The Sales Performance Profiler

“If you can’t change the people, change the people!” This sometimes controversial statement by my father used to get people’s attention. He would go on to explain that if you have assisted them to change, provided them with the training and support, and they still don’t lift their performance, to not deal with it is a reflection on your brand as a leader.

As a sales leader you need to stand back and look at what I call ‘The Results Model’. Briefly, it shows that if you want the results to leapfrog, you need to work on either improving the sales team’s skills , or the effectiveness of their activity.

Indeed, it could be a combination of concentrating on both.

Over the past 25 years, training salespeople and sales leaders in 29 countries around the world, I would be an idiot not to notice some patterns and distinctions. I’ve noticed something. There are different kinds of salespeople and they generally fall into one of 4 performance profiles.? Most sales teams are a comprised of these four profiles. Their attitudes, behaviours, beliefs, skills and, therefore, results are all different. I refer to them as:

1. The Skillful Tortoise
2. The Energy Drainer
3. The Wheel Spinner
4. The Top Gun

Let’s take a look at each of these individually.

Skillful Tortoise

The selected animal name says a lot. The Skillful Tortoise has great skills (high on the vertical axis) but low activity levels (horizontal axis) and, from a results perspective, moves really slowly. Like the character in the classic children’s story, the tortoise is not the fastest-moving creature. It’s slow, and yet moves with grace and determination. Because they’re slow, the Skillful Tortoise salesperson often finds themselves on a revenue roller coaster, experiencing periods of feast and famine. They’re great to watch but you just wish they would increase their activity levels.

How can you help them? This profile often benefits from coaching on the QDQ (Quality of decision-maker, Direction – in terms of market segment and industry, and Quantity – the amount of activity they’re doing).

Being a Skillful Tortoise doesn’t necessarily mean they’re unsuccessful salespeople. If they are consistently over budget, leave them be to get on with it.

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Energy Drainer

The Energy Drainer seldom achieves good sales results. This profile is characterised by a poor conversion ratio and an aversion to working hard. As you can see from the model, both their sales skills and activity levels are low.?

The Energy Drainer is typically a lazy salesperson. They demand help from their sales leader and suck up their time. They don’t put the same time, energy and determination into their sales job as the Top Gun and Wheel Spinner.

Near enough is good enough. Energy Drainers usually do the amount of work they believe is necessary for them to keep their job, stay out of the limelight and avoid performance management – no more.

What can you do?? Micro-manage their weekly activity. Meet with them every week and discuss what they’ve done, the results they’ve achieved and their plan for the week ahead. If necessary, performance manage them. Either they improve or they’re out. I have always said that if your nose is on the fact that, regardless of the level of coaching and training, this person will never change, it will now reflect on your personal leadership brand if you do not address it. Time for tough conversations.

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Wheel Spinner

Wheel Spinners are typically busy being busy. And, because they’re doing ‘busy work’, they’re seldom effective. They keep themselves looking good by updating the CRM more often than others, attending internal meetings they don’t really need to attend, sorting out their emails,…..the list goes on. When it comes to new business, they meet their prospect for coffee and call just to say “G’day”. Why? Because they know they need to be busy, but their selling skills are not up to scratch. The call becomes a ‘latte visit’ with very little commitment to anything else other than to catch up next month and repeat the process.

Their conversion ratios are usually poor and, when it comes to their monthly and annual targets, it’s very hit and miss. ?The quality and quantity of opportunities in their pipeline is often low.

What can you do? Coach the Wheel Spinner on selling skills and the importance of good time management. It’s great that they’re always busy, but they need to be busy doing the right things. They need to be effective. Do joint sales visits with them and provide coaching as necessary after each meeting.

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Top Gun

This is the sales profile that every sales leader wants in their team! They’re the high achievers. Typically they just get it done.

Top Guns are the sales ‘superstars’ who consistently exceed their targets – monthly, quarterly and annually. These are the people who regularly achieve the company’s incentives and rewards program for over-achievers. They are always active and effective. They live and breathe the philosophy that activity comes before results. They have great selling skills and are always active and effective.

They love to keep learning and typically put their new knowledge and skills into action. They are experts at the QDQ (Quality-Direction-Quantity). They’re skilled at getting to the decision-maker (Quality), working in the right market segments and industries (Direction) and in doing the numbers that will provide them with the business they need (Quantity). Their pipeline is always healthy and they consistently over-achieve their plan.

What should you do with Top Guns?? Have them mentor others in the sales team. And make sure you do whatever you need to do to keep them.

Often organisations decide to promote sales high achievers into leadership roles, in the mistaken belief that, because they’re outstanding sales professionals, they will automatically smash a sales leadership role out of the park. More often than not, it doesn’t work.

Promote them at your own risk. High performing sales professionals love what they do. They love the hunt and landing new deals. They love being able to solve problems and improve the business lives of their customers. Taking that away from them and putting them into a sales leadership role is a great way to lose your best salespeople. They end up ‘doing their best’ versus ‘doing what they are best at’. They often flounder in sales management roles and, in order to save face, leave, take a few key accounts with them, and pop up in a month’s time working for your main (SPIT!) competitor.

Call to Action:

What Sales Performance Profiles are represented in your team? Do you have predominantly Top Guns? Or do Wheel Spinners and Energy Drainers make up the majority of your sales team? What’s your training and development plan moving forward?