Disbelief – Weak Salesperson

I received another call from a CEO who couldn’t believe that his salesperson was as weak as the assessment indicated and the assessment did unveil a very weak salesperson. The CEO contended that Billy was doing quite well.

We collect some additional data from salespeople for just these scenarios. I was able to show the CEO that Billy indicated that he had just 3 new 1st appointments in the past 12 months and didn’t close any of them. He also indicated that a significant portion of his business came from call-ins and existing customers. This raw data supports the findings of a very weak salesperson although Billy does have some very good account management skills. How many of your ‘great salespeople’ are just good account managers in disguise? The easiest way to find out is to perform this exercise: Imagine this salesperson without any existing business. Then imagine sending this salesperson out into the field to find new business. In your imaginary world, does the salesperson succeed? Case closed.