Why Start with Outsourced Sales Assessments?

So, an hour and 8 minutes ago I got an email from Carole assigning a task to me.

• I worked with Dave Kurlan for 6 years and I don’t ever remember him assigning a task to me.
• I worked with Matt Burkinshaw and a few others since I was Carole’s age and I don’t ever remember anyone ever assigning a task to me!
• I’ve told her that men liking strong bossy women is a myth and she shouldn’t believe it.

I’ll keep telling her, but I better get this written.

When she asked, “Why does the first step in growth have to be a sales assessment?”, it didn’t seem as though, “Because I said so.” was gonna work, so here’s 7 reasons that you start with an evaluation of everything sales.

 

Which one of these cars reminds you of your senior salesperson? They’re about the same vintage. Which would be a better investment? Which would require more work?

 

   

Reason #1 – Determine which will be a better investment. Which will get up and running sooner. Remember, that it’s not just the surface, you need to look under the hood.

Reason #2 – So, you could ask the question, “Why not just get some training for my salespeople?” My response is, “What if it won’t help?” You could put gas in the car on the left, but if it doesn’t run, you’re wasting your money. Millions of dollars are wasted every year on training salespeople that won’t or can’t use new selling strategies.

Reason #3 – You’re not objective! You can’t do it yourself. You believe what you believe and if you try to make a side by side comparison of results, talents, attitude, etc., your results will be colored by your personal feelings. You may also have difficulty comparing your salespeople in exactly the same set of circumstances. A standardized assessment administered and interpreted by an experienced professional will yield usable results.

    

Reason #4 - Think about the way your marketing and sales processes are integrated. Is your marketing non-existent? Do your salespeople get leads when they pedal (or peddle) out to get them? Or is your marketing supercharged and delivers huge numbers of leads?

Reason #5 – Think back to #4. Does your salesperson match what your marketing department will deliver? Take somebody off a bike and put them in a stealth bomber and they’ll crash and burn and all that money spent on fuel (leads) will be wasted. So, your salespeople need to be capable of handling the type and quality of leads that you generate.

Reason #6 – Muscle vs. data. 21st century salespeople not only have an incredible amount of data available to them, but they need to be able to use it. Sales isn’t about looks, a smile, a twinkle in the eye. It’s about understanding this customer’s needs, beliefs, circumstances, etc. and getting the customer to know that the salesperson understands.

Finally, Reason #7 – is all the diseases that salespeople suffer from that sometimes have symptoms, but sometimes be internal, under the skin or in their head. An evaluation will not only identify these issues, but will also explain how they manifest and affect the sales process and results and offer remedies to eliminate the weakness or lessen it’s impact on sales.

Bottom line; you can pull into a gas station and start pumping gas into your tank, but if your tank is full, you’re wasting your time and money and if there’s a hole in your tank, you’ll be pumping gas onto the ground and wasting your money.