YourSalesManagementGuru

Blog archive

Time for Salesperson Evaluations

Last week, one of my clients and I were discussing the end of the first quarter, salesperson performance and the next steps in their business strategy.  The conversation led me to suggest the following steps for my client, but it would work just as well for readers.

Step 1: Evaluate your team. Place each of your team members into one of the following categories:

  • Stars: How do we keep them?
  • Learners: Have high potentials, but do we have a plan to train?
  • Solid Performers: How do we maintain?
  • Followers: Good for now, but what about next year?
  • Deadwood: Can we do better?

Step 2: Once you have classified your team, the next step is to develop a plan to review each person and set a learning path for them.  We recommend that this becomes a formal procedure between the sales manager and each salesperson, at least twice a year. We use a salesperson development tool from our Sales Managers Tool Kit, which is a library of 40-plus robust sales management tools we have developed during our consulting practice.

The salesperson development tool includes a revenue-versus-quota section, but just as important is a section for the sales managers' evaluations regarding:

  • Skills/Strengths: What needs work, what items are good
  • Development Plan: What actions are to be taken and their target dates/completion dates
  • Obstacles and plans to reduce obstacles

This session allows both individuals an opportunity to honestly discuss career aspirations, personal goals and skill development. Using this approach along with the Salesperson's Business Plan, the manager can fully coach the salesperson to the next level.

Building a regular practice of "inspecting what you expect," you will increase the professionalism of your team and drive performance. What are your thoughts on improving the performance of your sales teams?

Posted by Ken Thoreson on March 30, 2015


Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.