Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™

Contents	Page

Snapshot of Strengths & Growth Opportunities	1
Detailed Results	2

People who succeed as sales professionals come in all shapes and sizes; however, they are often successful for many of the same reasons (i.e., The 7 Habits of Sales Professionals). The following report is intended to provide you with insight into what the candidate is currently doing well, and what areas he/she may need to refine moving forward. This information should be used to develop an annual action plan, allowing the candidate to leverage his/her strengths and manage his/her growth opportunities moving forward.

John C. Marshall, PhD
John Steuernol Co-Developer

SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010

(c)2008, Selection Testing Consultants Inc.

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 1

I. Snapshot of Strengths & Growth Opportunities

Overall Score

Provides a composite measure of how well the candidate scored on all 7 of the Success Habits.

Strong Attitudes and Behavioral Habits

Requires Development on Many of the Habits

Overall Attitudes

Snapshot of candidate's overall attitudes towards these essential habits / behaviors.

Attitudes Facilitating Performance

Attitudes Impeding Performance

Overall Behaviors

Snapshot of the frequency at which the candidate engages in these facilitative behaviors.

Behaviors Are Conducive to Success

Behaviors Impeding Performance

Strengths & Growth Opportunities

Strengths	Growth Opportunities
#6. Sharpening the Saw - Time and effort spent practicing and refining sales skills #3. Prospecting - Finding the "right" new clients consistently #4. Developing a Compelling Story - Ability to tailor and customize sales approach to each client	#1. Being Your Own Ally - Maintaining a positive and optimistic outlook, while approaching sales meeting as opportunities for success, not failure

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 2

III. Detailed Results

#1. Being Your Own Ally - Maintaining a positive and optimistic outlook, while approaching sales meetings as opportunities for success, not failure

Attitudes

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Behaviors

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Overview

Luisa's attitude and mental state appears to fluctuate. In certain instances he/she appears to be very confident and optimistic prior to a sales meeting, while other times self doubt and apprehension appear to take over. It will be important for you to help Luisa become more consistent in his/her mental preparation before a meeting, as this mindset ultimately drives the behaviors that determine success.

Developmental Suggestions

Have Luisa write out what his/her perfect sales meeting would look like. Use this as the basis for an imagery script. Upon completion, have Luisa read through the script several times, and then to imagine the scenario in his/her head. Using visualization will help build confidence, while also allowing for repeated practice.

Have Luisa go through his/her regular sales process with you in a role play format. During the role play, introduce increasingly more difficult issues that Luisa will have to address. By practicing these various situations, Luisa is likely to gain additional confidence, but will also choose the correct response if such a situation does arise.

Have Luisa imagine a typical sales call. Then have him/her image a variety of problems that may arise, and subsequently image novel solutions to these difficulties. By playing various scenarios over in his/her head, Luisa will be much quicker at processing information and making a decision when a real issue surfaces in one of his/her sales meetings.

Overview

Luisa is not confident in his/her ability to sell. This lack of confidence directly effects his/her motivation to sell, and thus the effort and time he puts forth. This type of negative mindset also creates fear and apprehension, which further de-motivate him/her to pick up the phone.

Developmental Suggestions

The nerves and apprehension Luisa is feeling are a result of the importance he/she places on success, but the lack of confidence he/she has in his/her ability to succeed. It is important that you help him/her leverage his/her strengths, and slowly work on his/her growth opportunities.

Thought stopping is an effective strategy for Luisa. Help him/her become cognizant of his/her internal dialogue before a meeting. He/She needs to replace negative thoughts with positive confidence boosting statements (e.g., you can do this).

Mental imagery is another effective strategy for changing Luisa's mental state. Work with him/her to visualize the perfect sales meeting. Ensure that he/she is picturing him/herself being successful. Doing so will help boost his/her confidence and to set his/her mindset in a positive direction.

Notes

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 3

III. Detailed Results (cont'd)

#2. Maximizing Your Return on Energy - Avoiding common distractions and unproductive activities during high Return on Investment time periods

Attitudes

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Behaviors

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Overview

Luisa's responses to these attitudinal items make him/her highly susceptible to engaging in low ROI activities. His/Her poor attitudes towards prospecting, combined with his/her positive attitudes towards surfing the internet or checking / sending e-mails, puts him/her in a position to get off topic and/or a likelihood of failing to engage in the necessary critical activities during "prime time".

