Selling Proficiency Assessment & Report

We don’t know what we don’t know.
The Sales Proficiency Assessment is a one-on-one, challenging, interactive 90-minute test of a person’s selling knowledge and selling skills, performed at a location of your choice. An unbiased report of each participant’s strengths and weaknesses is emailed to you within 2 working days and followed up with a review by phone. This experiential service gives your organization objective insight and recommendations from a professional, cross-industry, selling skills specialist.

Sales Proficiency Assessment is an academic way of saying I grill people one-on-one with realistic questions about selling and sales situations to see and hear how they respond. I analyze it and then prepare an easy-to-understand report. This enlightening service offers video recording and presentation options.

How is this service useful?
		Clearly defines the current level of selling knowledge and skill of your sales people
		Provides better understanding of why your organization’s sales are _________ .
		Evaluates sales people before hiring and / or during their trial period
		Can be a requirement for employment
		It’s a necessary first step when choosing my Customized Sales Performance Program

I want to share something important with you that very people know. Most sales executives and sales professionals are winging it, and overrate both their selling knowledge and selling skills. This is because they, and the people they report to, don’t devote their time to understanding selling. You don’t have to take my word for it. I can prove this through my Sales Proficiency Assessment.

If someone tells you “I already know how to sell”, think of cooking. “I already know how to cook.” Sure you do, but there is more to learn and improve on in both communication skills and cooking than anyone could possibly learn in a lifetime. People who make this type of statement usually:

		don’t know what they don’t know - they are unaware of what there is to learn about their craft
		know enough to get by and aren’t motivated to improve – it’s work and doesn’t interest them

Below is a list below of just 10 (of 100+) weaknesses common to more than 95% of salespeople in every industry with or without sales management. You’ll likely see how these deficiencies affect revenue and cost of sales. You’ll also notice they have nothing to do with your industry and everything to do with selling knowledge and selling skills.

		Communicating value before understanding what is valuable to the customer
		Struggling with creating value for the customer
		Communicating competitive advantage as “We offer better service” or “We offer better quality”
		Discounting prices because they struggle responding to “Your price is too high”
		Missing opportunities because they don’t hear them
		“Winging it” with questions and responses
		Poorly preparing for sales calls
		Offering solutions before the customer is ready to hear them
		Leaving money on the table in order to close the sale
		Not discovering more opportunity in existing accounts

Most companies know their own business and industry and can teach their sales employees about their products and services. “Industry-specific” has nothing to do with selling skills. My specialty is teaching selling knowledge and developing selling skills – this is what organizations hire me to do. It makes sense to focus on organization-specific, not industry-specific.