Challenge
A Monster sales channel was experiencing inconsistent performance. When Channel Operations Manager Al James came on board to assist Sales Vice President Andy Roane, his charter was to optimize the business in six areas that included sales rep turnover, recruiting, and performance management. James had always focused on diagnosing the metrics—analyzing performance from a scientific rather than an intuitive point of view. Because turnover was high and average order size, number of appointments, and close ratios were off, James looked for data to show what could be influencing results. "You can't win without the right players," he says. "Either we were hiring the wrong reps or we had a problem once they got here. We needed to find out."
Solution
A new, metric-based approach provided the answer and a way to solve the problem. The HR Chally Group success profiling system augmented the channel's historic channel sales metrics with a new approach based on understanding what made the channel's highest performing reps successful. That information formed the foundation of a benchmark profile that Monster could use to predict whom to hire and how to coach for optimum success.
The first step was to create a "success profile" that reflected the attributes of the channel's highest-performing salespeople. Not just a list of generic sales competencies—which average and even low performers often share—but rather only the attributes of the top performers. "That's the key to this system," says Advantage Partner Patty Duetting. "You're looking at only those attributes that are consistent with your top performers. When you hire and coach to those attributes, you can replicate the success the highest performers achieve."
The profile also integrated a broad range of business, sales methodology, and market metrics. James points out, "Chally has done a tremendous amount of research on what makes salespeople and sales organizations tick. There's a wealth of data and history behind what this system offers."
The top performer attributes were defined as the channel's five "success factor" characteristics (examples: Endurance, Customer Advocacy). Every sales rep in the group completed an extensive personal assessment and the data was compared to the success profile benchmark. "If people score high on the five success factors, we know they will be more likely to succeed," says Roane. "For example, our top two performers for the year are also the people who scored highest on the success factors."
Assessment results showed that both hiring and coaching/managing had inadvertently contributed to the channel's poor performance. Now that they had a benchmark and a complementary set of Chally tools to guide their efforts, Roane and James moved quickly to integrate the system into the way the channel did business.
The success profile was immediately used for recruiting and hiring. Candidates were evaluated based on the five success factor characteristics. Hiring managers also used an interviewing guide that conformed to the profile benchmark. "It's all about statistics and trying to find the right match," Roane explains. "We want to see the profile results of every potential hire before the manager makes a final offer," says James. "If a person is recommended whose style does not match the success profile, they need to make a very strong case."
Managers' commitment to the success profiling system was a critical aspect of the turnaround. Even though attributes of some existing reps didn't match the success profile, coaching tools with specific "tips" for coaching individual reps allowed managers to help struggling reps improve the most important success attributes. "The management tips are very, very valuable," says James. "Managers love this because we proved that if you have the right profile and apply those tips, you see results." Roane adds, "We definitely use the success profiling process as an ongoing coaching tool. Understanding an individual's selling style and how they scored in a particular category gives me great insight as well. The success profile is very accurate. When you look at some of the result verbiage, it's eerily similar to who our people really are."
Outcome
Committing to the success profile benchmark had a dramatic impact in a short amount of time. "We were the #1 performing group this past quarter," says James. "Selecting the right performers and managing them better made that happen." Roane agrees, "Our improvement had a direct correlation with the success profiling system."
This turnaround happened quickly because the Monster team was able to use proven metrics to boost performance. Focusing on the attributes of the channel's high performers—not just on competencies that less successful salespeople might also share—was the key. As Roane explains, "Once we tightened up our success profile, things suddenly started to pop. This is exciting stuff because it truly does get us where we need to go."
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More About Success Profiling
Advantage alliance partner The HR Chally Group is at the forefront of an enlightened new age of evaluation that helps organizations:
- determine the attributes that will predict success in a particular work group
- create a success profile that reflects those attributes
- use the profile and complementary tools to select high-potential job candidates and better manage employees already on board
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For more information, contact us.
