Uncertainty has been our permanent companion over the last two years, and as business and sales leaders and professionals, ‘adaptation’ is -or at least, it should- be our way of doing business. We can shift our thinking by leveraging all that we have learned to propel business forward.
Here are 3 things that have helped our clients adapt in these changing times:
1. Remote Sales Training
Here’s how a remote blended learning approach works and delivers results
More businesses are coming to terms with the fact that in some cases a classroom setting is not feasible for the foreseeable future, or they prefer to save on travel and accommodation, and are incorporating remote sales training into their Learning and Development initiatives. Barrett has been delivering this kind of programs for a few years now, and they work. Here’s how:
- Sales Process: Review and map the sales process
- Communication: engage the whole sales team, letting them know that they will be part of a Blended Learning program
- Online Sales Education Curriculum: everyone has access to the relevant online sales curriculum that provides theory, knowledge, background, principles, tools, and strategies to sell better.
- Group training sessions via video conferencing: create an ongoing forum for more group-based learning activities at suitable intervals
- Coaching leaders to become their team’s coach
The results speak for themselves: Selling better, faster.
2. Adopting a Sales System
Here’s how a Sales System can help your sales operation be resilient and adaptable
We all have some sort of sales system in our businesses, whether it was built by design or emerged by default. The important question is ‘How well is your system working?’
Most businesses do not have a sales system in place designed to account for their sales efforts thus leaving them exposed to any changes and fluctuations internal or external, in their market, supply chain, etc.
A Sales System accounts for a range of elements that we can work with to dramatically reduce execution risk. Understanding every part of the sales operation, how they work together and how they relate to the broader business is key to implementation.
A healthy sales system presents:
- A Clear strategy & purpose
- Transparency and ease of use
- ‘On the same page’ decision making
- ‘How we sell around here’ processes
- Minimum standards of sales excellence
- Practical, common set of tools & resources
- Easy induction & ongoing development
- Dramatic uplift with ‘learn to earn curve’
- Unity, Common Ground & RELIEF
Businesses that implement a sales systems see share prices track north, with sales, margins, culture, and customer satisfaction never better. Even during COVID-19, a number of our clients are performing very well because their sales system is mitigating execution risk.
3. Using psychometric assessments in the recruitment process
Here’s how to improve sales recruitment
Sales teams are the primary human face of organisations but identifying and retaining high performing sales talent continues to elude many businesses.
Effectively predicting sales performance is critical to the success of any business, and using well designed, rigorous psychometric assessments as part of a sales selection process can really boost our chances of finding and retaining the right salespeople.
To get the most value out of psychometric assessments when applied to your sales selection process you might like to consider these important points:
- Use as part of a selection process: psychometric assessments should be used in concert with other validated selection tools such as structured behavioural interviews, competency based simulation exercises and structured reference checks where findings can be cross referenced against core criteria that have been established as relevant to the job and culture in question.
- Predictive ability: psychometric assessments should account for no more than 20% of your decision making criteria. They can never be 100% predictive of performance.
- Purpose built: use psychometric assessments that have been purpose built to measure specific qualities, abilities or attributes.
- What to measure: there are a variety of assessments you can use on their own or combined. Select the ones that will measure what you need for the specific role.
- Cost: most businesses reserve the more stringent psychometric assessment process until after they have developed a short list of candidates who have been through the initial screening parameters and a thorough Behavioural Interview. When you balance the cost of including psychometric tools in your recruitment process against the cost of one or more poor selection decisions. Which bill would you rather pay?
Remember, everybody lives by selling something.
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