- April 22, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Introducing my Rule of Conflicting Sales Realities: Weak sales organizations have little awareness of their ineffectiveness which instills a false sense of greatness. I believe that this is why generally ineffective sales forces remain that way.
Strong sales forces, that debrief their opportunities on a daily basis, are acutely aware of their challenges, obstacles and bottlenecks, causing them to feel less effective than they actually are.
My Law: E=AS (Effectiveness=Awareness x Strength; not shorthand for He is an Ass!) where awareness is a value from -5 to 5 and strength is a value from -5 to 5.
So the group I was with yesterday, a very weak group, was a -5 on the strength scale and a -2 on the awareness scale, making them a -10 on effectiveness.
The group I was with last week, a fairly competent group, was a 3 on the strength scale and a 4 on the awareness scale, giving then a score of 12 on effectiveness.
What is your sense of how effective your sales force is compared with sales forces from outside of your industry?