Developmental Suggestions

Have a conversation with Luisa about daily sales behaviors. Try and get a handle on what he/she believes are important critical activities.

Try to show Luisa the importance of being organized ahead of time and the need to keep "prime time" available for high ROI activities (e.g., prospecting, meetings).

Overview

Luisa reports engaging in high ROI activities during prime time business hours. As such, he/she spends the majority of his/her time closing existing business or prospecting new clients. Specifically, Luisa likely reserves his/her lunch hour for meeting with clients, and uses the time between meetings to prospect new business. Overall, much of his/her daily efforts are directed towards his/her productivity, with little to no time spent off topic.

Developmental Suggestions

Have Luisa list his/her daily productivity strategies. Provide him with some additional strategies for the future.

Even top Professionals get distracted on occasion. Try and help Luisa identify potential triggers, as being cognizant of distractions is the first step towards avoiding them.

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 4

III. Detailed Results (cont'd)

#3. Prospecting - Finding the "right" new clients consistently

Attitudes

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Behaviors

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Overview

Luisa views prospecting and creating centers of influence in the community in a very favorable light. He/She appears to be committed to developing an ideal client profile, and thus being selective and targeted in his/her prospecting approach.

Developmental Suggestions

Reinforce these positive attitudes. Make sure that his/her behavior score is aligned with this attitudinal score.

Overview

Luisa appears to understand that prospecting is an essential part of developing his/her book of business. As such, he/she reports setting daily / weekly productivity targets (e.g., 50 dials / day, 10 new contacts / week) which ensures that he/she is doing the necessary work to meet his/her overall performance targets. However, Luisa does report some hesitation when prospecting, which if overcome, would undoubtedly improve his/her sales performance.

Developmental Suggestions

Help Luisa understand the importance of creating Centers of Influence. This may be a referral strategy that he/she has not yet employed.

Discuss with Luisa when and how he/she prospects new business. Provide him/her with additional strategies or prospecting opportunities.

Discuss with Luisa the type of client that he/she feels that he/she works best with. Then develop specific recruiting / referral strategies aimed at sourcing these types of clients.

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 5

III. Detailed Results (cont'd)

#4. Developing a Compelling Story - Ability to tailor and customize sales approach to each client

Attitudes

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Behaviors

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Overview

Luisa appears to be relatively neutral when it comes to rating the importance of a client centered approach. He/She obviously sees some value in developing the compelling story, but does not place the degree of emphasis on it required to ultimately master the skill.

Developmental Suggestions

Have Luisa discuss a time when he/she was sold something that he/she did not need. Use this to reinforce the client centered approach, and the need for seeing the process through the client's eyes.

Present Luisa with a client-centered and generic sales solution. Highlight the differences and how they would effect the probability of closing the business.

Overview

Luisa employs a very dynamic and fluid sales approach, which allows him/her to tailor and customize it to fit each of his/her clients' unique situations. Luisa also approaches each sales opportunity from the client's perspective, as to ensure that all their needs are met. He/She also treats all of his/her clients like they are family members, and as such reports that he/she would not recommend or sell unwarranted products. This type of approach likely allows him/her to develop strong professional relationships with his/her clients that are formed with trust and candidness as their foundation.

Developmental Suggestions

Present Luisa with various case studies in which certain clients were recommended unnecessary or inappropriate products. Have him/her identify such in-congruencies and provide the more appropriate recommendation.

Have Luisa deliver his/her normal sales routine to you in a role play scenario. Try to isolate and evaluate his/her ability to develop a compelling story, and to tailor his/her recommendations to your needs. Help him/her refine this process so that he/she becomes even more effective in the future.

Have Luisa list his/her favorite questions that he/she likes to ask his/her clients for information gathering purposes. Critique these and try to strengthen any weak questions.

Create some hypothetical client profiles. Have Luisa make some preliminary product suggestions and then write in point form the questions that he/she would need to ask in order to validate these recommendations.

