You may use this image in your ezine or website if you choose to publish my article. Click here to see the picture full-sized.--- Alan Rigg

Here are seven additional factors to consider as you define the 
parameters that produce success in YOUR company's sales job. If 
you are a salesperson, you can also benefit from considering 
these questions, as they can help you identify target prospects 
and further refine your sales approach.

9. ADMINISTRATION: Which sales job functions require attention 
to detail? Examples include making accurate forecasts, providing 
timely updates to the corporate CRM system, analyzing customer 
records to determine sales strategies, and ensuring regulatory 
compliance.

Some companies have support personnel that perform administrative 
tasks on their salespeople's behalf. Other companies expect their 
salespeople to deal with a certain amount of administration. If a 
tolerance for process, detail and administration is necessary for 
success in your company's sales job, some amount of Tolerance for 
Administration is desirable in your salespeople.

10. COMMUNICATION: How important are verbal and written 
communication skills to sales success in your company? Are your 
salespeople required to make presentations? Are they required to 
compose letters or proposals?

Sales roles that rely heavily on high quality verbal and written 
communications require salespeople that have healthy doses of the 
attributes Communication Skills and Reasoning Ability.

11. PRE-SALES SUPPORT: What support resources are available to 
help your salespeople manage specific steps of the sales cycle? 
How effective must your salespeople be when managing these 
resources?

The availability of support resources has a significant impact on 
the attributes required for sales success. If your salespeople 
have access to quality internal (employed by your company) or 
external (employed by suppliers or partners) technical resources, 
they don't need to invest a lot of time learning technical 
details. This frees them to focus more time and energy on 
prospecting and opportunity qualification. By the same token, if 
your company employs technical writers who can assist salespeople 
with large proposals and bid responses, there may be less need 
for your salespeople to have strong Communication Skills.

12. POST-SALES SUPPORT: Are your salespeople expected to provide 
technical or operational support to customers, or do other 
personnel provide this support?

If your salespeople are required to deliver post-sales support, 
it would be desirable for them to have a lower Sales Drive, be 
less Competitive, and have a higher Service Drive.

13. TRAINING: What kinds of training does your company provide to 
salespeople? How much training does your company provide?

Companies that provide a lot of training may have the luxury of 
being able to hire inexperienced sales candidates and "train them 
up from scratch". This is extremely valuable in markets where 
highly qualified sales candidates are scarce and/or prohibitively 
expensive. However, if your  company is going to employ this 
approach, you should seek candidates with strong Learning Rates.

14. SALES MANAGER'S STYLE:  What are your sales managers' styles? 
Do they lean in the direction of being Field Generals (who prefer 
selling to coaching) or Administrators (who excel at mentoring 
and administrative duties)?

The desired levels of the attributes Sales Drive, Service Drive, 
Assertiveness, Competitiveness, Independence and Tolerance for 
Administration will differ based upon each sales manager's style.

15. CAREER PATH: What is the career path for the sales position? 
From small ticket item sales to big ticket item sales? From sales 
to management?

If your sales team is a source of candidates for other positions 
in your company, you may want to consider whether your 
salespeople and sales candidates have the attributes required 
to be successful in those other positions. Why? Because the 
attributes required to succeed in those other positions may not 
be the same as the attributes required for sales success!

Consider this example: Most small ticket item sales cycles are 
shorter than big ticket item sales cycles. Per Question #7, the 
desired amount of Sales Drive differs based upon the frequency 
of opportunities for presentation and persuasion. A successful 
salesperson in small ticket item sales is likely to have a strong 
Sales Drive. Will they become frustrated by the reduction in 
opportunities to present and persuade that could result from a 
"promotion" to big ticket item sales?

Similarly, the attributes required to be an effective manager 
are often quite different from the attributes required to be an 
effective salesperson. Success in management can require more 
attention to detail and the willingness to delegate and mentor. 
These requirements impact the target ranges for the attributes 
of Sales Drive, Service Drive, Assertiveness, Competitiveness, 
Independence and Tolerance for Administration.

If you keep the fifteen questions discussed in this two-part 
article in mind, you will be able to more accurately define the 
parameters that will lead to success in YOUR company's sales 
job(s). 

Sales performance expert Alan Rigg is the author of How to Beat 
the 80/20 Rule in Selling: Why Most Salespeople Don't Perform 
and What to Do About It. His company, 80/20 Sales Performance, 
helps business owners, executives, and managers DOUBLE sales by 
implementing The Right Formula™ for building top-performing 
sales teams. For more information and more FREE sales and sales 
management tips, visit http://www.8020salesperformance.com.