Just 24% of Salespeople Are High Performers

Employers must understand “winning behaviors” and replicate across sales channels

An effective sales channel drives growth and opens new revenue streams. But only 24% of salespeople are high performers. Questionmark, the online assessment provider, is urging employers to get a better understanding of the habits and strategies of their most successful salespeople.

They can then replicate these “winning behaviors” across the sales channel through training and support.

Research shows that 57% of salespeople worldwide expect to miss their targets. Some 29% expect to meet less than a quarter of their quota. Overall, 76% are under or averagely performing, despite the money invested in training. Nevertheless, they believed that the targets set were reasonable, the research from Salesforce shows.

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The most successful salespeople have clear habits. They spend much of their time focusing on researching prospects, preparing proposals, and prioritizing leads. Only 34% of their time is spent directly selling to customers or prospects.

Lars Pedersen, CEO of Questionmark, said: “The factors that make a sales team successful will differ from employer to employer. But one thing is certain: the bulk of revenue will come from a minority of high-performing salespeople.

“One in six US Fortune 100 companies use Questionmark’s enterprise-grade assessment technology. Many of these organizations use Questionmark in the sales domain. They use assessments to identify the skills, behaviors and attitudes of the highest performing salespeople.

“By understanding what these high performers do that others don’t, employers can introduce better training. They can ensure they replicate good habits and successful strategies across the whole sales channel.”

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Employers can use online assessments and surveys of the top-performing salespeople to identify successful strategies and distill good habits. They can then see which crucial skills are missing from the rest of the workforce. This will inform their decisions on training and how to support weaker-performing team members. Further assessments can check that revised training programs are working.

As well as assessing their own staff, employers should conduct an online assessment across the entire sales operation, including channel partners. They can adapt the content of certification programs to ensure that those representing their brands and products exhibit the skills and strategies that create success.

Crystalizing the qualities of strong performers will be especially important in industries that are struggling with skills gaps. In financial services, 70% of chief executive officers believe that the limited availability of skills is a threat to growth.

Assessments can also help employers discover whether people across the sales channel are observing relevant regulations as they go about their work. By testing knowledge of those regulations and attitudes toward compliance, employers can build a culture of compliance and ensure the rules of the sector are stringently followed across the entire sales channel.

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