The Barrett Wave
Issue Winter 2002
Retention Special
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In this issue Call Centre Behaviour Online Testing Women: Bosses from Hell? New Study: First place Salespeople?  
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Ride The Wave
Inside The Wave
Table of contents
Retention:The Psychological Contract.It could be the most important one you enter into.
Australian Call Centre increased sales by over 43% in 3 months by changing their behaviours and view of selling.
Where in the world can you find an honest salesperson?
Win, Place or Show - New study helps sales managers hire first place sales people.
Buyer Beware - the pitfalls of online testing
Women - Bosses from hell?
 
Barrett Consulting Group was 7 years old in January 2002. Over that time we have worked on many projects across abroad range of industries. However, one thing continued to eluded us and that was our ability to clearly define who we are, what we want to achieve, what we do and how we act. So after much soul searching, self examination and a deconstruction of our business we have finally been able to define ourselves now and for the future - Welcome to the Conscious Culture of Discipline at Barrett Consulting Group.

Mission - what we do
We strive to make sure no organisation or leader fails for want of effective selection, development and retention solutions. We apply our skills, knowledge and attitudes in two core areas:

  • Sales Performance & Productivity Solutions
  • Selection & Retention Solutions.

Vision - what we want
We will inspire and promote greater self awareness and understanding in people which is socially aware and responsible.

Values - how we act
We are professional, collaborative and courageous.

Who we are
We are an Australian based management consulting firm who provides a range of consulting, development, facilitation, public speaking, design, testing and technical services.

Our Values in more depth.

Article 1 Banner

R etention of quality staff is one of the single biggest factors affecting future business success. In particular, the success of an organisation is very much dependent on their “critical employees” – those employees in whom the intellectual capital and corporate memory resides.

Not withstanding, not all turnover is necessarily bad. Paradoxically, a low turnover (i.e., high reten-tion) rate in some organisations may pose just as serious a problem. A high retention rate may indicate a workforce which is “stuck” (i.e. the “walking wounded”) and who are too afraid to leave. These people consider their employment prospects elsewhere, under the equivalent terms and conditions of their current employment, to be bleak.

Such a workforce is hardly the foundation for an organisation to move forward and respond to today’s dynamic business environment and challenges. What is therefore important is selective retention or retaining the “right” people. However, retention is a complex issue – there is no “silver bullet” or “magic wand” solution.

Ultimately, retention is about how an organisation manages its workforce, or more specifically, its relationship with its workforce. Apart from the obvious cost savings in retaining the right people, there are other significant, lasting benefits to an organisation which are often unappreciated.

These include:-

  • Higher levels of job satisfaction and performance;
  • Reduced workplace stress/enhanced employee well being; and more satisfied customers

Barrett Consulting Group have a keen interest in the research undertaken by Colin Beames, Corporate Psychologist of the WRDI-Institute, and the development of a “cutting edge” diagnostic survey called the Workplace Relationship Development Indicator (WRDI). This research has led to the creation of a set of valid and reliable diagnostic assessments (combined with structured intervention strategies), aimed at addressing retention throughout the employment life cycle. The advent of this survey tool has obvious “bottom line” benefits for organisations and recruiters.

Employment Life Cycle
Barrett Consulting Group are able to assist organisations address retention through the following stages:-

  • Pre- employment screening – WEM; Realistic Job Preview – WEM;
  • Post Recruitment Assessment (including contract and temporary employees);
  • Retention Risk Assessment (“critical employees”);
  • Mass surveys with reporting by workforce segment;
  • Exit Interviews.

Note:
The WEM stands for Work Expectations Match, a derivative online questionnaire of the WRDI which assesses the “fit” of the applicant to key aspects of the job and work setting.

The Retention Risk Assessment (RRA) approach categorises employees into 3 groups: Stayers; At Risk; and Leavers. Additionally, the RRA approach provides answers to two vital questions:

  • Why are people likely to leave?; and
  • What you can do about it?

However, the “icing on the cake” is that we recommend targeted interventions (designed to address perceived organisational and individual factors), that are contributing to the wastage of talent.

Employer/Employee Relations
At the core of the Retention assessment model are the concepts of: The “Psychological Contract” (which represents the essence of the employer/employee relationship); and the “New Deal”. These concepts provide a way forward for organisations to create workforce alignment and more productive employment relationships in the contemporary workplace.

Further enquiries, please contact Sue Barrett on (03) 95327677.

