Did you ever have a new salesperson fail? Did you ever have one who was highly recommended fail?
Depending on how effective your recruiting, selection and on boarding processes are, you may experience new salespeople that don't work out. Let's explore some of the factors that impact short-term success.
* Ramp-Up Time - an important factor in determining whether a new salesperson is succeeding or failing is your baseline ramp-up time. When you don't know what your ramp-up time should be, you will be guilty of either not giving a salesperson enough time to succeed, or being overly patient, allowing too much time to pass before calling the newbie a failure. My formula for calculating ramp-up time is to add your sale cycle in months to your learning curve in months and then add an additional 30 days. So, if you have a six month sale cycle and a three month learning curve, your baseline ramp-up time will be 10 months. Complicating the matter even more is the fact that some salespeople will not ramp up exactly as the formula suggests, based on three additional factors:
o Years of sales experience - fewer years = longer ramp up.
o Years in the industry - fewer years = longer ramp up.
o Compatibility (found on Objective Management Group's Sales Candidate Assessment) - lower compatibility = longer ramp up.
So we can modify the formula like this: add 2 more months if sales experience is less than five years, add 2 more months if industry experience is less than 2 years, and add 3 more months if compatibility is less than 75%. Depending on these 3 factors, ramp-up could take as much as an additional 7 months!
* The Assignment - The assignment is a huge part of this equation. If your new salesperson is assigned existing accounts, you'll probably be happy with his work unless he quickly loses some accounts. On the other hand, if 80% or more of the assignment is hunting for new business, you may conclude that the salesperson is failing unless the pipeline gets filled rather quickly with new opportunities.
* The Assessment - Clues abound here. As long as you are using Objective Management Group's Sales Candidate Assessment (92% of recommended candidates that are hired wind up in the top half of their sales force within a year, while 75% of those who were not recommended but hired anyway fail within 6 months), the answers are at your finger tips. Review these four sections:
o Hunter Skill set - which attributes are missing?
o Conditions for Hiring - what are the conditions listed and did you follow them?
o Likely Problems - are the issues your struggling salesperson is running into listed among the likely problems?
o Skills - how many are there and are they representative of the entire selling process or just the front end, middle or back-end?
* The Sales Manager - The sales manager is usually the biggest determining factor of sales success and the first place to look when it appears that salespeople aren't working out.
o Supervision - Are new salespeople being micro managed or at least closely managed? They should be. Are any of your new salespeople in a remote territory? A sure fire formula for disaster is a remote salesperson that is not being closely managed.
o Expectations - Have expectations been set? Do your new salespeople know what is expected of them in the first 30/60/90 days, how they will be measured and how they will be held accountable?
o Support - When two seemingly identical salespeople with identical assignments and territories have opposite results, it's usually because neither of them got the attention, direction, guidance, coaching, support, motivation and accountability that was needed, but one of them was better when it came to figuring out what it would take to succeed (see The Salesperson).
o Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) - Sales Managers that manage results (history) are months behind when it comes to being able to impact a salesperson using coaching and accountability. Sales Managers that manage activity (today) can see into the future and change it.
* The Salesperson - New salespeople can figure it out when the right mix of these next 14 factors, all found in Objective Management Group's Assessment, are in place - The "Figure it Out" Factor:
o 5+ years in sales
o 5+ years in the industry
o Strong Desire
o Strong Commitment
o No Excuse Making
o Self Starter
o Works well independently
o Works without supervision
o Will Prospect
o Prospects Consistently
o No Need for Approval
o Recovers from Rejection
o Greater than 75% Compatibility
o Effective Time Management
* High Turnover Factors - Depending upon these three additional factors, turnover could approach 150%.
o Compensation - Turnover is higher in straight commission environments. Straight commission with a long sale cycle will be even worse. Straight commission with a long sale cycle and a salesperson without the financial stability to stick it out will exceed 100%.
o Industry - Turnover in insurance (personal lines), telecommunications (long distance phone service) and automotive (car dealers) is very high because many companies in these industries don't have a selection criteria that extends beyond "breathing and willing" and don't invest time and money on development.
o Mindset - Companies that are resigned to high turnover and that are making a lot of money despite the turnover don't do anything to change it.
* Psychological Factors - Every once in a while you'll get a new salesperson who is emotionally unstable and you won't know it until it's too late. There is no better reason to use a psychological assessment at the time of hiring that to uncover this!
* Liars - I've even seen salespeople who took one base plus commission sales job while holding down another. The only thing better than getting paid for not performing one job is getting paid for not performing in two jobs!
