Understanding the Sales Force

A candidate that had been assessed for a sales management position wrote, “….Don’t you think your sales specific pre-employment assessments are inflexible and not a true indicator of future success? Such tests compartmentalize people, placing them in strict categories. People are not black and white, but colorful, each with a unique identity.”

This inaccurate comment is a great example of how widely people misunderstand assessments in general so I thought I’d take a moment to provide some education.

This particular President made a decision to hire 9 green salespeople because he could afford to pay them only $30,000. What he fails to realize is that it will take the better part of a year to develop 9 green salespeople to the point where they are closing business, other than by accident or luck, on a regular basis. So he invests $270,000 and sees very little revenue in return.

What would happen if he chose to hire 5 experienced salespeople instead?

One client finally heeded some advice they hadn’t responded to for several years. They finally decided to replace 90% of their underperforming independent reps with direct salespeople. They certainly thought it through for a long enough time, considering the implications to the remaining reps, salespeople, customers and employees; programs, applications, legacy knowledge and costs. So on some magical day this year a transition will take place and the company will usher in the new era of performance and accountability. Or so it seems.

It doesn’t matter what kind of business you’re in. Having an effective recruiting process that incorporates the use of an accurate sales assessment early in the process is as important as an accounting system that provides cash flow reports.

This is worse than mediocrity, more evil than a salesperson violating his non-compete, more horrible than complete failure, more disturbing than complacency, more serious than ambivalence and more disastrous than excuse-making.

We have discussed many of the problems associated with optimizing and understanding the sales force but it all comes down to consistency. There may be expectations, accountability and coaching. The same goes for motivation, effective recruiting, support, direction and guidance. When all of the salespeople consistently perform pipeline building-activities, most of the problems in a sales organization disappear.