According to sales expert Dave Kurlan, founder of Objective Management Group, there are ten factors that impact a salesperson’s propensity to overachieve. Last week I presented the first five. This week I will present factors six through ten:
6. Self-Starters – This is whether salespeople are more effective when working independently or as part of a team; and whether they require supervision or can work without it. If you have self-starters on your team, you are one lucky manager. If not, you must start them up every day or as often as it takes.
7. Skills – The more the better, but let’s focus on the most important skillsets for overachieving. Your salespeople must be able to hunt for new opportunities, identify the most qualified of those opportunities and be able to close them. Anything else they can do is a bonus!
8. Sense of Urgency – Your salespeople must have enough urgency to get their opportunities closed, when they become closable, even when their prospects are trying to put them off.
9. Hidden Weaknesses – Unfortunately, there are weaknesses that will neutralize all of the previous eight factors. There can be dozens of weaknesses that could impact performance but none are so powerful as these five: High Need for Approval, Tendency to Become Emotionally Involved, Non-Supportive Buy Cycle, Money Issues, and a Self-Limiting Record Collection.
10. Coaching and Training – Your coaching must support any training initiative and help salespeople overcome their weaknesses, develop skills and master the selling process. While most training will be conducted by sales development experts from outside your firm, the coaching absolutely takes place from within. Pre-call strategizing and post-call debriefing, with every salesperson, at least every week.
