring, training and managing salespeople rely almost entirely upon subjective information. Think about it:
One way to introduce objective information into the sales recruiting process is through specialized sales assessment tests. I'm not referring to personality or behavioral tests like Myers-Briggs or DISC. Those types of tools can be useful for learning how to communicate more effectively with someone. However, I have not found them to be useful for predicting whether someone will succeed in sales. The specialized sales assessment tests that I'm referring to identify an individual's strength or weakness in the following areas:
Second, specialized sales assessment tests can help identify each salesperson's unique training needs. Here is an example: Two salespeople, Beth and Bill, work for the same company. Beth is weak in Sales Drive, which makes her reluctant to ask for orders. Bill is weak in Emotional Toughness, which makes him sensitive to rejection and limits his prospecting effectiveness. If Beth and Bill go through the same sales skills training course, how much improvement in performance should their employer expect to see? The answer is little or none. Why? Because Beth and Bill have completely different training needs that will not be addressed by basic sales skills training. Beth would benefit the most from attending an assertiveness training class. She also needs coaching to help her recognize that failing to ask for orders denies her customers valuable solutions to costly business problems. Bill needs to learn to not take rejection personally. He could also benefit from training that teaches positive thinking and other motivational techniques. Unfortunately, unless Beth's and Bill's unique training needs are identified, and targeted training is supplied to address those specific needs, there isn't much reason to expect their performance to improve. Conclusion Many "80/20" performance disparities result from an over-reliance on subjective information when making salesperson hiring and management decisions. The proposed solution is to add objective information (gathered via specialized sales assessment tests) to "people decision" processes. This one change can help companies increase the proportion of top performers on their sales teams and improve the performance of existing sales team members. Copyright 2005 -- Alan Rigg Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform and What to Do About It. To learn more about his book and sign up for more FREE sales and sales management tips, visit http://www.8020performance.com.
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