Why Salespeople Struggle to Produce (the #1 Reason)

 

Written November 13, 2018 

 

A recent study showed that about 50% of the people in sales struggle because they probably shouldn’t be in sales in the first place.

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That’s a harsh reality… but also a main reason for the 80 / 20 Dilemma (where 80% -or more- of your sales come from just 20% -or less- of your sales team).

 

 

So Why So Many People Should Not Be in Sales:

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Sales positions are unique for they require skills that not all jobs require… or skills that not all people have.

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It’s been determined that there are actually 8 critical skills required for sales.  A few of the main ones are:  initiating contact, persistence and ability to close.

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Now, the level of these skills varies per sales position, but every sales job requires them to accomplish goals.  Without these skills, or the level required in the specific sales job, a salesperson will usually struggle to succeed.

 

 

What Organizations Can Do to Help Assure More Salespeople Succeed:

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There are things that organizations can do to overcome the 80 / 20 Dilemma.  The more of them you initiate into your management and sales systems, the more successful your salespeople will be.

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Here are some of the things our clients do:

• Establish WRITTEN Goals (at least make them specific & measurable) and put these goals in your Recruiting Ads to scare away prospects that are not goal-oriented

• Improve your onboarding processes by training new hires to do everything that your TOP Performers do (ongoing, hourly, daily, etc.) to accomplish the position’s goals

• Create sales presentations and scripts to help your less productive salespeople show & tell prospective clients why they should partner with your organization

• And other things like: Provide more qualified leads, underpromise and overdeliver, collect testimonials from satisfied customers, before & after pictures, etc.

 

 

Doing What You’ve Always Done Isn’t Going to Help Though…

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Notice how the list above doesn’t say any of the following:

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1. Hire salespeople with more experience

2. Hire salespeople that have been through specific sales training

3. Hire salespeople that have been successful in past sales jobs.

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Here why…

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In the same study that found 1/2 of the people in sales shouldn’t be in sales in the first place, it found that of those that should be in sales, 1/2 are selling the wrong products or services based on their behaviors; and this is the reason they are struggling.

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So hiring people based on their experience, education and past success doesn’t mean they will be successful in YOUR sales positions.  You’ve probably already realized this!

 

 

Here’s How To Clone Your TOP Performing Salespeople (& overcome the #1 reason salespeople struggle):

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For the past 18 years, we’ve been building “Benchmarks” on TOP Performing Salespeople (or the top 5% that sell 80% (and usually much more) of a company’s products or services.

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These benchmarks look at 20 different behaviors, competencies and interests.  And with our Job Matching Assessments, you can assess your salespeople against these benchmarks to find an individual’s percentage of fit to YOUR organization’s unique sales jobs.

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When you hire candidates that have Behavioral Fit to the job, and also Competency Fit (assuring the person CAN do the job) and Interest Fit (assuring the person WILL do the job), only then can you assure the individual has “Job Fit.”

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And you can only do this with a Job Matching Assessment… which is defined by the Department of Labor as a “Total Person Assessment.”  These assessments (that we offer of course) are completely different than any “Personality Test” or assessment you’ve seen or used in the past.

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To see how different they really are, look at the Sample Comprehensive Selection Report (for Sales) here:  Check Out Sample Job Matching Assessment Reports!

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Though benchmarking, we’ve been able to “Clone” TOP Performers in any sales job.  This helps you assure the people you’re hiring actually have the behaviors, competencies and interests to sell your organizations’ s products or services.

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And more importantly, will help you shatter previous sales records year after year.

 

 

Bonus for Subscribers…

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For the next week, you can assess yourself or one of your salespeople and get a Sales Job Match Report.

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Plus, as a bonus, not only will we provide you a Job Match, Coaching and Individual Report… if you want a complimentary phone consultation where we will review the Job Match and provide you real-world strategies to improve productivity, you got it!

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To take us up on this offer, just click the link below and watch the 12-minute video:

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www.HowToHireTheRightPeople.com