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Sales on the University agenda? – The final results

August 9, 2012 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Leadership, Sales Research

Sales has been excluded from the academic landscape, until now. Barrett is one of the first consultancies to ask the question: Should selling be studied at degree level at University?

Why?

Based on Barrett’s long standing involvement in sales and the development of sales professionalism, we wanted to fully understand how people think and feel about the profession of selling not being studied at Australian universities and business schools and how strongly they felt about its inclusion.

Specifically, Barrett wanted to delve into the perceptual reputation of the profession of selling within our communities and the “usefulness” of having sales qualifications at degree level, that aimed to improve the reputation of the profession and the people in it. The study attempted to understand the state of existing development for sales professionals and how tertiary education in selling and sales could further assist in ensuring sales and selling is viewed as a profession on its own right.

Survey: Should Sales be Studied at University

Survey: Should Sales be Studied at University

Barrett’s survey of business professionals was completed mostly by Australian based business owners and leaders, sales managers and sales professionals with the majority aged between 31 and 60 years old. Seventy percent of respondents have a Graduate Degree or above. The survey consisted of 24 questions and the high level results showed that:

  1. More than half of respondents (54%) said that selling does not have good reputation
  2. More an 70% agreed that a tertiary qualification would improve the image & reputation of salespeople and would improve their employability and 82 % agreed it would create better sales standards and better salespeople
  3. 88% said that selling is seen as a vital part of business
  4. 92% agreed that selling should be in the curriculum at Universities and Business Schools
  5. only a bit more of 52% undertake professional development at least once a year
  6. less than 19 % agreed (or were unsure) that skills and knowledge required in Selling are well trained in business and therefore do not require a degree qualification

The overall findings of the survey were significantly in favour of Sales and Selling being studied at higher levels at University, with senior managers and business owners seeing a distinct advantage in developing and employing tertiary trained sales people.

In qualitative discussions held with salespeople, managers and customers throughout Australia, Barrett learned that it is a general belief that the typical salesperson is less than honest, is likely to cut corners or attempt to trick customers into making a purchase decision and even when they interact with the client their sole focus is the product or service they want to sell, rather than the customer’s issues.

Whilst the image and reputation of salespeople today is less than savory, business does understand its vital importance as a function of success, sustained growth and profitability. What is abundantly clear is that a tertiary qualification in sales would improve this image and reputation challenge faced by sales. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that there is an overwhelming need to have some form of tertiary qualification associated with sales and selling within Australia.

Sales and Academia

A combined 70.0% (no and not certain) respondents suggest that the profession of sales is not taken seriously by the academic institutions. This is obviously a perception and whether realistic or not, means that this is the way salespeople see and feel about academic institutions. 46.8% – the largest respondent group for this question, believe that selling should be studied at degree level, as a separate degree, whilst 72.2% believe that selling needs to be on the curriculum at universities and business schools, even if not as a formal degree.

Conclusion: irrespective of whether sales and selling is part of another degree, or a stand-alone degree (as proposed by 48.8% of respondents), there is overwhelming evidence that a degree in selling is needed. That it should be a degree in its own right is a moot point, though research would tend to point toward it being stand alone degree.

The results bring us to consider how do we professionalise selling and create a pathway for the 21st Century individuals to become sales professionals. The thinking and capabilities required to succeed in today’s complex sales environment are in the realms of the standards of MBAs and other business qualifications. Why is that it is noted that medical doctors, engineers, pilots and other skilled professionals invest 6-8 years of their own or business’ money and effort and time into attaining their qualifications, yet the sales industry may have only a few papers within tertiary education? Moreover, other professions are regulated enough to ensure professional development is a must (legally that is) and yet a profession like sales and selling in these markets and times is seen as not taken seriously?

sales is in the shadows

sales is in the shadows

Barrett believes that it is about time selling and sales stepped out from under the shadows of marketing and MBAs to be a qualification in its right.

The good news is that for the first time in Australia, Selling is on the University Agenda: on Wednesday 8 August, partners Barrett and Swinburne University of Technology launched the Barrett Sales Essentials – Australia’s first and only VET accredited, University endorsed sales training and development program providing a Diploma in Business and Certificate 4 in Business Sales.

The launch signals major change for Australia’s business sector and salespeople nationally with Barrett’s Sales Essentials also eligible for Victorian and Federal Government funding.