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 6

III. Detailed Results (cont'd)

#5. Becoming a Master of Communication - Ability to communicate sales message effectively, as well as a deeper level understanding of what components of the sales message are adding value

Attitudes

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Behaviors

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Overview

Luisa appears to place a relatively high degree of importance in being an effective communicator. His/Her responses indicate that he/she perceives him/herself to be an active listener, and that he/she is able to say a lot, with only a few words. Luisa appears to understand that words carry with them very salient meanings, and that choosing one's words carefully is important.

Developmental Suggestions

It is important that his/her behavior score is high as well, or these positive attitudes will be all for nothing when it comes to sales effectiveness.

Overview

Luisa's responses indicate that he/she may benefit from learning some of the communication strategies known to be used by top Professionals. These include: effective and timely product/market presentations, being a better listener, being better prepared for meetings, and being more effective when note taking. Addressing these communication issues could have a profound impact on his/her overall sales success.

Developmental Suggestions

Have Luisa list the 10 qualities that he/she believes make an effective communicator. Then have him/her rate him/herself on those qualities. Use this as a diagnostic for prioritizing the areas that require immediate attention.

Role play a general client meeting with Luisa. Upon completion, ask him/her a variety of questions pertaining to the content of the conversation. This will test his/her ability to comprehend and remember critical pieces of information.

Have Luisa go through his normal sales process with you. Upon completion, have him/her evaluate the "phrases" or "lines" that he/she believes are the most effective. Knowing what works and what doesn't is an important part of becoming a master in communication.

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 7

III. Detailed Results (cont'd)

#6. Sharpening the Saw - Time and effort spent practicing and refining sales skills

Attitudes

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Behaviors

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Overview

Luisa places a fairly high degree of importance on personal development and refining his/her craft. He/She will likely seek out opportunities for feedback and development if they are provided.

Developmental Suggestions

People who are hungry for development opportunities, simply need those opportunities to be made available. Providing him/her with courses, training materials etc... will go a long way.

Overview

Luisa reports engaging in a variety of self improvement and self monitoring activities. These include post sales call evaluations (what went right, what can be improved), role playing with other reps, seeking out advice from others, and being open to suggestions and recommendations. These habitual self monitoring procedures indicate that Luisa is always trying to improve and refine his/her craft. This is a quality of top Professionals.

Developmental Suggestions

Discuss with Luisa the strategies that he/she employs as part of his/her self development process. Ensure that he/she is not spending too much time sharpening the saw, and not enough time actually selling.

Ensure that Luisa is also focusing on the strengths and positives of his/her performance. All too often strong self-monitors can become overly critical of themselves and thus forget to continue doing what they already do well.

Seven Habits of Sales Professionals™ (SDSS for Sample Person on December 8, 2010)

Page 8

III. Detailed Results (cont'd)

#7. Keeping Score - Degree to which the sales rep tracks and monitors his/her performance over time

Attitudes

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Behaviors

Strength

Growth Opportunity

Overview

Luisa does not appear to place a high degree of importance on keeping score. He/She disagreed with the majority of the statements comprising this section, especially those that were concerned with the importance of tracking individual performance and comparing one's results with others in the organization.

Developmental Suggestions

It is important to understand why he/she appears to be resistant to keeping score.

If Luisa does not want to be compared to other reps, help him/her understand the importance of tracking his/her own performance / progress for personal reasons.

Overview

Luisa reports that he/she compares his/her performance with that of his/her colleagues on occasion. Luisa also sets personal weekly / monthly targets, but does not hold him/herself to these standards consistently. Luisa does report asking other successful colleagues for tips and recommendations, which does highlight his/her desire to improve. Creating a consistent method for tracking and monitoring performance will likely benefit Luisa's sales performance in the future.

Developmental Suggestions

Sit down with Luisa and discuss his/her current performance status and how he/she compares to other reps in your organization.

Help Luisa develop a system for tracking his/her weekly / monthly performance, or evaluate his/her current one. Use this tool as part of your future coaching sessions.

Have Luisa interview two other sales representatives in your organization, during which he/she should be instructed to gather information about how these other reps sell / position your organization's product.