As a leader of a sales team you want to maximise the performance of your team to deliver your sales target. In a world where salespeople may only spend one-third of their time on selling, it’s no wonder that nearly 60% expect to fall short of their quotas*. So, what can you do to help your salespeople to identify what they need to do differently?
Online 360 feedback can be a great option for a number of reasons:
First, because it is delivered online it is ideal for a remote workforce who can complete the questionnaire when it best suits them. Feeding back the results can also be delivered remotely and so, compared to other interventions such as a training course, the salesperson is not required to spend time away from their sales patch.
Second, the great strength of 360 feedback is that it allows an individual to compare their own view of themselves with the perceptions that other groups hold. Where the insight can be particularly powerful is if different groups hold different views of that individual. For example, customers may feel that a particular salesperson is very responsive to their needs, whereas people in internal functions may find this person difficult to work with which could store up problems that might affect their performance in future.
Third, as a leader the proportion of time that you spend with each salesperson is likely to be only a small fraction of their working week. In the time that you do spend with that person they are likely to be on their best behaviour. Having data that is generated from a range of different sources enables you to build a much more comprehensive picture of that salesperson by looking across the sales cycle to pinpoint where in the process the individual needs to change their behaviour.
Fourth, it is much harder for the individual to dismiss critical feedback or to become defensive if the results come from a range of different people. This reduces the risk of any conversation you have with them becoming adversarial and means that you can focus the discussion on the practical actions they could take to develop their skills further.
Our Acuity 360 feedback tool is based on the Acuity for Strategic Sales model which identifies the 9 key capabilities required for salespeople to be successful in complex, strategic sales roles. Click here to find out more.
* State of Sales, Salesforce Research, 2018