Through the Barrett Sales Essentials Program businesses now have the opportunity to tertiary qualify their salespeople, increase profit margins and employee retention and recruitment and promote their commitment to quality sales standards and ethical sales practices.

Salespeople, sales managers and business owners will significantly improve their sales strategies, planning, prospecting and sales approach and behaviours to create sustainable business practices and improve results.

Get your complete copy of the Should selling be studied at degree level at University? Whitepaper here.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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Rethinking Sales Incentives – The Science of Motivation

August 25, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Sales Management, Sales Research, Success

‘Rethinking Sales Incentives’ was voted as the Number 8 Sales Trends for 2011. Incentive programs, commissions and bonuses have been synonymous with sales teams for at least the last 50 years. However throwing more money at sales teams to perform better, especially in these more complex and creative times may be a thing of the past.

While the ‘carrot and stick’ approach has been reasonably successful for most sales teams in the twentieth century, especially when sales people were simply selling product, scientific research is showing if you want smart thinking sales people this approach is no longer viable. If we are to have sales people who can navigate ambiguous markets, create new opportunities, forge new partnerships, and sell real value, then our traditional incentive programs are often the wrong way to motivate people for today’s challenges. Yet external rewards such as bonuses, commissions or incentives are still strong features in sales management forums.

In 2011, more and more companies will be enlisting new approaches to motivation, rethinking how they incentivise and reward their sales teams both intrinsically and extrinsically.

Australian Perks

Money Perks

For many years it has been believed that sales people are only motivated to sell if they have strong financial incentives to do so. For a number of sales people this may certainly be the case, however, it would be a false to assume that this is the case for all sales people. Another false assumption is that the more you incentivise someone the better they will perform. Science is turning the business world upside down, challenging ‘norms’ and long held beliefs about what motivates and drives people.

As the world, and with it the business world, becomes more complex, it will be harder and harder to determine who did what and who deserves what because many tasks are no longer simple transactions. With selling becoming less transactional and relying more heavily on teams rather than a lone sales person to bring in the deals the compensation issue is becoming more complex.

Who deserves what? How much should they be paid? Many companies spend hundreds if not thousands of hours going around in circles trying to work out what is fair and reasonable. And to no avail. This perplexing issue could have a more simple solution, although some people may not like it.

According to the latest research synthesized by Daniel Pink in his latest bestselling book, Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us, the best use of money as a form of compensation is to take the issue of money off the table.

His book highlights what scientists have known for some time now:

‘The more prominent salary, perks, and benefits are in someone’s work life, the more they can inhibit creativity and unravel performance. As Edward Deci explained when organisations use rewards like money to motivate staff, “that’s when they’re most demotivating.” The better strategy is to get compensation right – and then get it out of sight. Effective organisations compensate people in amounts and in ways that allow individuals to mostly forget about compensation and instead focus on the work itself.’

I know this may be heresy to sales people, teams and sales leaders, because for so long big commissions and bonuses have gone hand in hand with sales teams. Well, maybe this could be a thing of the past.

What the scientific research is showing is that ‘for simple routine tasks which aren’t very interesting and don’t demand much creative thinking, rewards can provide a small motivational booster shot without harmful side effects.’ In short if you want people to, for instance, stack boxes more quickly, offer a bonus to those who stack the most in the shortest space of time and to the standard you want. As long as the task is simple and mechanical in nature, bonuses work to lift performance.

However if the task or situation involves even rudimentary cognitive skill i.e. you have to come up with ideas or solutions, possibilities or plans, then a larger reward leads to poorer performance.

With transactional selling going the way of the internet leaving most sales people out of the equation, the rest of selling now requires the need to deal with complex solutions, consultation, problem solving and prevention, creativity and collaboration. All of these tasks require cognition. Our brains need to work, think, sort stuff out, create options and so on.

Another key finding from Pink’s book that throws cold water on the money motivator is that most people are not motivated by money at all. Yes, you need to take money off the table, so it’s not a day to day issue, and pay the right amount from the beginning, and instead focus on fostering and developing the following ideals in your business and your people. Then you will find lifts in performance that are far more significant. The three elements of true motivation are:

Autonomy – the desire to direct our own lives

Mastery – the urge to get better and better at something that matters

Purpose – the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves.

If you would like to explore this further I would suggest you get a taste for it by viewing this 10 minute video by Daniel Pink which is a very good summary of the topic at hand.

