Finding
out what outstanding salespeople do that gives them their edge.
This is an example
of Profiling excellent performers.
"Profiling identifies what the
best performers in a group of jobholders do and how they think. The profile
aids development, training and recruitment decisions."
Area Managers identified the twelve top sales people, out of 160, in a computer company. I interviewed the twelve people in an open and client centred way with, as far as possible, no preconceptions. I asked "What is important to think about in your job? What you do that makes it succeed? How you do that?". Then I read the data through several times, classified each separate idea and then grouped the classes to give some manageable headings. Finally, I summarised the data under each heading. The data was very rich. A summary follows, the full story is in Profiling for Excellence .
A From my
experience of interacting with them
All participants
actively manage relationships. They show interest, give remarkably warm
attention and are clear, open and confronting. They connect. Because of the
warmth and connection I wanted to talk and interact freely with them. I thought
their customers would too.
B Key ideas from
the interviews
1 The need to
build person to person relationships with clients
2
Questioning and researching
3
Understanding how customer organisation works
4
Keeping your eye on the ball/being strategic
5
Finding ways to add value
6
Being natural, avoiding role playing
7
Avoiding IT departments and computers
The group of sales people said "This is accurate, we don't need to make any changes to the profile, we need to decide what to do!" The data was used by the company, together with other work, to plan the recruitment and development of sales staff.
If you would like to discuss any of this further, or meet, please call Nick Heap on +44 (0)1707 886553 or email info@nickheap.co.uk