Setting Sales Performance Standards-Getting Down and Dirty!

Ok, now let's get on with it! The 'RATE ME' form, which you will have reviewed by now if you read my previous post What Do Your Sales Figures Tell You? it documented 29 Sales Performance Indicators (SPI's). Well what do you think? Is there any field based selling job that does not incorporate these performance activities?

You are welcome to add or subtract to this list, however I would not recommend you adding too much and the reasons for this will become evident as we progress. The next column on the 'RATE ME' form states Level (1-3) and you might well wonder what these refer to and I will describe these as follows:

Level 1= Non compliance with standard
Level 2= Partial compliance with standard
Level 3= Full standard compliance

Easy so far, yea! Well column three is where the fun begins; this will separate the 'men form the mice'. The real sales manager from the bluffer! So brace yourself, because now you are actually going to have to devote some hard work into making this operational.

Column three 'Required Improvement Reference' (Refer to standard manual) infers that you have in place, such an animal! But you don't! Well go and compile one and do it now!

Seek Help.
I recommend that there should be at least three people involved in setting sales standards i.e. The Sales Director, The Sales Manager and HR Specialist. If you don't have a HR function, then source the expertise externally, you are going to need it and please do not pass this task on to somebody else and ask him or her to come back to you when they have written the standards, it simply doesn't work like that. The standards should have you written all over them, they incorporate you expectations with regard to the performance levels of your team, they are a reflection of your leadership style, they really are 'your little baby'. Remember also that while it is a legitimate option to develop standards without your sales team's involvement the benefits of a collaborative approach should be borne in mind; in particular, the end result is more likely to be supported if your salespeople are involved, either way mutual understanding and recognition of the standards is necessary.

Does this mean that you have to write a standard for each of the 29 sales performance indicators outlined in the 'RATE ME' form? The good news is, not necessarily, because you may focus on those, which are most important to the job of selling as you see it. However I am reluctant to state this for fear you might use this an excuse to reduce the amount of work involved and only do the task half right. I would suggest however that you can say group a number of indicators together e.g. 'planning', 'personal organisation' and say 'time management' and write a standard incorporating your organisation's expectations in relation to these activities under the one heading.

So now that you've got this far, I'll let you mull over this for a while and I will come back to let you know how to write a standard so that you can begin to fully utilise the 'RATE ME' evaluation form.

I'm unsure if this is making any sense to you and/or if you believe it can help: you can let me know by posting a comment or sending me an email. Look forward to hearing from you.
Kind regards
Dave: http://www.davidquinnandassociates.ie/