So what does this really mean for sales teams? Well, it all depends on what you sell, how you sell it, how you run your sales business and what you want your sales people to do:

  • If you are in simple transactional sales where your sales people do not really need to think in any complex way then maybe you can continue with your current bonus or commission schemes
  • If your sales culture is more complex or is more of a lead team approach then you may need to rethink the way you reward people

One client of ours in the world of new home sales has taken the radical move to pay its sales people a far more substantial base salary to take money off the table. Instead of sales people panicking about where their dollar will come from and how they will afford to feed their family this week, they want their sales people to focus more readily on better quality sales efforts rather than the mental churn and burn often seen in this industry. It is early days and the transition will be interesting. However, in their endeavour to bring about better standards of professional selling in an industry known for its ‘cowboy’ culture, changing the way they remunerate their staff along with continued professional development such as coaching, combined with a committed leadership will see them prosper. If they can stand steady and hold their own in the face of challenges I have no doubt they will see the fruits of their labour and out perform their competition in the long run. And isn’t that the irony, when we remove these financial incentives we will get better performance.

An example of a company who have already taken this on board and making it work is Australian company Atlassian.

It’s a brave new world for sure.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au

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Should ‘Selling’ be studied at University?

March 30, 2011 in Coaching, Education in Sales, Sales Research, Sales Training, Self Development, Success

Barrett Research invites you to express your opinion about whether ‘Selling’ should be an applied academic degree. Please complete our Graduate Degree for the Sales Profession’ survey and voice your views.

With the profession of Selling becoming increasingly more complex involving many more variables and the shift from product being at the heart of selling to strategic relationships, collaboration, true value, sustainability and transparency now on the agenda we believe it’s time for ‘Selling’ to step out under the shadow of Marketing and MBA’s to have its own degree status. Recently I was invited to speak at the Melbourne Business School’s MBA Entrepreneurs program on the topic of Selling. This was a great opportunity to put the topic of Selling on the agenda. The feedback was phenomenal – the mostly young students had many questions that needed answers to ranging from how to sell effectively, prospecting, what it the right way to sell, and the right sales mindset to name a few.

The emphasis was on the practical as well as the theoretical. Their concerns about having the Sales function and Sales Processes operating effectively in their start-ups and growing businesses were along the same lines as the questions many seasoned business owners and leaders ask every day. They were quite unaware just how much you need to know, learn and apply when it comes to selling, running a sales team and keeping up or ahead of your market on the sales front, especially now that social media is now making such an impact on sales and marketing.

While selling strategies have been around for years the actual function of being a sales person and sales leader have been poorly regarded and understood, however in recent years there has been a growing body shining light on sales as a complex and skilful profession with most of the academic work emanating from overseas. In Australia, there are currently topics or short courses (i.e. up to 7 hours duration) on the topic of selling at some Australian universities, however, they are not very comprehensive and do not cover all the aspects of Selling a skilled professional needs to know. There are certainly no Degrees in Selling in Australia. We understand that knowing how to sell effectively doesn’t happen until you get out in the field and start applying it, however, being well trained in the science of selling and understanding its many variables would help most people and businesses make a much better start. At last count there are 42 universities in the US with graduate and undergraduate sales courses on their curriculum.

At Barrett Research we view Selling as an applied science where it fits perfectly well into a business school framework and so do not see it on the pure end of academic education. I believe we need more accredited courses or at least dedicated business courses where people can properly study the science and art of Selling. Having tertiary trained sales professionals would certainly raise the standards of the profession.

We can take a leaf out of the procurement industry which is the fastest growing business profession. CIPSA has worked tirelessly to professionalise ‘purchasing’ and rightly so, given the enormous complexity facing the profession. There are now tertiary qualifications including degrees and post graduate programs in procurement.

To complete the survey, go to: ‘Graduate Degree for the Sales Profession’ survey

We will publish our survey findings soon.

Remember everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, MD of www.barrett.com.au, a Sales Training firm.

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Knowing your business

March 10, 2011 in Business Acumen, Communication, Procurement, Sales Relationships, Sales Research, Sales Skills, Sales Training

‘Knowing your business’ was voted as the Number 3 Sales Trends for 2011. With business becoming more complex it should come as no surprise that clients want to work with business people who can sell, think about possibilities and create a work partnership with their businesses. However, our studies with hundreds of sales professionals and middle management sales leaders reveal that the level of business knowledge and commercial acumen is poor or non-existent in many cases. Often trained on product but not on business practices, many sales teams are falling short in delivering value to their clients.

