sales evaluation
-
What is Causing Your Salespeople to Fail in this Economy?
- April 23, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Do you have a salesperson like Bob?
Bob was very anxious over what to write to a suspect that blew him off. The prospect canceled an appointment and was vague about whether or not he would reschedule. This stopped Bob in his tracks and he literally spent an entire day getting feedback on what his email should say. Not only is Bob wasting time, it is time that could be spent finding and identifying additional opportunities, moving existing opportunities along and connecting with customers or clients and collecting referrals. So what causes Bob to do this and could we have predicted this behavior?
-
Don’t Make Assumptions About Sales Candidates
- March 31, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I have previously shared many instances of sales candidate assessments coming to life with their email, voice mails and interview antics following the taking of our assessment. While the following email is another example of that, it is an even better example of what happens when a skeptical client finally realizes it:
The client wrote:
-
The Secret – The Ancient Scrolls and its Impact on the Sales Force
- March 24, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Since this book is not the Kabbalah itself, rather a Cliff Notes version, it tends to read more like a self-help book. It is far more powerful than a self-help book though as it points to a number of rules that will cause a transformation in one’s life.
Seven of the desired behaviors are consistent with the philosophies in Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball as well as Objective Management Group’s Sales Assessments:
-
Personality Assessments – They Still Don’t Get it
- February 18, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The following email was recently forwarded to me. As you read it, look at the descriptors which the client references in the personality assessments. They’re not sales descriptors, so in essence, we have another example of an assessment which claims to be measuring one thing, but actually is measuring another:
-
Former IBM Pro Lashes Out Over Sales Assessment
- February 17, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A CEO of a fairly large-sized but under-performing OEM asked us to evaluate his sales force. One of the three regional managers, who assessed as poorly as any regional manager could, called to complain about his results. In addition to calling me a toad, Bob said that in the eighties he used to sell and manage at IBM and he led the top performing team. He finished by letting me know that we didn’t know what we were talking about and, by the way, he would be picking me up at the airport for the kick-off of their national training initiative.
-
Sales Assessments vs Personality Assessments Episode III – The PHD’s Strike Back
- February 3, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Are PHD’s more sensitive to criticism than the rest of us?
I heard from a few over the past week and they weren’t happy with what I wrote here and here. I rocked their world and they couldn’t cope.
-
Exposed – Personality Tests Disguised as Sales Assessments
- January 28, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, I met with a long-time client who, in his previous company, used OMG’s Assessments to identify what needed to change in order to double revenue from $30 million to $60 million. In his new company, which is already about 12x that size, he wants to double revenue again. He said, “I just wasted two years with the _____ Assessment.” The assessment to which he referred was a personality assessment marketed as a sales assessment. It could have referred to any personality or behavioral-styles assessment.
-
Identify the Perfect Sales Candidate for your Sales Force
- January 26, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Several years ago I wrote a White Paper that described both the original research as well as the ongoing research that drives our world-class, incredibly predictive, customizable sales specific candidate assessments.
When it comes to our assessments, we strive for excellence, by venturing wider and deeper than anyone else. We can be aggressive for two reasons:
-
Personality Assessments for Sales – The Definitive Case Study
- January 14, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Believe it or not, our in-house team was able to accomplish in about one week of intensive work, what the team of PHD’s couldn’t complete in the last year and a half! Test answers in our third round appeared to be coming in exactly where they should have been and all questions were accurately driving the desired findings. Exciting stuff!
-
Right Sales People in the Right Roles and the Right Seats
- January 12, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I was on site at a client’s last week to kick-off their training. At the end of the kick-off I asked each salesperson for their three biggest lessons learned. One salesperson had difficulty coming up with anything of substance. It turned out that he was new to sales and when we assessed him two months earlier, our assessment indicated that he was not trainable. The client wanted him in the program anyway because he had a hunch it would work out. “Not trainable” manifests in different ways but usually has the same outcome – salespeople don’t improve.