I’m reading a booklet that my daughter Alex brought home from school.  It is a booklet that explains the entire choir program at Sycamore High School.  In one of the paragraphs it read, “You do not have to be able to sing to be a part of the choir.  However you do have to demonstrate that you are trying hard.”

Hmmm, this sounds all too familiar when it comes to assessing the teams of sales managers and sales people that we work with.  Our first step in the process when we bring on a new client is to assess the systems and processes that support or inhibit the effectiveness of their sales group.  Next we look for strategy and priority matches or inconsistencies between senior executives and the leaders responsible for executing sales strategies and priorities.  And the last step in the assessment process is to assess the skills, strengths and weaknesses of the sales leadership team and sales team.  This process helps us pinpoint our coaching and consulting work versus an approach that resembles a ‘one size fits all’ approach.

Now the interesting part of this and the link to the title of this newsletter is the reaction we get from senior executives once we get the results.  Senior executives are almost always:

• In shock and denial over the results (Usually because they are not flattering)
• Want to discount weaknesses identified and confirm the strengths (Not an unusual response)
• Can’t figure out how they can still be in business in spite of results that ‘appear’ to be contrary to their ability to do so

In the findings, we are identifying specific sales management skills sets.  Primarily they are described as:

• Performance Master
• Recruiter
• Coach
• Mentor
• Motivator

The results are measured in terms of who on your team has at least 65% of the skills we are looking for in each of these skill sets.  Invariably we find that few of the sales leaders or managers assessed have 65% of the skills required in these categories.

Why doesn’t this surprise me?  Why shouldn’t this surprise the senior executive?  Because in the job posting for the position that that person occupies, I’m guessing that the specific talents or skills that are needed to succeed in these 5 roles are not spelled out.  In other words:  No Talent Needed, Just Try Hard.   And that is why corporate America ends up with people in sales leadership positions that can’t perform or can’t get their sales teams to perform.  That is why sales teams are clogged up with 50 to 75% of the sales team failing to hit stated goals and objectives.  And that is why most organizations only have 10 to 15% of their people over achieving and carrying the load (literally) for the rest of the team. This also explains the lack of success of new hires in the first 12 to 18 months of their employ.

If you want people with better sales management skills and if you want better sales people, then you can no longer put or keep people in those roles because:

• They have great sales experience
• They’ve been in a sales leadership role with other teams that have had great results (the success may not have anything to do with them or their ability)
• They have a current book or revenue stream with a competitor and promise to bring it to your company
• You like them, they were great in the interview and have an impressive resume
• You need someone to fill the spot

Instead you have to:

• Clearly identify what  you are looking for based on what the role requires
• Make sure that your current people or future candidates have those attributes or are trainable in those attributes
• Make sure that you train and develop to the deficiencies of your people (assuming you hired or have coachable people)
• Set standards that no longer allow mediocrity (anyone not hitting at least 95% of the goal has to be told that they failed.  Failure to have this conversation means that your goals are suggestions.  And oh by the way, don’t try and skate by this point by saying “But, we set stretch goals knowing they won’t hit them hoping we will get to budget”.  You think they don’t know that?
• Put in play a pre-hire assessment process that includes more than a test.  The test alone isn’t enough.  You have to have a process that improves the probability of success and provides success in a shorter period of time.
• Have a system in place that rewards success, has consequences for failure and implements structured discipline for those that struggle to perform the necessary activities required to succeed.

As they say, “when all is said and done, more is said than done”.  Now it is your call to decide what you will do.  Will you honestly assess why your sales team performs the way it does and then based on that assessment take meaningful action or, will you continue to talk about the problem and apply band-aids to a problem that needs surgery.  In the end you have to ask yourself about the team you have:  Did I recruit them this way or did I make them this way? Either answer has a solution.