"Using the assessments during our most recent round of hiring helped us significantly reduce the percentage of new hires that didn't work out."

Jason Reid
CEO
National Services Group
Irvine, CA

How to Build a Top-Performing Sales Team

There is nothing more frustrating than paying for people who don't perform. And, there is no function in a company where poor performance has a bigger impact that it does in Sales!

Are you struggling with questions like these?

Why do just a small percentage of our salespeople produce most of our company's sales?
What makes top sales performers different from middle and bottom performers?
How can I stop being fooled during interviews?
What can I do to help struggling salespeople make the largest possible improvement in their performance?

Does "the 80/20 rule" describe your sales team's performance?

If "the 80/20 rule" (where 20% of salespeople produce 80% of sales) accurately describes sales performance in your company (even though the actual ratio may be 70/30, 60/40, 90/10, or even 95/5), don't feel bad. You have a lot of company! Plus, research has shown there are valid reasons for these sales performance differences.

Research Finding #1

In their book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham and Donald Clifton report that great managers and average managers have different expectations for their employees. According to Buckingham and Clifton:

AVERAGE managers assume that
"each person can learn to be competent in almost anything".

GREAT managers assume that
"each person’s talents are ENDURING and UNIQUE".

If anyone can learn to be competent in anything, then anyone should be able to learn how to sell, right? That seems to be the position taken by most sales books, CDs, and training programs. The unspoken promise is that if someone invests the time, effort, and money required to learn the skills they teach, they will (eventually) succeed in sales.

Unfortunately, there are countless examples of salespeople who fail

Think about the salespeople you know personally. How many of them are struggling to make their quotas? Why are they struggling?

Is it the state of the economy? (If other salespeople are making their numbers, blaming the economy won’t earn much sympathy.)
Is it because they don’t work hard enough?
Is it because they don’t have enough product knowledge?
Do they need to work harder on their selling skills?
Do they need more coaching from their manager?

What if the “great manager” point of view is correct?

What if everyone cannot become proficient in sales? What if success in sales requires a unique set of talents?

Research Finding #2

Herb Greenberg, Harold Weinstein and Patrick Sweeney report this very conclusion in their book, How to Hire and Develop Your Next Top Performer. After comparing the results of hundreds of thousands of assessments with actual sales performance measurements, they reached these startling conclusions:

“55% of the people earning their living in sales
should be doing something else”

and

“Another 20% to 25% have what it takes to sell,
but they should be selling something else”

Wow! These are some sobering statistics! They say straight out, in plain English, that more than half of all salespeople are never going to make it in sales. Another quarter have some chance of accomplishing sales success, but only if they find the RIGHT job selling the RIGHT kind of product or service.

Why aren't these poor sales performers "weeded out" during the recruiting process?

A key reason why companies suffer from 80/20 sales performance is their hiring decisions are based entirely on SUBJECTIVE information. Consider the following:

What are resumes? They are a job applicant's subjective description of his or her capabilities and experience, written for the sole purpose of convincing the reader to invite the applicant to an interview.
What happens during an interview? Interviewees attempt to answer questions in a manner that makes the best impression. Meanwhile, interviewers form personal opinions about interviewees' qualifications.

According to Lou Adler, author of Hire With Your Head:

"More errors are made during the first 30 minutes of an interview than at any other time. Emotions, biases, perceptions, stereotypes, and first impressions are powerful human forces that profoundly affect individual judgment."

I'm NOT suggesting that subjective information is useless

Subjective information is a valid and valuable component of any "people decision". I believe this so strongly that I provide a FREE special report that will help you improve the quality of the subjective information you gather during your recruiting process. With that said, if decisions based solely on subjective information produce an undesirable result 80 percent of the time (remember the 80/20 rule?), doesn't it make sense to consider adding quality objective information to the mix?

How can you OBJECTIVELY determine which salespeople have the talents required to succeed in YOUR company's sales position(s)?

One change that makes a big difference in sales recruiting success is specialized sales assessment tests that capture specific, OBJECTIVE information about salespeople and sales job candidates.

I'm NOT referring to personality or behavioral tests like Myers-Briggs or DISC. These types of "communication style" assessments are useful for personal development. However, they are NOT effective for predicting whether or not an individual will succeed in sales.

To accurately predict whether an individual will succeed in sales, an assessment test needs to extract information in the following THREE CRITICAL CATEGORIES:

Cognitive (brain function):

How rapidly does the individual learn new information? This talent is of particular importance if your company has a broad portfolio of products and services and you want your salespeople to sell the entire portfolio.
How precisely and effectively does the individual communicate, both verbally and in writing? If your salespeople author a lot of proposals and/or e-mails, the quality of their writing will definitely impact their sales performance!
How strong is the individual's talent for asking insightful questions, picking out important pieces of information from the answers, and using this information to construct additional questions? This talent is critical for effective sales opportunity qualification.
How strong is the individual's talent for learning how to manage effective return on investment (ROI) conversations with prospects and customers? This talent is critical for increasing close rates by creating a context for price discussions.

