Tweet

180 and 360 Degree Assessments for the Sales Force

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: There are not a lot of companies that undertake 180 degree or 360 degree assessments of the sales force and that's a good thing because there are so many limitations. The 180 - The salesperson or sales manager does a self-rating on the predetermined competencies and attributes and the individual's boss conducts the same ratings. The 360 - The sales manager does a self-rating on the predetermined competencies and attributes and both the sales manager's boss and the salespeople that report to the sales manager conduct the same ratings. So the 180 and the 360 are nearly the same except for the number of people and the vertical depth. What are the limitations?

180 and 360 Degree Assessments for the Sales Force

There are not a lot of companies that undertake 180 degree or 360 degree assessments of the sales force and that's a good thing because there are so many limitations. The 180 - The salesperson or sales manager does a self-rating on the predetermined competencies and attributes and the individual's boss conducts the same ratings.

The 360 - The sales manager does a self-rating on the predetermined competencies and attributes and both the sales manager's boss and the salespeople that report to the sales manager conduct the same ratings.

So the 180 and the 360 are nearly the same except for the number of people and the vertical depth.

What are the limitations?

* The assessment is only as strong as the competencies and attributes that have been identified. Most of these assessments miss more competencies than they include;

* The assessment is only as good as the scorer's ability to completely understand each competency and attribute;

* The assessment is only as good as the scorer's ability to know the difference between good and bad in each competency and attribute;

* The assessment is only as good as the scorer's ability to observe the individual's use of these competencies and attributes in the field;

* The assessment is only as good as the scorer's ability to honestly score the individual;

* The assessment is only as good as the scorer's use of the entire range of potential scores. In other words, if the assessment uses a 1-5 scale, and the scorer uses the entire range of 1-5, there is reason to believe the scores are useful. On the other hand, if the scorer uses only 4's as the lowest score and 5's as the highest score, it yields little, if any, usefulness.

So even the most thoughtful and comprehensive 180's and 360's are very subjective and have major limitations. At best, they identify very strong and very weak performers. At worst, they are a waste of time.

My question is, why would a company bother to go through this time consuming, inaccurate process when there is a very accurate, very predictive, sales specific, time-tested, proven, validated sales force evaluation that can be implemented, analyzed and reviewed, quickly and easily for far less money?

Related Articles
  Top 5 Reasons Why the OMG Sales Assessment is More Predictive
  How to be More Effective Selecting Sales Candidates
  Can Sales Assessments Actually Predict On the Job Sales Success
  Sales Assessment Comparison - Objective Management Group vs. Devine
  Exposed - Personality Tests Disguised as Sales Assessments

Article Tags: attribute, attributes, boss, competencies, competency, degree assessments, highest score, salespeople, salesperson, scorer, vertical depth, waste of time



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
Re: Does birth order influence the desire to start a business? - I am the eldest in a polygamous family. In Africa where I come from, we are allowed to marry many wives. My mother is the first wife among six others. I am the first born and I am into business and all my other 22 siblings are business people too apart from the second born who is in the Police Force.
Re: Does birth order influence the desire to start a business? - [quote="ideasuniversity":2rddqi21]I am the eldest in a polygamous family. In Africa where I come from, we are allowed to marry many wives. My mother is the first wife among six others. I am the first born and I am into business and all my other 22 siblings are business people too apart from the second born who is in the Police Force.[/quote:2rddqi21] Of your siblings - how many are girls and how many boys? Are girls allowed to be businesspeople, or must they stay at home?
Hello From Marietta GA! - Hello All! My name is Tim Naylor and I am in Direct Sales! I am glad I have found EC's sites and I hope to learn and share a lot!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Selling On Ebay The Good The Bad And The Ugly

The Biggest Domain Name Myth

Intro to Search Engine Optimization

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.