More and more is being asked of sales people and sales managers when it comes to business knowledge and commercial acumen. Gone are the days of just being a product expert. Sales people need to be competent business people too. Being able to understand strategy; how businesses, markets, and communities function; and where we, our products, services and business works in concert with our clients should be on our agenda in 2011. Today, clients expect to communicate and deal with a real professional who knows how business functions. They want to have business discussions not product discussions.

Our studies reveal that there is little if any discussion about the big picture or business strategy, or innovation or supplier integration. At best, supply and distribution are on the agenda along with product. A surprising finding was the low level of business knowledge and commercial acumen with sales managers in the technical product sectors – very focused on product quality, distribution and service they are not working at the required level to make business decisions and work strategically with clients.

What does business or commercial acumen consist of?

Using the Barrett’s Sales Competency Dictionary, here are some definitions of business competencies relevant to sales people:

Business Acumen: Demonstrates an understanding of how business works; understands the business’ commercial drivers and makes commercially sound decisions.

Financial Awareness: Develops strategies in order to optimise the potential profitability of sales and to measure the financial value of the customer-organisation relationship.

Market and Industry: Keeps up to date with relevant business, technical and professional knowledge and uses this information to understand market trends, customer needs and buying patterns.

Rosenbaum’s 2001 research into elite sales performers reveals that they are focused on the business of business as a key part of their sales strategies. Here are the key competencies they display that other less effective sale people do not:

  • Listen beyond the obvious product needs
    • Presses for more information to identify the business issues underlying the customer’s needs
    • Creatively draws on the full resources of the firm / business
    • Introduces customers to other suppliers and potentially valuable support resources
  • Orchestrating internal resources
    • Treats company resources with the same degree of importance and creativity as their prospects
    • Invests time building collaborative, customer focused relationships inside their organisation
  • Aligning customer and supplier strategic objectives
    • Looks to further the interests of their customers’ firms as well as their own
    • Keeps current on developments that affect customers’ business strategies including emerging trends and customers’ competitors
    • Welcomes opportunities to customise products or services and has a long-term perspective on the way they do business with customers
  • Establish a vision of a committed customer relationship
    • Expands the customer’s understanding of what a business relationship can be
    • Builds a flexible relationship that is responsive to marketplace changes
    • Communicates achievable objectives for the relationship while challenging the creativity of both organisations
  • Understanding the financial impact of decisions
    • Adept at understanding the financial impact of decisions
    • Uses internal resources in ways that are appropriate to the potential profitability of serving individual customers
    • Looks for ways to contribute to customers’ profitability

So what’s the solution?

How do we ensure that this competency is alive, well and fit in the sales force? Should everyone have an MBA? The answer is ‘No’. Without some domain expertise, MBA’s do not make you a great operator either. It’s about combining experience, thinking and creativity with theory. Getting real life hands on experience allows you to see how the real world operates. An interesting article on Radio National highlights the problem of having an MBA without real life experience and the serious issues this has created in business: MBA – Mot Bloody Awful

The answer lies is giving our sales people access to information or introductory training on the fundamentals in business, and the opportunity to review true-to-life case studies about how their business integrates with customers’ businesses is a good start. Including sales people in strategy development and business planning is also useful. Our ’5 Step Sales Planning Process’ that is part of our sales training and Go-to-market training sessions have also proven to be a big hit with sales teams. It allows them to develop their own sales strategies and do the thinking and analysis on their business and that of their customers and markets.

Having business and commercial acumen is also becoming a prerequisite for Human Resources and Procurement professionals. We all need to know how businesses work and function. The warning is if we continue to lead with product, we and our sales teams will be left behind in 2011. Like anything, it’s about blending theory with practice. Making sure our sales people can understand businesses’ commercial drivers and make commercially sound decisions in line with ours and our clients’ business strategies is key in 2011.

Remember that everybody lives by selling something.
Author: Sue Barrett, MD of barrett.com.au a Sales Training firm.

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Different sales assessments and how to use them

January 21, 2011 in Attitudes & Behaviours, Call Reluctance, Coaching, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics & Values, Prospecting, Recruitment & Sales Recruitment, Sales Assessments, Sales Culture, Sales Research, Sales Training, Self Development

If you wanted to, you could sit down for at least four weeks and complete 100′s of sales assessments and there would still be more on offer. This over abundance of sales assessments can be confusing because they are not all the same. If you do not know what you want to measure it will make looking for an effective sales assessment tool that much harder. Here are some questions that may help you select your sales assessments with more precision.

