How to Write a Sales Performance Standard

Writing standards for your salespeople is not as complicated a task as you might imagine.

By way of encouraging you to proceed, let me remind you of some benefits that will accrue from your endeavours:

1 You will obtain near real time visibility on the performance levels of each individual sales representative on your team.
2 You will become more focused and specific in diagnosing deficits in individual performance.
3 You will be able to implement more cost effective and relevant development solutions.
4 Others will view you as a sales manager that possesses a high level of integrity.
5 You will be better able to align selling activity to the accomplishment of organisational goals.
6 You will be able to command a greater degree of loyalty from your sales team.
7 Your salespeople will become more confident, knowing that somebody who is deemed to be very competent at their job is managing them.
8 You will be able to encourage your salespeople to take ownership of their own personal development.
9 Your sales team will operate with a higher level of motivation and enthusiasm.
10 You will become more successful in raising the productivity and performance levels of your sales team.

Now, this is the description of a sales manager that many organisations would love to get their hands on, and who, they find difficult to locate -I wonder why?

Writing the standards:
Performance standards may be written to different levels of complexity. The more general the applicability, the harder it is to be specific. You now realise the futility of adopting somebody else's standards or indeed have me write them for you. However I would ask you to give consideration to the following guidelines:

In all cases standards should be:

(a) Realistic and obtainable- Standards for performance, which meet expectations, represent the minimum acceptable level of performance for that particular aspect of the job.
(b) Specific- The standard should tell the sales representative exactly which specific action and result they are expected to accomplish.
(c) Based on measurable data, observation or verifiable information- Performance can be measured in terms of timelines, cost, quality and quantity.
(d) Consistent with organisational goals- Standards link individual and team performance to organisational goals and should be consistent with those goals. The success of the organisation's and sales division's mission depends on this strategic connection.
(e) Challenging- Standards can describe performance that exceeds expectations. Recognising performance that is above expectations or is outstanding is crucial to salespeople's motivation.
(f) Clear and understandable- The salesperson whose work is to be evaluated on the basis of standards should understand them. Standards are the language of the job.
(g) Dynamic- As organisational goals, technologies and processes change, standards should evolve with them.

Now, getting back to the RATE ME evaluation form, start writing these standards and I will come back to give you some examples. You maybe wondering how you going to write a standard for say 'commitment', which is one of the SPI's outlined on the form, if you have a suggestion, let me know: post a comment or email me.

Cheers
Dave: http://www.davidquinnandassociates.ie/