Are Your Sales Reps Selling the Wrong Thing?

A Harvard Business study revealed that 80% of sales are produced by only 20% of the sales people. So, if only 20% of sales professionals produce results, what are the other 80% doing?

Unfortunately, 55% have little or no sales ability and should work in other fields. The remaining 25% are mismatched. Mismatched means they are selling the wrong product or service based on their behavioral style. Not all sales people are created equal. Some are better suited for quick sales cycles; others excel in longer consultative sales cycles. Some are best at selling products, while others are more effective selling intangible services. Some love building relationships; others prefer the hunt.

So, ask yourself, do you have the right sales person for what you sell and how you sell it? Industry experience, years of experience, and education may be irrelevant if the sales person is mismatched to the sales position. According to Gallup research, poor fit to the job is the #2 predictor of employee turnover.

In the EOS (Entrepreneurial Operating System) world, their motto is “right people, right seats.” And in the sales arena, we take that maxim to a deeper level . . . right salesperson, right sales style. There are four sales styles according to the Devine sales assessment which we use in evaluating sales candidates. The four styles are Value, Consultative, Account Management, and Commodity.

A salesperson typically is not well suited for all four styles. For example, a sales professional who scores high on the Account Management style may have a high chance of success in building lasting relationships with customer. However, they may not be great at selling value to a customer. If you need someone who can create demand for product or services and who can shorten the sales cycle, then you would want to hire a salesperson who scores high on the Value style. Another example is a salesperson with a background of selling newspaper advertising may be successful with quick sales cycles, yet this same person may struggle in longer consultative sales process selling expensive technology solutions.

Sales assessments provide a simple way to evaluate the behavioral style of a sales candidate so that they can me matched to the style of the sales position. If you have members on your sales team that are struggling to produce results, they may be in the wrong sales role. And they might even be more successful selling something else for another company.

Learn more about how to match your sales team to their sales roles.