  • Why will this person sell? (Motives, Ambition, Goals)
  • Will this person sell? (Attitudes, Mindset, Not Hesitant, Accountable, Energy, Drive)
  • How does this person sell? (Style, Ethics, Behaviours)
  • Can this person sell? (Skill, Knowledge, Mindset)
  • How well can this person sell? (Job match, Values, Perceptive Reasoning, Self Belief, Mastery Mindset)

As stated before, there is no one sales tool that can answer all these questions. So at risk of offending some test providers and users, as I am bound to leave out some assessments that could have been included in this piece, I thought I would share with you the tools that we and many other businesses have found to be the most useful in helping us predict sales performance especially when it comes to sales recruitment.

Measuring Sales Prospecting Fitness
Research shows that only about 20% of sales people are fully effective when prospecting. In use for 30+ years, the SPQ*Gold (Sales Preferences Questionnaire) is a well regarded and widely used assessment designed to specifically detect and measure the emotional response to prospecting – Sales Call Reluctance®. Call Reluctance® is the emotional hesitation to initiate contact with prospective buyers in sufficient numbers to support organisational goals.

40 years of empirical research in prospecting shows the hesitation to initiate first contact with prospective buyers on a consistent daily basis is responsible for the failure of more competent, motivated and capable sales people than any other single factor. The fear of prospecting can cost an average of 15 new units of business per month per sales person. Prospecting is not the most important skill in selling but it is the first thing that has to happen before anything else happens.

Assess the Fear of Prospecting
The fear of prospecting, Sales Call Reluctance® and sales hesitation, an individual’s hesitance to prospect and self-promote for new business, can be objectively measured using the SPQ*Gold® questionnaire. The SPQ*Gold® is an attitude and activity based online assessment that identifies how much initiative, energy and drive an individual devotes to proactive sales prospecting and the amount of energy spent on coping with inhibitors such as fear. The SPQ*Gold® is the only tool that measures the prospecting fitness of people in sales, sales management and customer contact careers. It is best suited for anyone responsible for meeting sales and revenue targets whether you call yourself a sales person or not.

SPQ*Gold helps you answer these 3 business questions:

  1. How much will they produce?
  2. How soon will it happen?
  3. What will it cost you to get that performance out of them?

Applications

  • Administered online via user name and password sourced via an accredited provider.
  • The SPQ*GOLD® can be used for recruitment and development purposes to measure prospecting fitness. It produces individual selection reports, team summary reports, and development and coaching reports.
  • SPQ*Gold will NOT measure personality, motivators and values, communication styles, emotional intelligence, leadership styles and derailers, or cognitive attributes and abilities (IQ).

Measuring Sales Performance Characteristics and Style
SPI-Q (Sales Performance Insight Questionnaire) is the latest and most comprehensive sales assessment tool in the marketplace. The Sales Performance Insights Questionnaire (SPI-Q) has been developed in Australia by Performance Insights and focuses on the attributes that are uniquely relevant to sales. It is the only product in the market that predicts the multi-dimensional characteristics required by today’s sales professionals, and measures the subtle but critical characteristics that differentiate successful sales people. The questionnaire measures 25 Sales Attributes, clustered into three broad domains:

  1. Compelling Relationships – measures the preferences the individual has when working with clients and developing relationships i.e. Impact, Credibility, Insight, Attentiveness, Initiation, Influence, Social Leverage, Client Engagement and Negotiation.
  2. Perceptive Reasoning – measures how the individual processes information and makes judgments relating to client issues and solutions i.e. Research, Exploration, Agility, Pursues Learning, Creativity, Structure, Quality Orientation, Rational, Specialist and Judgement.
  3. Channelled Energy – measures the motivators and levers which drive the individual to succeed i.e. Authenticity, Resilience, Self Belief, Recovery, Motivation and Sales Drive.

The questionnaire has been designed to be highly pragmatic and user-friendly (requiring minimal training) with standard interpreted report outputs which are adapted based on the individual’s results. The SPI-Q is a self-report questionnaire and the accuracy of this profile depends on how honest the individual has been when completing the questionnaire as well as their self-awareness. It reflects their preferred style rather than their ability. However, research shows that people’s responses to personality questionnaires can act as a good predictor of how they are likely to behave on the job. There is no one ‘perfect profile’.