Fact Based Reasons Why New Salespeople Fail - To learn more about this author, visit Dave Kurlan's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 |
Related Articles |
|
 How to Find the Compelling Reasons Behind Seth Godin's Intangibles
|
| |
Seth Godin's recent column on Intangibles was great. As a matter of fact, I haven't disagreed in more than two years with anything he has written about selling. Today he provided many examples - great examples - ...
|
|
What Have Your Salespeople Been Listening To?
|
| |
In reality, there is no such thing as a spending freeze except for being something that top management tells bottom management. [Read More]
|
|
Stress-Free Selling® - Close Three Times Faster
|
| |
Who are the absolute, positive easiest prospects to close? The ones that take the least time, offer the least resistance, and are the easiest to get a hold of? Referrals!
Ironically, despite the fact that everyo...
|
|
Beating The 80/20 Rule
|
| |
The span of control of sales managers has a major bearing on saleperson effectiveness. In B-2-B sales the optimum ratio of sales manager to salesperson is around 4-5 to 1
|
|
Manage Salespeople One at a Time
|
| |
Salespeople are a funny breed because selling is a crazy business. The good ones have quirks and idiosyncrasies that make them difficult to manage unless you know how to manage them one at a time. In fact, do you kn...
|
 |
Related Businesses - Evan Elite Authors |
|
Vwodek Wojczynski
Business Coach and Consultant Vwodek Wojczynski (pronounced Voy-chin-ski) brings fun, awareness, accountability and fresh perspectives based on his diverse experiences in life and business.
Born in Poland and educated in Greece and Canada, he is trilingual with 8 years experience in business development with clients in Canada, USA, Switzerland and Poland.
His approach is systematic and process-driven. He fuses the know-how of proven business methods with his commitment that entrepreneurs experience satisfaction and joy based on their values, motivations and strengths. He believes that businesses succeed based on their ability to generate value by providing what’s needed and wanted.
Ultimately, he trains executives and true business owners - people who work less, produce more, own businesses that run automatically after a while and make a difference globally.
His current research focus is the development of intelligent business systems and the application of emerging artificial intelligence technologies in business.
He is also an avid traveler, spoken word performer and visual artist. He resides in Toronto, Canada. - Visit Vwodek Wojczynski's Website |
|
Dave Kurlan
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
|
George Ludwig
George Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance.
Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson.
His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more.
George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|
Kim Castle
With nearly two decades in the advertising and design business, with clients like Domino's Pizza, General Motors, Direct TV, Pedigree, Wolfgang Puck, Higher Octave Music, Hollywood Celebrity Products, Disney, and Paramount, as well as thousands of entrepreneurs around the world define, structure, communicate, and position their business for greater profits, BrandU(R) co-creators Kim Castle and W. Vito Montone discovered that entrepreneurs could experience the same power that big brands command for a fraction of the cost with the world's only process-based results-drive Integral approach to business creation.
BrandU(R) is helping entrepreneurs grow with the power of extreme clarity from idea...to brand...to market(TM) and helping one million entrepreneurs become successful and whole so that they can make a difference in the world. Are you one of them?
If you want to experience clarity all the way to the bank(TM), get started now at http://www.brandu.com. - Visit Kim Castle's Website |
|
The Evan Elite Authors program is currently in beta phase. For details please contact us.
|
|
|
Dave Kurlan
(Visit Dave's Website)
Dave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of
Objective Management Group, Inc., the
industry leader in sales assessments and
sales force evaluations, and the CEO of
David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a
consulting firm specializing in sales
force development.
Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc.
Magazine's Conference on Growing the
Company, the Sales & Marketing Management
Conference and the Gazelles Sales &
Marketing Summit.
He has been featured on radio and TV,
including World Business Review with
General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc.
Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales &
Marketing Management Magazine and
Incentive Magazine.
He is the author of Mindless Selling and
Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales
Superstar by Using What You Already Know
about the Game of Baseball.
He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary
recruiting process for hiring great
salespeople, and he writes Understanding
the Sales Force, a popular business Blog
and is a contributing author to The Death
of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways
to Improve Your Life, Volume 2.
|
|
 |
|
Understanding the Sales Force - Objective Management Group, Inc. is the pioneer and industry leader in sales force evaluations and sales candidate screening. Spearheaded by leading sales industry expert, Dave Kurlan, Objective Management Group, Inc. can help you measure sales effectiveness, execution and potential.
|
|
|
|
![[Get Copyright Permissions]](http://license.icopyright.net/images/icopy-w.gif){kind=small}