Behavioral:

How energetic is the individual? How easy will it be for them to consistently maintain the level of productive activity required to achieve their sales targets?
How effective is the individual at convincing prospects and customers to "get off the dime" and take action?
How sociable is the individual? Do they enjoy interacting with others? Do they build rapport with strangers quickly?
Can the individual successfully direct his or her own activities, or does the individual require frequent input and direction from a sales manager to stay on track?
How will the individual respond when things don't go their way? Will they start to whine and complain, or will they be able to "shake it off" and maintain a consistent level of productivity?
How strong is the individual's desire to be liked? Will they be able to maintain a "win-win" focus, or will they give away the store?
How competitive is the individual? How confident are they in their ability to compete successfully?
How emotionally tough is the individual? How do they respond to rejection?
How dogged and determined is the individual in pursuing opportunities and overcoming roadblocks that arise during the sales process?
Will the individual follow through on their commitments?
How success oriented and outcome focused is the individual? Are they able to stay focused on the desired end result, or do they let themselves get bogged down in details along the way?

Interests:

In order for sales assessment tests to accurately predict future performance, the individual's interests must be taken into account.

Does this scenario sound familiar? You hire a salesperson that looks and sounds like a world-beater. They seem to have all of the talent in the world. When they come on board they hit the ground running and generate impressive results during their first few months on the job. However, over time their performance starts to decline and no one can figure out why.

A common reason behind this type of performance decline is the salesperson doesn't ENJOY the activities involved in selling! An individual can have every talent required to achieve top sales performance. But, if they don't "get their jollies" from the activities involved in selling, it is highly unlikely they will perform very well for very long.

When you have ALL of this information, you can predict these critical sales characteristics

Is the individual a Hunter, a Farmer, or a Hybrid? Do they prefer to pursue new business, do they prefer to manage existing customer relationships, or are they capable of performing both functions effectively?
Is the individual a Consultative salesperson, a Relationship salesperson, or something else? Sales style can make a huge impact on sales performance!
Is the individual Internally or Externally motivated? Internally motivated salespeople are capable of directing their own activities effectively. Externally motivated salespeople require frequent direction and support from their manager to stay productive.
How effectively will they Prospect? How aggressively (and consistently) will they pursue new opportunities?
How effectively will they Close Sales? How willing are they to ask for orders?
How willing are they to comply with Process, Procedure, and Administrative requirements? This includes updating records in your company's client relationship management (CRM) system and providing timely and accurate forecasts and sales opportunity pipeline updates.
Will they be a good Team Member? Will they work cooperatively with their fellow sales team members, expert and support resources, and other departments?

Here is what one of our customers told us after working with our sales assessment tests:

I have to admit I was hesitant when we first got together. The concept of assessments felt like reading tea leaves. However, you have really opened my eyes to the value they can provide.

Your assessments have certainly made an impact in our sales process from a hiring perspective. Since we started working with you, our monthly sales run rate has nearly doubled. I can't assign a specific percentage of that sales growth to our work together, but I know it has been an important factor.

During the internet bubble, everyone was winning. Anyone who was in sales back then has a resume that looks great. This makes it hard to flush out the people who can really do the services value sell. You have helped us find these people, and avoid others that we might have hired in the past who would have been mistakes.

Our company has worked with a lot of consultants in the past, and paid thousands of dollars in consulting fees. You are the only consultant who has really made a difference in our business.

I'm looking forward to expanding our use of assessments beyond sales, marketing and recruiting, and into the technical and management aspects of our business.

Gene Holmquist
President
Ensynch, Inc.
Tempe, AZ

Here is another customer's feedback:

I wanted to tell you how pleased I am with your company's sales assessment tests. As you know, I was skeptical at first. However, the initial pilot project and results from the dozens of candidates we have assessed during the past six months have clearly demonstrated how uncannily accurate the tests are. They have saved me a lot of time by helping me identify truly qualified sales job candidates. Plus, for the first time we have an accurate picture of what a top sales performer looks like.

I have gone against the tests on occasion and hired someone based upon a "gut feeling", but none of those hires have worked out. It is clear that my gut instinct (from 20 years of experience) is not as accurate as your tests! It's not a surprise your tests have now become the de facto standard for all of our sales offices.

Thank you for your help!

Chris McFayden
Corporate Technologies, LLC
New Hope, MN

How do these sales assessment tests work?

What makes these sales assessment tests so effective is the customized benchmark we develop for your company's sales position(s). Here’s how it works:

We assess several top-performing salespeople.
Sophisticated software assigns a score of between one and ten to each talent that is measured by the sales assessment tests.
The sales assessment test scores are merged together for the top performers. This produces a “desirable score range” (usually three to four numbers wide) for each talent.
The combination of desirable score ranges for all of the talents measured by the sales assessment tests makes up the benchmark.

Once a benchmark has been developed, other individuals can be assessed and their scores compared against the benchmark. If an individual’s scores are a close match to the benchmark, their talents are similar to those of the top sales performers whose scores were used to create the benchmark. If these talents are developed through training and experience, these individuals are much more likely to become top sales performers than people whose sales assessment test scores are NOT a close match to the benchmark.

