If the talent of your sales organisation follows the usual distribution curve you will have a few star performers, a few poor performers and the majority there or there about occupying the middle ground.
What if you could shift the curve towards the top performers? Think what a difference it would make if a sizable majority; perhaps even half of your sales people were achieving their stretch targets?
A tool that can have a significant impact on achieving that pleasant position is sales competencies. Any job can be ‘unpacked’ into its constituent parts, what you might term the success drivers. These are competencies.
A competency is an amalgam of skills, experience, knowledge and mind-set. Identifying what those are creates a real sense of direction for personal development, training, coaching, performance management and succession planning.
[geoads2]
How do you establish what are the required competencies for your sales organisation?
- Firstly collect all the existing data that will help inform competence development: Job descriptions, role profiles, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), success/failure criteria etc.
- Complete a role review covering all standards of performance
- Model exemplar performance, activities and behaviours
- Codify findings into a competency framework
- Include descriptors and behavioural indicators
- Test for relevancy
- Use to inform recruitment, promotion, performance management, role development and coaching
