Most Recent Motivation Data Revealed

Most Recent Motivation Data Revealed

If sales managers have a perceived weakness, it’s most likely their ability to motivate everyone on their team. This key competency requires that individuals need to be inspired individually.

Instead, many managers and leaders have a one-size-fits-all approach. One that’s not entirely their fault.

Does Money Motivate?

The common belief is that salespeople are in sales because they are money-motivated. So, managers naturally default to using the compensation plan to motivate behaviors. But the most recent data revealed by Objective Management group on 493,000 salespeople tells a different story. Below is a chart that shows where these salespeople fall on the motivation spectrum.

The […]

How to Recruit Like a National College Football Champion

How to Recruit Like a National College Football Champion

Clemson whips Alabama for the National Championship and the 2018 college football season is over. This is an especially sad time in my house and for me. My son just graduated from the University of South Carolina and played his last football game in a disappointing bowl loss to Virginia. With Clemson a South Carolina rival, we were pulling for Alabama and the SEC. Their defeat, along with the end of the season and my son’s football career, means an especially gloomy time for me.

Why Clemson over Alabama?

Sadness aside, all the hoopla about the showdown between
Clemson and Alabama made me […]

Are the Salespeople Out There Better than the Ones You’ve Got?

Are the Salespeople Out There Better than the Ones You’ve Got?

It’s no secret: I am fascinated by data, especially how it relates to salespeople, sales managers and sales success. And I have access to plenty of data, including details on 450,000 salespeople.

Who’s Better?

Lately, I was curious about whether there is any difference between salespeople currently employed and those salespeople who are candidates for new positions. (Yes, I realize that a currently employed salesperson could also be a candidate for a different position. However, those cannot be separated out from the database for this exercise.)

Database Deep Dive

The database I’m using is supplied by Objective Management Group, the leaders in sales specific […]

Can One Size Fit All Sales?

Can One Size Fit All Sales?

When it comes to sales, should salespeople do it all, or should individual functions be divided among multiple people, each having specialized responsibilities? I’ve had several conversations lately about the virtues of each approach.

Do it All vs. Split it Up

Is the do-it-all method, where one salesperson hunts, closes and then manages the accounts after the sale better than, say, where an inside salesperson handles the inbound or outbound calls (or a sales development rep, as they are commonly called, gets appointments scheduled) and other salespeople conduct those meetings and close the sale? The truth is: each way may be right […]

Can Your Team Become Challenger Types?

Can Your Team Become Challenger Types?

Ever since CEB (now Gartner) published The Challenger Sale in 2011, the book has attracted much publicity. It provides five different profiles (detailed here) based on research of 6,000 individuals. They are:

Challenger
Lone Wolf
Hard Worker
Problem Solver
Relationship Builder

The research in the book indicates that individuals with a Challenger profile will outperform all other profile types. Good so far.

Constructing Tension

The book also presents the concept of Challengers building “constructive tension” using three elements:

Teach – Offers unique perspective and maintains two-way communication
Tailor – Knows customer value drivers and identifies economic drivers
Take Control – Is comfortable discussing money and can pressure the customer

The premise is […]

Finding “Elite” Entry-level Salespeople

Finding “Elite” Entry-level Salespeople

Hiring entry-level sales people is something we’ve been working hard on lately for many of our clients. Our goal is to teach them a process to improve their sales talent acquisition effectiveness through use of the #1 rated Objective Management Group Sales Assessments.

While doing this, we’ve noticed that far more candidates are not recommended for entry level positions than the number not recommended for more experienced sales positions. So, I decided to do some analysis and see if I could find any insights into why this was occurring.

Drilling down the data

The OMG Assessments uses a variety of components to provide […]

Fix the 5 Reasons Sales Hiring is So Hard to Get Right

Fix the 5 Reasons Sales Hiring is So Hard to Get Right

We work with many companies, both small and large, who suffer from the same issues when it comes to hiring. They all have difficulty attracting, selecting and onboarding the right salespeople.

Repeatedly, we hear the frustration of executives who have wasted countless hours and thousands of dollars hiring salespeople who don’t work out. Compounding the problem is that when the market is tight for good sales talent, hiring managers feel pushed to just fill positions, not understanding that hiring poorly likely will cost the company three to five times the hire’s annual compensation.

Sales hiring is the most difficult to […]

Five Mistakes to Avoid in Building Your Sales Force: First in a Five Part Series

In my experience as a sales performance expert, I have learned that mistakes are better teachers than successes.  With that in mind, it is my hope that there will be some valuable lessons for you as we review some of the most common mistakes to building a successful sales force:

Mistake #1:  Using the same techniques to hire salespeople that you use to hire everyone else.

Salespeople are different.  In fact, you, as the manager, owner, or president, want them to be different so they can effectively do their job.  Consequently, you must hire them differently.

Do not be so stuck on hiring […]

Spend 80% of Your Time on These Five Areas and Watch Your Salespeople Excel: Fourth of a Five Part Series

Recruiter:  Would you know what to do if your best salesperson left? Do you have a plan to grow the team? Effective sales managers are always recruiting. Here are a couple of quick tips:  1) When you have a positive experience with a salesperson outside your company, get to know that person to determine whether there would be a fit with your company. 2) Field all the inbound sales calls to your company so you talk with a variety of salespeople calling on your company – you may find a star.  3) Use all the electronic tools available including job […]