A Sales Competency Assessment is a special and unique way to enhance the skills and knowledge of a professional salesperson or sales representative through surveys and coaching tools. This Assessment can be used universally across all industries and puts emphasis on the techniques; a salesperson uses, the process he adopts, and specific behaviors which are in one way or the other crucial to impacting a Professional Sales Performance. The use of these Sales competency tests evaluates the core competencies of a Salesperson through influential, comprehensive, and practical survey tools used at every step of the Sales Cycle.
According to research, the Sales Competency Assessment is used to measure the competencies of Sales personnel along with their set of skills in different aspects which are significant to their sales performance. Knowing about the competencies of individual sales representatives in different areas of business, the sales executives can target to optimize and improvise on the existing set of skills to enhance the overall competency of the representative, individually to effectively reach the achieve the desired business goal.
Focusing on individual ratings from different aspects such as knowledge of business, negotiation, product presentation, etc. the objectivity and accuracy of the assessment remain intact. This competency test enables the sales executive to know about the plus points and weak points of each sales representative so that he may focus on the weaknesses through personalized coaching and monitoring based on specific requirements. By means of understanding about what the sales personnel need from each other, it helps to overcome the communication barrier between them and makes the sales team stronger and a better performer. Having support from each other on the team has been proven to encourage employees in performing better for the team.
SALES COMPETENCY ASSESSMENT: ADVANTAGES
Nowadays, a rising number of companies are investing in competency assessment solutions to enhance the productivity of its sales team; after all, we know that ‘sales are the backbone of any company’. By allowing the sales team to give the competency tests, the organizations can take steps in improving the crucial ways for the development of each salesperson. Let us discuss how a business organization is benefited from applying a Sales Competency test in the procedure.
- It assists in the recruitment process: The competency tests can offer a lot of help to the HR team of an organization while recruiting staff. Organizations can define job-specific competencies to hire recruits for the team. The competency assessment solutions provide clear numbers that tell the recruiter about the strengths and weaknesses of each person. Based on the job description, the recruiter can tally results and select a recruit based on his knowledge, skill, behavior, and performance. The HR team of an organization can use the result information from the competency assessment to make hiring decisions on whoever seems fit to the job description.
- It helps in identifying job dependent development needs: The competency assessment helps an employee or salesperson to stay encouraged in the market. Each employee has a competency profile made after their competency assessment is done; this profile tells them about the scope of improvement in different aspects of their personality, this helps them to stay competitive. After knowing their strengths and weaknesses, it is fundamental human nature that each employee will work hard to improve their sores and build their competency profile. This information helps the employees to drive towards their personal goals through the path of the organization they are working for; this benefits both the organization and the employee.
- It helps in the continuous growth of the employee: Measuring and documenting performance is the primary purpose of having a competency assessment solution, and it helps to achieve organizational goals and job-specific competencies. Using this data the employer can set competency standards for its employees who will help them understand their areas of attention and the employers can encourage them to move in a particular direction to enhance the productivity of the organization, enhance profitability and develop their skills, knowledge, and overall competency profile.
- It helps to increase employee retention and job satisfaction in an organization: Having competency tests and knowing about your assessment scores can be a great way of self-motivation and interest. This competency score and knowledge about their negatives and positives empower them to acquire more and more competencies to be more valuable to the organization. This empowerment will increase their chances of job satisfaction and retention in the organization.
These are certain benefits of having a Sales Competency Assessment solution in an organization. Today, more and more business companies are enlightened by the process and appreciate the practicality of having a Sales competency assessment for its employees. Next, we move on to the Sales competency factors which are defined in terms of knowledge, skill, habits, methods, motivators, and qualities.
SALES COMPETENCY: FACTORS
I. ANSWERING CUSTOMER QUESTIONS-A salesperson must know how to answer the customer questions with ease and confidence. The more confident and knowledgeable the sales representative sounds, the more credibility and trust he gains.
II. UNDERSTANDING THE MARKETPLACE-The sales representative is supposed to have immense knowledge about the marketplace before making promises and forming opinions in front of the customers. The more knowledge the sales representative has about the industry, the more contacts he can make in the market and gain recognition among the top names.
III. CUSTOMER UNDERSTANDING-The sales representative must have the knowledge and skill to persuade a customer into investing in their business. The salesperson should have the ability to understand the prospects for the customer’s business and then place his product’s value where the customer is certain it is beneficial to invest. This will help him acquire a trusted salesperson status.
IV. OWN COMPANY’S KNOWLEDGE-Any salesperson who knows his company’s goals, strategies, objectives, positives, and negatives in mind can address the market his company values and communicate with the customer on the company’s behalf.
V. WRITING SKILLS ARE IMPORTANT-A good salesperson is the one who makes his contacts and becomes the face of the organization in front of the customer. To communicate with the customers, the salesperson must have excellent writing skills to add his quotations to the business deal on behalf of the company. Good writing skills can attract a lot of customers, but a bad one may end the deal instantly even if the spoken value is up to the mark.
VI. PROACTIVE PROSPECTING-The salesperson must know how to find his leads and queries for the business, instead of just depending upon the marketing activities. In hard times, it can be really difficult to get business for the organization.
VII. HANDLING OBJECTIONS-The salesperson must know how to turn around customer’s objections regarding the deal they are about to close. If an objection is not well taken care of, the agreement is very likely to be called off.
VIII. SALE PROGRESSION- Sales deal closures must always be encouraged and motivated. A salesperson should push and inspire the customer to close the deal as later the customer may lose interest in the deal, and that can result as a loss for the business.
IX. EXCELLENT COMMUNICATION SKILLS- Having good communication skills is the path to success in business. Shifting another person’s perspective towards an opinion is not as easy as it sounds, a salesperson must have a good competency score in this area to close a deal with a positive note and convince the customer to invest in the business.
X. SALES MOTIVATIONAL FACTOR-An on-going business deal must be well encouraged and motivated by the sales representative. At every stage of the process, there should be positive notions that encourage business with the customer keeping the prospect in mind. A salesperson must have all the motivational abilities in him.
CONCLUSION
To develop the competency profile of an employee, it is imperative to identify the effective strengths and weaknesses of the same. This information will only be practically confined in numbers by giving a sales competency assessment, which will develop a competency profile showing results from different aspects of the personality. Without this type of assessment solution, the knowledge and skill of an employee may be misguided and used inefficiently. Having this data in the hands of the employees and employers, steps can be taken to overcome the weaknesses and strengthen the positives of the employees for the overall competency profile development and productivity of the business organization. The competency assessment is very significant in the development cycle of the employee; it also empowers them to determine their progress in all aspects. Only because of these assessments, today we can define precise goals and develop effective strategies to enhance the performance of the employee through the direction provided by the organization. The results of these assessments will be visible to the employers and the business.