sales assessment tool

  • Data Shows That Only 14% are Qualified for the Easiest Selling Roles

    • November 15, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Lays Potato Chips.  Movie Theater Popcorn.  Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies.  BBQ Ribs.  Fudge Brownies.  Rolos (a personal favorite from years ago).  All junk food which, after having the first one, you just can’t stop there. You must have more.  Lays even had that as a slogan back in the late 60’s – “Bet you can’t eat just one.”  Back then I couldn’t stop at one.

    Last week I wrote an article that said companies are hiring the wrong salespeople 77% of the time.  It was very popular and there was a great discussion on LinkedIn but similar to the junk food, you couldn’t read that one article and move to another subject.  You need to have some more.

    That article was filled with data to illustrate the differences between good salespeople versus those who actually get hired most of the time.  It was ugly and there were questions about the 77% like, “Where does that come from?”

    Some of the supporting data came from the CSO Insights 2018 Sales Talent Study.  Some of it came from Objective Management Group’s evaluations and assessments of 1.8 million salespeople.  And I’m going to show you some data that most people never get to see.  Take a look at these wild numbers!

    read more

  • The Wrong Salespeople are Hired 77% of the Time

    • November 13, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    94% of sales managers are optimistic about their salespeople.  That’s a very surprising statistic for a couple of reasons:

    50% or more of their salespeople won’t hit their quotas this year and haven’t since at least 2008.
    Objective Management Group’s (OMG’s) findings from the evaluations and assessments of salespeople show that 50% of all salespeople are weak.

    Sales managers believe that 50% of their salespeople are good and 44% of their salespeople have potential.  Of course, they are using subjective, rather than objective approaches to measuring what “good” is.

    How do you measure good?

    Salespeople consistently meet or exceed quota or expectations
    You like your salespeople, they work hard, don’t give you any trouble, are positive, don’t miss quota by too much, sometimes bring in good customers, are advocates of the company and brand, and are good influences, etc.

    Unfortunately, a lot of sales managers choose the second option.

    Why? Many sales managers aren’t very good at what they do!  Only 10% of all sales managers are effective at  both coaching and coaching consistently and when it comes to holding salespeople accountable, they aren’t much better.  Review the table below: 

    read more