You don't have several top performing salespeople? That's OK!

We have assessed thousands of salespeople and compiled the results into a composite top sales performer benchmark. While this benchmark will not be as accurate as one that has been constructed using your own company's top sales performer assessment test results, it's a very effective starting point.

How can these sales assessment tests help your existing salespeople who are struggling?

They can help in two specific ways. First, they can determine which of these salespeople SHOULD be in sales. If an individual doesn't have the talents required for success in your particular sales job, there may be other roles in your company where their talents and interests can be applied to mutual benefit. If there aren't any such positions available, the kindest thing you can do is let them go.

How can firing someone be kind? Because it is NO fun to struggle in a job that is a poor fit. If you share the sales assessment test results with these individuals, they can gain insights into their strongest talents and interests. The sooner they can move into roles that are compatible with their talents and interests, the sooner they will reap the benefits of improved productivity, motivation, and job satisfaction.

The second way our sales assessment tests can help struggling salespeople is by identifying each individual's unique training needs. If you identify a salesperson's unique training needs, and you supply targeted training to address those needs, you can dramatically improve his or her performance. Here is an example:

Two salespeople, Beth and Bill, work for the same company. Beth is reluctant to ask for orders. Bill is sensitive to rejection, which limits his prospecting effectiveness. If both of these salespeople complete the same sales skills training course, how much improvement in sales performance should their company expect to see?

The answer is little or none. Why? Because Beth and Bill have completely different training needs that will NOT be addressed by basic sales skills training.

Beth would benefit the most from attending an assertiveness training class. She also needs coaching to help her recognize that failing to ask for orders denies her customers valuable solutions to costly business problems.

Bill needs to learn to not take rejection personally. He could also benefit from training that teaches positive thinking and other motivational techniques.

Unfortunately, unless each salesperson's unique training needs are identified, and targeted training is supplied to address each individual's specific needs, there isn't much reason to expect their sales performance to improve.

What's the return on investment (ROI)?

How significant is the difference in performance between your company's top sales performers, middle performers, and bottom performers? Our experience has shown that the difference in performance between top sales performers and middle performers is often hundreds of thousands of dollars per year PER PERSON. The difference in performance between top sales performers and bottom performers can be more than $1 million per year PER PERSON.

When you compare these differences in production to the cost of a sales assessment test bundle (which ranges from $290 for a single bundle to $80 for 1,000+ bundles), it becomes clear that sales assessment tests provide an inexpensive solution to a very expensive problem. Factor in the expense reduction from reducing turnover, and your sales assessment test ROI becomes even more compelling.

ROI is critically important. That's why we have a dedicated an entire page on our website to the topic. Click the following link if you would like to learn more about how to calculate the return on investment (ROI) for sales assessment tests.

What other services are included in your sales assessment test investment?

We will help you develop a performance-based recruiting ad and performance-based telephone screening call questions. (Both of these services are described in some detail in our FREE special report.) These services are FREE to our sales assessment test customers!

How does the sales assessment testing process work?

Thanks to technology, it is really easy for us to work together, regardless of where in the United States your company is located. Here is an outline of the process:

The sales assessment tests are scheduled on a dedicated assessment website.
Sales assessment test participants receive an e-mail that contains a website link and a unique username and password.
Participants complete their sales assessment tests online.
Upon completion, the sales assessment tests are scored instantaneously.
Two comprehensive sales assessment test reports (16 pages and 8 pages respectively) are automatically sent via e-mail to authorized parties. The reports highlight whether and by how much each participant's scores differ from the score ranges for top sales performers, and predict the participant's performance and behaviors.
MySalesTest.com personnel review each participant's sales assessment test results and prepare a 3-5 page summary of findings. For job candidates we suggest questions for you to ask during an interview. For existing sales employees we suggest questions to help you get to the root of performance problems. The summary is sent to you via e-mail.
If you wish, we will be happy to schedule a telephone appointment to discuss sales assessment test results for any participant. This discussion usually includes a review of the participant's strengths and weaknesses, suggested questions to ask during an interview, possible training needs, and coaching suggestions.

PLEASE NOTE: We are authorized to sell sales assessment tests within the United States of America ONLY. If you reside outside of the United States of America, we can't supply these sales assessment tests to you. However, we can suggest a terrific sales management book, CD set, and MP3 downloads that will help you address other crucial aspects of salesperson and sales management training and performance.

What's the next step?

We are pleased to offer a no-obligation demonstration of our sales assessment process to qualified individuals. During your telephone appointment we will:

Ask you questions to learn about your specific situation
Answer any questions you have about assessment tests in general
Discuss our sales assessment tests and related processes
Review sample sales assessment test reports

If you would like to take advantage of our no-obligation demonstration, please fill out the form below or call us on our toll-free number: (866) 531-3917. We will respond within 24 hours.

Directions for filling out the No-Obligation Demonstration Request Form

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Please be sure to type the word "DEMONSTRATION" and two suggested appointment dates and times in the box where you are asked to suggest dates and times for your telephone appointment.

MySalesTest.com
10559 East Tierra Buena Lane
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
Toll Free: (866) 531-3917

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