Question

This the book

Building Relationships, Creating Value; 5th edition, Mark W. Johnston & Greg W. Marshall, Routledge Publisher (ISBN: 978-1138951235)

Although many aptitude tests exist, their ability to predict sales performance has been weak. As a sales manager, how do account for this and what would do to change or evaluate these tests to have a successful team?

Answer 1

Most aptitude tests meant to assess the competency of sales team and predict its performance with accuracy have their own limitations. The most prominent of these limitations is the standardised format of tests which is very different from the actual sales environment which differs significantly from place to place, culture to culture and also governed by situational factors. In such conditions, the test should be customised to the situation- something which is very difficult. Other reason for inadequate accuracy in assessment of performance is that sales process is not only a fucntion of individual traits of a salesperson or a team (such as interpersonal skills or negotiation skills), but with many other parameters such as level of competition, company's market position and brand perception, customers' choices and perceived brand quality, life cycle stage of product among others. These factors can't be incorporated in a test.

The remedy is to

(i) Customise the tests to the market to accommodate cultural and situational variances

(ii) Use the tests as one of the determinants of success rate along with many other factors, as mentioned above, to make a realistic estimate.