January 3, 2011 by Jonathan Farrington
My original plan was to discuss “influence” today, but I am still researching, and I am also mindful that you will all be returning to work, and many of you will be embarking on the annual round of performance appraisals – either as an appraiser or as an appraisee – so here are some thoughts ….
A company’s performance appraisal process is critically important. It answers the two questions that every member of an organization wants to know:
• What do you expect of me?
• How am I doing at meeting your expectations?
Regular assessments and appraisals are essential, if individuals are to continually expand their “skills set”, and should deliver three key benefits for an organization:
• A clear career path for progression (which typically seems to motivate salespeople who operate in a business-to-business environment)
• Evidence of the return on investment made in developing people, so organizations are encouraged to sustain ongoing development
• A clear benchmark for salespeople and sales managers, so that they know what is expected of them
Every manager has to appraise subordinates and the mechanics of it vary from ticking little boxes, through marking on five-point scales, to writing an open ended report. However, in all cases the primary purpose of an appraisal is to help the subordinate.
Why Appraise? Reasons for an Appraisal
• To provide feedback of individual performance
• To plan for future promotions and successions
• To assess training and development needs
• To provide information for salary planning and special awards
• To contribute to corporate career planning
The five key elements of the performance appraisal are:
• Measurement – Assessing performance against agreed targets and objectives.
• Feedback – Providing information to the individual on their performance and progress.
• Positive reinforcement – Emphasizing what has been done well and making only constructive criticism about what might be improved.
• Exchange of views – A frank exchange of views about what has happened, how appraisees can improve their performance, the support they need from their managers to achieve this and their aspirations for their future career.
• Agreement – Jointly coming to an understanding by all parties about what needs to be done to improve performance generally and overcome any issues raised in the course of the discussion.
So when considering the design of an appropriate sales team appraisal document, what are the areas you should consider including?
This will be very much a personal decision based on relevancy. For example, if you manage an internal, predominantly reactive sales force, reviewing presentation skills or meeting ratios will be totally irrelevant.
If you have read any of my work before, you will, in all probability, know that I work with a very simple formula when it comes to sales team development and measurement – i.e.
Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success
I arrived at this conclusion many years ago and my initial reasoning was this:
Attitude is fundamental to any achievement because individuals with the right attitude are far more likely to embrace the essential skills, recognize the control that process brings and have the desire to continually expand their knowledge.
Skills are the ‘tools of the trade’ and have to be developed on an ongoing basis. They also need to be specific, because too much time can be wasted over-burdening employees with inappropriate and irrelevant skills without any identifiable plan for their future requirements.
Process brings organisation, efficiency and control – both for the individual and for management. Effective process provides objective analysis and indicators, which can be benchmarked and accurately measured.
Then there is of course a need to build in knowledge and that must include knowledge of products, industry, market sectors, competitors, business, own company and last but not least, self!
Therefore, when measuring my teams, I always ensure that I benchmark against that criteria.
What must an effective sales team appraisal contain? More tomorrow ….
191 reads Original article
About the Author
Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, consultant, and sales strategist, who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels. He is the CEO of Top Sales Associates, Chairman of The jf Corporation and the creator of Top Sales World. Jonathan is based in London and Paris.
http://thecustomercollective.com/jonathanfarrington/45925/why-appraise-sales-team-performance
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What MUST An Effective Sales Team Appraisal Contain?
January 4, 2011 by Jonathan Farrington
As I confirmed yesterday, I have always worked with the following formula: Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success
Therefore, when measuring my teams, I always ensure that I benchmark against that criteria: A simplified example might look something like this (although I have to admit that my own companies’ measurement system is much more rigorous)
Personal
o Self-organization & planning
o Motivation and attitude
o Ability to work under pressure
o Team playing and interpersonal skills
o Personal presentation
o Communication (oral/written/listening)
o Flexibility
o Initiative
o Performance vs. objectives
Sales
o Account management
o Business development
o Opportunity assessment -qualification
o Negotiation skills
o Presentation skills
o Strategic work
o Pro-activity
o Forecasting
o Achievement of targets
And for those with supervisory responsibilities you could add:
o Delegating authority
o Decision making
o Motivating – i.e. Creating enthusiasm and confidence
o Appraising and assessing
o Selecting and recruiting
o Coaching and developing
o Creativity
o Planning and allocating resource
o Representing
Next you need to implement a grading or scoring system – I use the following:
E – Poor: Definitely below acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is consistently deficient.
