We instinctively understand that salespeople who regularly achieve excellent results and salespeople who don't have different levels of competence and expertise. For years, active discussion and research have defined those differences. You can hire and train people who fit that profile if you can identify the behaviors associated with success. High performance models are built on the foundations of competency studies, formal academic research, anecdotal stories, and insights from sales managers and executives. Ultimately, these models revolve around some degree of customer focus as a salient, unifying concept, facetoface product knowledge, and relational skills.
After working for many years at various sales organizations, we at CLens Index have come to the conclusion that all of these studies and discussions reflect a salesperson focused on delivering value throughout the sales process. In other words, the consumer really benefits from the sales experience before and during the subsequent relationship. For example, the discovery process provides new insights into needs and their impact on the business, enables the creative configuration of products and services to circumstances, leverages the seller's network of resources, and discusses application ideas and examples from other sources in the customer's industry. Overall, the relationship becomes a valueadded service provided by the seller during the sales process. In our perspective, a salesperson who understands that providing this value is essential to his or her job and whose behavior reflects that concept will outperform those who are primarily engaged in product, fulfillment, or pricebased selling.
We recognized the behavioral characteristics of that valuable relationship and applied them to measure what customers actually experience during the sales process. These indicators, which we refer to as "Sales Actions", reflect the behavior and mindset of a salesperson committed to maximizing customer value. In a recent CLens Index scan for a manufacturing company, we collected information on salesperson performance from over 400 customers. We asked them how often they witnessed the sales promotions and how important they considered those promotions. In evaluating the data, we compared the results of sellers rated as highperforming sellers with those placed as lowperforming sellers. Our client described them in terms of reliable longterm effects and a reputation for professionalism within the organization. We dealt with eight salespeople from each group of the 58 salespeople in our sample. The findings shed light on the behavior that customers are more likely to observe among High Performers than Poor Performers.
Top performers are regularly observed performing all sales actions.
Customers view High Performers as a more complete representation of each CLens Index sales action than Low Performers in general. This shows that High Performers are perceived differently in the eyes of the customer, supporting the validity of the CLens products and concept. High Performers had an average frequency score of 64.28 percent, while Poor Performers scored 47.75 percent. The more significant variations will be covered below. Still, it's crucial to emphasize that these sales tactics are linked to success and aim to give the customer a valuable experience. Customers reportedly notice this difference.
The biggest differences between over and under performance
Of the 28 sales promotions, we found 12 where highperforming companies outperformed lowperforming customers by at least 20 percentage points in customer perception of frequency. Since the sample size was insufficient for statistical analyses, we concluded that a 20% random difference would be sufficient to identify patterns or similarities between the groups. The sales promotions below have the biggest differences between high and low performers.
1. asks probing, detailed questions about my needs and affairs.
2. focuses on what I say and how I say it to control what I think about.
3. assures me that the staff of the supplier company that works with me has the experience and ability to meet needs
4. discovers additional useful resources for me that may also meet my requirements.
5. Always describe problems in a diplomatically straightforward manner.
6. Describe how the seller's business, goods and services differ from those of other suppliers.
7. Give specific, understandable examples of how the selling company, its goods or services will benefit my customers and me.
8. Answers my concerns, whether genuine or perceived, directly and inventively.
9. takes the necessary actions within the supplier company to complete projects on time for me.
10. Uses internal/external specialists and resources to maximize the value for me of the selling company's products and services
11. ensures that my company and I will benefit from the promised products and services
12. Keep up to date with my company's performance, strategy, recent developments and emerging needs.
The most intriguing thing this informs us about High Performers vs Poor Performers is:
Basic facetoface sales techniques are more commonly used by high performers. We assume that being comfortable applying these core skills - asking questions (1) and listening (3) - effectively indicates high performance. The lower frequency of poor performers may indicate a need for training, a lack of expertise, different teaching and supervision methods, or poor performance.
Top performers are also more likely to demonstrate how specific product or service features can be used. Fluency and confidence in product knowledge are said to be indicators of good performance [Explain how uniquely different (6), Give clear examples (7), and other basic facetoface skills]. It is one thing to list features and benefits. Quite another to provide compelling accounts of how a product or service's uniqueness manifests itself and how its applications benefit users.
High performers are more likely to provide resources and knowledge to the sales process that can benefit the customer and, if necessary, help solve problems. [Find other resources (4), Creatively address concerns (8), Use internal/external experts (10),] This suggests an openness to tap into the value that sellers have cultivated in their networks and to broaden the scope of the customer's situation and open them up to creative problem solving.
High performers show empathy by assuring the customer that they are in good hands and acting diplomatically [Reassures me the team has experience (3) and Always remains straightforward (5)]. Does this stem from higher emotional intelligence or previous experience of handling challenging situations? These sales moves could imply that the High Performer is more "tuned" to customer responses as the relationship progresses.
Third, High Performers are seen as more regularly invested in the buyer and the client's business. These higher order sales promotions—[Ensures benefits (11) and Stays updated and informed (12)]—require work and some risk, as they expose the likelihood that the customer will not get what they paid for. Yet this proactive investigation of product and service request results and customer status is a sign of genuine concern for consumer needs.
new characteristics of high performers
While this research is inconclusive, it does provide some insight into what customers see in high- and lowperforming salespeople. For one thing, consumers see highperforming sellers perform all sales actions more often than those of lowperforming sellers. While some of these sales actions are marginally more common among high performers than low performers, most sales exhibit a gap enough to raise questions about the factors that influence customers to notice these variations. We'll have to wait and see if these behaviors are more "visible" due to experience, the willfulness with which they are used, or something else.
Examining the more significant gaps (those of 20% or more) reveals an intriguing set of hypotheses. We'll present them as questions rather than final statements that hopefully spark more conversation about what drives good seller performance.
1. Do High Performers have greater comfort and skill with more information about customers, their businesses, and how goods and services are used than Poor Performers?
2. Do Top Performers have extended networks and effective working relationships with a variety of resources inside and outside the supplier company?
3. Are High Performers naturally more empathetic, or at least better able to recognize the issues clients face, both personally and professionally?
4. Is it conceivable that High Performers are more concerned with satisfying customers, ensuring the value of goods and services, and establishing longterm, fruitful relationships?
While the answers to these questions have not yet been determined, the data from the study suggests that knowledge and skills alone cannot lead to highperforming salespeople. If these findings are correct, then one step towards high performance may be educating salespeople about the role they can play in the commercial and professional success of their customers.
For more than 25 years, Michael D. Maginn has worked in the field and researched sales. To create bespoke sales training programs, he's interviewed hundreds of salespeople across industries, always looking for the traits that set high performers apart. He completed one of several key sales competency studies and resulting bestselling sales programs while serving as vice president of research and development for The Forum Corporation. He has since worked with numerous sales companies to define how the sales process can improve the customer experience while serving as the president of Singularity Group, Hamilton, Massachusetts. He is the creator of the CLens Index. This sales assessment tool collects information about the customer's perception of the sales process and the author of the Amazon.com bestseller 5 Skills of Master Sellers.
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