Topgrading Pros, Cons and Sales Assessments

Somehow, I got thrown into the middle of an internet disagreement between Brad Smart, author of Topgrading, and Bob Corlett, a blogger who calls himself The Staffing Adviser.

The best way to follow this interesting blogersation on two separate websites is on Jonathan Davis’ blog, An Insider’s Guide to Recruiting on the American Workforce web site.

I think very highly of Topgrading.  The Proprietary Recruiting Process (STAR) that we help companies build and develop for hiring top salespeople is very compatible with Topgrading.  One of the differences in our two approaches is that Brad didn’t suggest incorporating assessments, including our world-class highly predictive sales assessments, into the Topgrading process.  So naturally, our process includes the assessment.

Verne Harnish, Founder and CEO of Gazelles, is a big Topgrading fan.  He’s also a big fan of OMG’s Assessments, so much so that we’ve partnered with Gazelles International and developed a Gazelles version of our Sales Force Evaluation.  In this version, all of our insights are delivered in the jargon of Rockefeller Habits.  I love this version!

So when it comes to recruiting salespeople, what can we learn from all of the back and forth and pros and cons and structure versus gut and discipline versus experience?

I can tell you this.  If you hire the right salespeople in the first place, you’ll save time, money, aggravation, and reverse flat or declining revenue.  If you hire the right salespeople you’ll motivate the rest of your team. If you hire the right salespeople you’ll raise the bar.  If you hire the right salespeople you’ll grow revenue.  And to hire the right salespeople you need an effective process,  a predictive sales specific assessment, sales managers that have been trained to interview salespeople, and an effective, comprehensive, 90 Day On Boarding Process.  Without them, you’re back to hoping for the best and as we know by now, hope is not a strategy.