MBA 6350

Advances in Personal Selling

Chapter 6
People are the Sales Org’s Greatest Asset
• Recruiting
• Hiring
• Onboarding Talent Management
• Developing
• Retaining

1. Characteristics
2. Competencies
Diagnosing a Profile
1. Utilize data to unearth behaviors
2. Determine skill baselines
3. Measure intent and desire to learn/grow
4. Limit individual and institutional bias
Identify Key Attributes
Determining Successful Sales Personalities
5 Personality Types Social Styles DISC Profile
• Extraversion • Analytical • Dominance
• Agreeableness • Amiable • Influence
• Openness • Expressive • Steadiness
• Conscientiousness • Driver • Conscientiousness
• Neuroticism

Determining Potential Behavioral Factors

Coachability
• Requests feeback
• Feeback is positive
• Likes accountability
• Implements change
Locust of Control Stress Management
• My outcomes are a • Job Change
result of my actions • Role Clarity
• My outcomes are a • Role Ambiguity
result of others • Role Conflict
Identify Performance
1. 2. 3.

5.

4.
Data Approach
1. Conduct higher level statistical analysis (regression, ANOVA, SEM, etc.)
2. Determine significance for each component
3. Coefficient analysis illustrates positive or negative influence
4. May need to consider mediators or moderators.
Sample Regression Model Outputs

Significant at
a .05 level

COM has greater

influence
Supporting the Recruiting Process

• Manage applicant pool and recruiting channels

• Support sales force refer candidates
• Develop success profile
• Match behavioral interview questions to key attributes
• Test candidates - Pre, during, and post test
• Align sales context to skill set

We can hire nice people and teach them to sell, but

we can’t hire salespeople and teach them to be nice
Supporting Learning and Development

• Delivering and tracking sales force learning

• Conduct in person learning sessions
• Diagnose learning and development programs

Trivie.com
Measuring Training Impact – Constant Interaction
Sale Agent Turnover

Utilize technology and data to predict outcomes

Data allows you to identify trends

• Tenure to According to the
• Activity decline Aberdeen Group, it
• Coaching results costs $30,500 to
• Sales results replace a sales
• Training completion agent
• Incentive trends
MBA 6350
Advances in Personal Selling
Chapter 7
Sales Compensation

FROM TO
• People are leaving • Happier Salespeople
• Product launch failed • “Right” sales effort
• Missing quota • Better results
Good IC Plan Objectives
Accurate and Timely IC Plan

• Accurate and timely • Specifies information to

calculations agents and managers
• No delay in payments • Aligns with tech and
• Error-free and efficient analysis
administration • Communicates to
executives and sales
leaders
• Correlates with finance
and accounting

Easy to Monitor + Easy to Understand + Easy to Implement

Technology - MKT Sales Compensation
Pipeline & Analytics

Personality Considerations
IC Supporting Information

Supporting Executives
• % of salespeople making quota
• % of salespeople earning no incentive
• % of salespeople earning 2x target incentive
• Ratio of 90th percentile
• % of incentive paid by product & customer
group
• % of forecast achieved
• Individual trends over time
Diagnostic Tests and Potential Updates
• Does the IC plan motivate?
• Does the IC plan pay for performance?
• Is the IC plan aligned with sales and corporate strategy?
• Is the IC plan fair?
• Diagnosis reveals problems or opportunities (see above)
• Pressure to change from staff (competitive market)
80% of companies
• External events change sales process (see Zoom) update IC plan YoY
• New product or service (See Microsoft)
• New company goals or target (entering new market)
• New leadership drives change (depends on timing)
Key IC Plan Design Decisions

1. What is the financial impact?

2. How will it be distributed?
3. Who participated?
4. Test to prior results using Monte Carlo
simulations
5. Does $$ really influence motivation,
retention, and employee engagement?