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Article 2 Banner

Situation:

Large sales and service call centre which employed over 370 telemarketers and 35 team leaders.
Majority of the telemarketers handled inbound customer calls
Small dedicated team which concentrated on outbound customer calls

Both types of calls were to have a sales focus
All new employees were required to attend a 3 week induction program (included service and sales training, product knowledge and skills practice)
The company wanted their telemarketers and supervisors to have a stronger, more proactive selling approach.

Some of the issues:

Company advertising for customer service people when they really needed sales people
Majority of telemarketers had been favouring a service approach at the expense of a sales focus (“nice information providers”)
Telemarketers not converting many opportunities presented to them and were a cost to the business
Senior Management and Team Leaders didn’t understand what behaviours were affecting them and their teams’ sales performance (lack of sales experience and know how)

Barrett Consulting Group Solutions:

  • Assess selling behaviours profiles of all team leaders and managers using SPQ*Gold to assess the amount of initiative, energy and drive each supervisor devoted to proactive sales and the amount of energy spent on coping with inhibiting influences such as fear. This was necessary as they were in a position to influence the selling behaviours of others and as such needed to understand their own approach to selling before they could coach others.
  • Conduct Sales Manager’s “Fitness” Interval training program for team leaders and management, the objective being to develop the supervisors' leadership, coaching and counselling skills and encourage them to approach their management roles with a stronger sales and results focus.

The result:

  1. The company recorded a 43% increase in sales and subsequently a substantial growth in business within 3 months.
  2. The company had 3 staff accredited to interpret SPQ results which is being used to support the recruitment of people more suited to their newly defined culture.

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Article 3 Banner

D o all salespeople exaggerate, or does it just seem that way sometimes? And does the seller's home turf make a difference in how much and how often the truth gets stretched?

To answer these questions, behavioral scientists George W. Dudley and Shannon L. Goodson recently reported preliminary results of a long-term international search for "the world's most 'ethically challenged' salespeople." In a paper originally presented to the Southwestern Psychological Association, the researchers scientifically analyzed the exaggeration behavior of 5,000 sales people representing nine countries.

THE "SPIN" CAPITAL OF THE SELLING WORLD?

So where is the "spin" capital of the selling world? The land of the free and the home of the late night infomercial wins hands down in the study, American salespeople exaggerated more than 50% of the time, scientifically establishing Americans as the most "ethically nimble" sellers in the world.

But salespeople in the other eight countries know how to grow hair on their sales pitches, too, according to Dudley and Goodson. U.S. Salespeople were followed by those in Canada (48%), Australia (46%), South Africa (39%), Hong Kong (37%), New Zealand (35%), Singapore (33%), Italy (36%), and the U.K. (30%). Overall, the average salesperson in the study exaggerated 48% of the time.

Why do they do it? "Why does anybody exaggerate?" Dudley asked. "Preachers and politicians exaggerate. So do attorneys, advertisers and corporate executives. Even scientists have been known to stretch the fabric of truth from time to time--and that's not an exaggeration! So it's not surprising that salespeople, who are paid to project a positive impression, are inclined to exagger ate.

What surprised us is how much. The exaggeration we found may be the norm." The researchers found that salespeople exaggerate despite the current popularity of high-minded "integrity"-based sales training programs--most of them U.S. based. "The more you hear words like 'values,' 'integrity,' and trust' in a sales presentation, the closer you should probably watch your wallet." The researchers reminded organizations in other countries that there are profound cultural differences between the U.S. and other nations, some of which--like the tendency of U.S. salespeople to exaggerate--may not be altogether welcome. "Be wary of slick U.S.-based sales training applications," Dudley said, "especially those which promise more principled salespeople. It could be an exaggeration."

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Article 4 Banner

T here are no crystal balls for selecting salespeople. Too often, sales managers never know they've made a bad hiring decision until a would-be superstar's production hits the skids. In other words, until it's too late. Now, a controversial new study from Dudley & Goodson has found an effective way to boost hiring "hit" rates and avoid the costly pitfalls of selecting the wrong candidates. Sales managers have long relied on personality traits like dominance, sociability and empathy to identify top sellers. But one of the best predictors of future sales performance is a salesperson's willingness to consistently prospect for new business. Studies have shown that salespeople who hesitate to promote themselves and their products to prospective buyers sacrifice an average of 15 orders every month. That hesitation is called Sales Call Reluctance®. Detecting it before a hiring decision is made, say the researchers, can help managers correctly identify candidates as potential top producers or future liabilities.

