The 5 Things You Need to Have Before Evaluating your Sales Team
Monday Jul 11, 2011 by Frank Belzer - VP of Corporate Training, Kurlan and Associates
So perhaps you are curious given all this talk about sales force evaluations? We do mention it a lot and it is the foundation of everything we do. In the right situation a Sales Force Evaluation can make a huge difference in the performance of not just a sales team but an organization in general - and yet Curiousity is not enough! A sales force evaluation is not for everyone. You need to answer the following 5 points in the affirmative.
- Questions - Do you have a problem to fix or a very ambitious target to hit? Do you have something that has changed drastically on your sales team that you need to understand - new VP or Manager, 100% turnover and an entirely new team. We are going to need a list of questions that you hope to answer and if you have no questions, if everything is perfect then you shouldn't evaluate.
- Commitment - The evaluation is just the beginning and if you have the questions the next thing to ask is do I have the commitment to solve and fix anything it uncovers. Am I willing to Invest time and money if necessary to get that done.
- The Right People involved- I am talking about the leadership team. We need the CEO involved and when the decision comes from the top with passion then everything else seems to fall into place. Lately I have been involved at the Board level with a few companies - even better!
- The Wrong People in Check - There are always some in a company that will try to snipe the decision to evaluate and fix the issues. Unfortunately many times it comes from the people you would least expect - VP's of Sales or VP's of HR. They need to know that any undermining of the process is a no go zone.
- Access and Communication - the first few steps of evaluating an organization involves a lot of information being exchanged and a bunch of time lines and mile stones being set. Once that is done, much of what has to happen will take place quietly in the background.
These 5 Items may not sound too extraordinary but amazingly many organizations struggle to get it right. Those that do can reap the rewards of those extensive findings and will know more about their organization than they ever thought possible.
Frank Belzer is the VP of Corporate Training at Kurlan & Associates. You can find this post, as well as additional content on his blog clocated here.
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