Applications

  • Administered online via user name and password sourced via an accredited provider.
  • The SPI-Q can be used for recruitment and development purposes. It produces individual reports along with accompanying team summary reports, development and coaching reports.
  • SPI-Q will NOT measure values, leadership styles & derailers, cognitive attributes and abilities or prospecting fitness.

These two tools would be my first choice when recruiting sales people. If you want to measure Culture Fit, Motives and Values, Leadership Style and Derailers, Emotional Intelligence (EQ) or Cognitive Abilities (IQ) then we recommend the following tools, which while they are not sales specific, have been widely used in sales and sales leadership.

Measuring Culture Fit and Values: The Hogan Motives, Values and Preferences Inventory (MVPI) measures ten core values found in most cultures throughout history i.e. Aesthetics, Affiliation, Altruistic, Commerce, Hedonism, Power, Recognition, Science, Security and Tradition. It is not sales specific, however, it provides vital information to managers about how to coach and manage their sales people in terms of motivators, values and drivers. The MVPI provides useful data about the kind of work environment the candidate prefers. Measuring organisational fit is critical to staff retention and cultural engagement.

Measuring Leadership Style and Derailing Behaviours: Most business leaders have coping behaviours they draw on when under pressure. The Hogan Development Survey (HDS) measures strategies and behaviours leaders have developed over time (even from childhood) to cope with increased levels of pressure whether due to change, high stress, multi-tasking, work saturation, an unhappy environment or being outside of their comfort zone. The HDS is not purpose built for sales leaders however it has a wide body or research on sales leadership with relevant norm groups to refer to. Research shows that most leaders display at least one coping style. In measuring extremes of personality then, it is very important to remember that these can have highly positive implications. There is, however, always a potential downside to extremes because if they are not managed effectively or appropriately they can become problematic. When business leaders, especially sales leaders, are not managing their interpersonal façade well (perhaps because of stress, pressure, deadlines, etc.) these extremes can emerge unchecked and upset the delicate balance of teamwork and interpersonal relationships.

Measuring Emotional Intelligence (EQ): Emotional Intelligence (EQ) involves a set of skills that define how effectively people perceive, understand, reason with and manage their own and others’ feelings. These skills are cornerstones to successful selling, as emotions are an inherent part of why people buy and why they do not. The Genos Model of workplace Emotional Intelligence comprises seven specific EI skills critical to successful selling i.e. Emotional Self-Awareness, Emotional Expression, Emotional Awareness of Others, Emotional Reasoning, Emotional Self-Management, Emotional Management of Others and Emotional Self-Control. Each skill can apply to successful selling.

Measuring Cognitive Attributes and Abilities (IQ): There are no sales specific attributes and abilities assessments that we know of, however, good quality Attributes and Abilities assessments have been around for over 50 years. They are often referred to as IQ tests. They are widely available through accredited providers and most organisational psychologists. They are becoming more applicable because more sales and many leadership roles, especially sophisticated or more complex sales markets, require high level thinking abilities such as:

  • Verbal – verbal fluency, vocabulary and ability to understand and reason using words.
  • Numerical – ability to use and understand numerical concepts, reason using numbers and perceive logical relationships between them.
  • Abstract – the ability to think clearly and make sense of complexity, which is known as educative ability and the ability to store and reproduce information, known as reproductive ability.
  • Critical Thinking – the ability to clarify goals, examine assumptions, discern hidden values, evaluate evidence, accomplish actions and assess conclusions.

We do not use single assessments. Instead, we combine tools to give us a more complete picture.
Different sales roles in different industries require different attributes for success. Thus, profiles should be interpreted with reference to a specific role and its requirements. It is important that the data from any assessment be combined with other sources of information about the individual when making decisions, particularly in selection settings. Most assessments have a shelf life of 18-24 months and should be treated confidentially. If there are major changes in an individual’s life or work, this could change some of the attributes in some assessments. If you wish to use recruitment grade assessments for sales selection, I hope this helps you make a more informed decision.

To order an online assessment today, please call Barrett on 03 9532 7677 or for further information click on this link www.barrett.com.au/assessments

Remember everybody lives by selling something.

Author: Sue Barrett, www.barrett.com.au

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