Time To Redesign Sales? Do You Have The Right People In The Right Roles?
By Mark Roberts
As sales organizations adapt and pivot to buyer needs and their buying process one of the things you should consider is, “do I have the right salespeople in the right roles?” Unfortunately, we know three of the most common errors that managers make are:
1) placing the wrong people in the wrong jobs
2) keeping them in these jobs for too long
3.) hiring based on experience and gut instinct.
Business strategist and author, Laura Garnett, recently wrote about the ten signs that your employee is not correct for their role. Garnett asserts that these signs are often very subtle, and I agree. Perhaps you’ve noticed disengagement, signs of boredom, or one of your team’s performance lags no matter how carefully you coach them. And when the department is sales, there’s a risk of a negative impact on the top and bottom line as well as damage to your brand.
Overall, Garnett’s article has me considering how to ensure the right salesperson is in the proper sales role AND how to mitigate the issue if the person is currently inhabiting the wrong position.
The answer: Data! Let’s explore the whys and how’s.
Using Data to Ensure You Hire the Right Salesperson.
There’s a myth in the sales biz, and it goes that “nobody really understands how sales teams work.” Over the years, I’ve heard this fable expressed by countless members of the C-suite, and it is categorically false. Understanding sales requires a decent CRM, good data, some analytical tools, as sales skills assessment and a willingness to roll up your sleeves and ask the hard questions and (most importantly) make the changes needed.
In this scenario, we’ll start from the very beginning－you’ve got a new vertical market or are expanding into a new region and need to recruit a new salesperson.
● Creating the job description– In order to develop practical job requirements, it’s crucial to understand what characteristics (AKA sales DNA), level of grit, and competencies that will be needed for the new hire to be successful in the role. The more specific you are, the better. One successful method that I’ve seen is using the data gleaned from formal, predictive assessments of your top performing team members. Essentially you are creating a profile of your best salesperson and writing the job description to attract that person. Additionally, you may want to share this profile with your team and include them in creating the description. They will be deeply familiar with what it takes to be successful in your organization.
● Use a predictive sales assessment tool to evaluate candidates– Hiring sales representatives is not easy. Do you need hunters or farmers or both? Does it matter? Is the sales role outside sales? Inside sales? Many companies don’t understand what traits, competencies, and grit are necessary to succeed in selling their products. Formal evaluations are critical to identifying and predicting the underlying reasons for success or failure. Currently, I am working with an assessment tool with high probability success metrics, scored over three categories: sales DNA, grit and learned competencies. For instance, 92 percent of the candidates that are recommended and hired reach the top 50 percent of the sales team within 12 months. What’s their secret? Actually, it’s no secret; it’s using data, building profiles, and performing analysis.
● Onboarding– Onboarding is a typical point of failure for many organizations. While sales leaders understand how urgent a comprehensive onboarding process having is, there are often other priorities. Our partners over at OMG have an excellent post on the how-to of onboarding and the positive outcomes that result when you do it correctly. And don’t think hiring a rep with experience in your product/market allows you to skip onboarding. Our friend at OMG, Dave Kurlan, has a term for it called “white-knuckling.” Here’s the story behind the moniker. It is worth a read. In short, the term refers to the feeling an experienced driver gets when driving in bad weather. To quote Dave, “the scenario might mirror exactly how it feels to be a new salesperson or an experienced salesperson who isn’t being on-boarded properly at a new company. New salespeople could easily be experiencing the white-knuckle syndrome, have difficulty seeing ahead, feeling like the car won’t stop, and just being totally out of control.”
● Continued sales effectiveness and improvement assessments– Great sales leaders understand that for their team skills, development never stops. For assessments, to maintain objectivity, consider using a third-party. An unbiased look at your teams’ skills, beliefs and motivations, strategies, and systems can tell you if your team can execute and belong in their current roles. Additionally, assessments will help you discern what exactly you need to do to help your organization achieve its potential while giving you data to support your coaching and training efforts. You’ll also glean insight as to when it may be time to throw in the towel.
● Build an ABL (Always Be Learning) mindset– Good (to GREAT) sales teams thrive when employed by companies who understand the importance of training. The Rain Group documented that companies with a training retention plan have 31% more sales reps reach quota than the industry average and a 10% higher year-over-year increase in corporate revenue.
Also, the data extracted from the assessments mentioned above can help you pinpoint exactly the right training and coaching to drive success. Please don’t kill your team with hours of death-by-PowerPoint. eLearning and other innovations have advanced training to the point where it can be (almost) fun!
Well, what do you think?
What are some of the initiatives that you do to confirm you have the right salesperson in the right role?
Are you restructuring your sales team?
Do you have the right people in the right roles?
Do you have the right terms of trade based on the profit of each customer?
If you are in the process of assessing your sales team’s skills, beliefs and motivations to retool your sales organization let’s chat.
I can save you a great deal of time, frustration and help you make a data driven plan to drive the maximum results in the shortest amount of time.