Recently Dudley and Goodson looked at a multi-industry sample of 206 currently employed sales-people. Industries represented ranged from financial services and real estate to manufacturing and advertising sales. Approximately half the sample was identified as Very High Producers (in the top 20% of their companies), and half as Very Low Producers (bottom 20% of their companies). Each participant completed SPQ*GOLD®, a 110-question computer scored test designed specifically to detect and measure 12 types of behavioral inhibitions associated with sales call reluctance. Then, using only questionnaire results, the researchers attempted to correctly pick the high producers. Analysis of SPQ results enabled Dudley and Goodson to correctly identify 72% of the VHPs. Whiles that's not perfect, it significantly improved on the sample's base "hit" rate (candi-dates correctly identified at time of hire) of 54%. Dudley emphasized that even small increases in selection accuracy can save companies hundreds of thousands of dollars in wasted training and unmet quotas. "In most cases, knowing up front whether a candidate will be able to prospect comfortably saves time, money and frustration."

Other findings from the analysis include:

  • High producers have significantly less fear that their calls will be seen as pushy or intrusive.
  • They don't wait for a mythical "right time" to call on prospects – to them, it's always the right
    time.
  • High producers are not afraid to call on major decision-makers: people of wealth, power,
    and prestige. Low producers, on the other hand, tend to be more intimidated by these
    potential buyers – and avoid calling on them.
  • Low producers are more likely to criticize, complain, and make excuses for their behavior.
    They tend to be more difficult to manage, coach, train, and advise than their high-producing
    counterparts.

Goodson acknowledges that this study flies in the face of current sales selection philosophies, especially those which favor candidates with high relationship-building skills. But, she says, today's so-called client-centered approaches tend to put the cart before the horse. "The current emphasis on nurturing client relationships assumes that salespeople are comfortable with initiating the relationship in the first place. But many aren't. They can't, won't, or simply don't make initial contacts with prospective clients in sufficient numbers. As a result, many salespeople who have become well-versed in relationship-building chronically lack new customers to build relation-ships with."

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Article 5 Banner

W eb-based test publishers have prioritised speed, ease of integration and usability over a rigorous approach to testing itself. Unless security issues are fully addressed, the test content can be duplicated and candidates can ‘practise’. This reduces the test's integrity and compromises the validity of results, especially in the case of remote testing, where you can't control the testing environment or verify the test-taker's identity.

Guaranteeing virtually instant results limits online test offerings to basic screening instruments, rather than comprehensive measurement of job-related competencies. Furthermore, bypassing psychologists increases the risk of litigation, due to inappropriate test selection and interpretation of results by untrained personnel. Substantial research and development is required to develop credible assessment tools, which web-based publishers have had little time to undertake.

The most realistic option is to partner with a reputable psychological assessment provider, who can provide relevant assessments tools regardless whether they are administered on line or in the standard format. Even then, psychological assessments should never stand alone. Their real value is in complement-ing an employers' own evaluation procedures.

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Article 6 Banner

A man puts his nose to the grindstone. But a woman sharpens her claws on it. That's the conclu-sion of a new study of American women managers. The latest study from research scientist Shannon L. Goodson examines the differences between informal corporate support for men and women - the old boys network vs. the old girls network.

"For generations," Goodson says, "men have worked as hard on their golf game as their work skills to help establish themselves professionally." As a professional woman herself, Goodson has found networking with other professional men and women extremely valuable. Recently Goodson and colleague Terry Donia began surveying a sample of approximately 150 male and female managers from Fortune 500 companies. Survey participants ranged from middle management to senior executive level. What they found is new support for networking, along with alarming and altogether unexpected rumbles of discord just beneath the surface. The glass ceiling, it turns out, could have a sister: the petticoat hurdle.

As expected, women overwhelmingly agree that forming and maintaining networks is important. But Goodson found out that mere rhetorical commitment to networking does not necessarily create more effective managers, or shorten their path to the top. Fifty-four percent of the managers surveyed said it didn't matter to them whether they worked for a man or a woman. But those who expressed a preference had an unexpected opinion. Seven in ten said they would rather work for a man than a woman. Why? Their reasons varied, but their comments on women managers had a common thread: "Backstabbing," "Gossip-focused." "Not as supportive as men." "Crisis creator."

According to Donia, "There may be more bitching than bonding going on among aspiring career women." Goodson is quick to point out that women are not intentionally bad bosses. They are just trying to survive the best way they know how. "Male managers in well established networks are more likely to give each other a helping hand because they see it as an investment in their own career," she says. But women must still compete against men and against each other for fewer opportunities. So they are more likely to see each other as potential threats. Their attitude tends to be, "If I help you today, will you step over me tomorrow?" Goodson offers no excuses for such self-protective behavior. "Women need to recognize that bitchy behavior can destroy more progress than it creates. There are enough real obstacles to our professional growth without throwing hurdles in each other's path."

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