D – Fair: Improvement is needed to meet acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is inconsistent.
C – Average: Meets acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is consistent.
B – Good: Above acceptable standards; performance usually exceeds job requirements.
A – Excellent: Outstanding; unquestionably above acceptable standards; performance consistently exceeds job requirements.
In addition I translate these marks into scores, because that provides me with an overall numerical total which is so much easier to use when making comparisons:
I.e. using the above measurement scale: A=5, B=4 etc
In fact, I allow myself further “latitude” by using + or -, which in effect provides me with not five levels of rating but fifteen!
So now I have: E- = 0, E = 1, E+ = 2, all the way up to A+ which is now the equivalent of 14
This makes it so much easier to avoid the two common mistakes in rating i.e: Firstly, a tendency to rate nearly everyone as “average” on every characteristic instead of being more critical in judgement. The evaluator should use the ends of the scale as well as the middle.
Secondly, the “halo effect,” i.e. a tendency to rate the same individual “excellent” on every characteristic or “poor” on every characteristic based on the overall picture one has of the person being evaluated. However, each person has strong and weak points and these should be indicated on the rating scales.
What Else Should An Effective Appraisal Include? Mine Include All Of These:
Performance versus Commercial Targets
Specific Objectives vs. Results Summary
Quarterly Performance Rating
Commercial Targets For The Next Twelve Months
Specific Objectives For The Next Twelve Months
Performance versus Commercial Targets:
In this section, I review performance against all commercial targets for example:
o Revenue achieved.
o Overall gross margin.
o CCT (Customer contact time) as a % of TWT (Total working time).
o New accounts opened.
o Revenue increases from existing accounts.
Specific Objectives vs. Results Summary:
Specific objectives are all those targets that are “non – commercial” for example:
o Increase product knowledge in x areas.
o Profile any key accounts.
o Improve presentation skills.
o Attend a “Key Account Management” course.
o Become more involved with the induction of new recruits
Quarterly Performance Rating:
I have always believed in frequent reviews and as a consequence, I hold QBR (Quarterly Business Review) meetings at the end of each quarter. The scoring system is identical to the annual appraisal and in fact the QBRs provide most of the information and data for the annual session.
Commercial Targets and Specific Objectives for the Next Twelve Months:
A good appraisal should always conclude with agreement from both parties on the targets and objectives for the next twelve months.
These do not have to be set in stone and can be reviewed at the next QBR; however it is essential that every individual buys in to what is expected of them.
Target setting is a vitally important part of a manager’s function because if targets are set too high that will only act as a demotivator: Equally, if they are set too low, typically that is all that will be achieved.
In the same way the high jumper just clears the bar and does not leap a metre over the top, salespeople sell to expectation and have no inclination to burst through targets – unless of course, there is a significant incentive on offer! Although that begs the question of why they were not challenged with a higher target in the first place?
Finally, it is important that the manager uses the occasion to send the apraisee away feeling good about themselves, fully motivated and believing that all of the targets that have been agreed are indeed achievable – a motivational summary works wonders, even if there were areas of concern during the meeting, always focus on the highlights.
706 reads Original article
About the Author
Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognized business coach, mentor, author, consultant, and sales strategist, who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels. He is the CEO of Top Sales Associates, Chairman of The jf Corporation and the creator of Top Sales World. Jonathan is based in London and Paris.
http://thecustomercollective.com/jonathanfarrington/45992/what-must-effective-sales-team-appraisal-contain
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