The Mind at Work | Sales IQ

Most of us judge sales success by one thing: making sales. The real question is how a manager can gauge a rep’s current skill level and how a rep can pinpoint what to work on, along with practical ways to improve.

Selling draws on many pieces, from skills and behaviors to knowledge and attitude. Real performance gains come from stepping back and reviewing all of them from time to time.

The Sales IQ Plus assessment gives an objective look at your selling approach and answers the question, “What is keeping this person from selling more” so you can target the right fixes and lift results.

What is the Sales IQ Plus Assessment?
Sales IQ Plus gives you an objective read on your current sales know-how. Think of it as a personalized map that shows where you are, why you are there, and how to get better, with specific insights based on your answers.

How it works
Plan about 30 minutes. You will answer 48 questions that assess eight core sales competencies.

What you get

＞ A clear plan to overcome your biggest hurdles

＞ Simpler, more targeted training

＞ Focus on activities that drive results

＞ A confidence boost from knowing what to do next

＞ Go-to strategies for selling a specific product or service in a given market

＞ A snapshot of each new applicant’s strengths and gaps

＞ Concrete guidance for the training and management needs of a rep or an entire team

The Eight Primary Sales Competencies

A sales “competency” is a category of selling proficiency that contains a number of different skills and knowledge components. By assessing your effectiveness in each of these areas, you will gain critical insight into your sales competencies:

Preparing

Preparing for the sale and preparing yourself. You can be well prepared with information and sales tools, but if you are not in the appropriate frame of mind, or if you do not appear professional to the buyer, you might not get the sale.

Targeting

Targeting explores the markets or groups you may target as prospective buyers. Then, we focus on the individuals with whom you will make contact. This includes the sales strategies and tactics you select for each target market.

Connecting

Connecting is the initial sales contact step, where you must appeal to people intellectually so they will see you as a credible resource, and emotionally so that they will trust you. Without either, you may be inhibited from learning enough to effectively help them and make the sale.

Assessing

Assessing needs and wants seeks to uncover what to sell and how to sell it, primarily through asking the right questions and listening for the answers. As they say, “In sales as in medicine, prescription before diagnosis is malpractice.”

Solving

Solving the buyer’s problem, or fulfilling their need, is where most sales attention has been placed in the past. During this step, you present your ideas and solutions, tell your stories, and demonstrate your product to show how your solution best meets their needs.

Confirming

Confirming is the sales phase where you gain the prospect’s commitment to buy. Confirming is achieved only after you have shown the ability to solve the prospect’s problem. Historically, this has been known as “closing” the sale.

Assuring

Assuring clients that what they’ve been promised will be received is critical to customer retention. This is where relationships are built – customer loyalty is earned when you give more than expected, simply because it’s in the best interest of your customer.

Managing

Managing is the final phase of the sales cycle, where you continue to manage the sales process, the account and yourself. Ultimately, you are your own ‘sales manager’. This is the place where you must do what needs to be done to follow through.

Real sales strategies you can use today

The Sales IQ Plus report highlights your strengths and gaps and turns them into clear next steps.

What you can do with it:

• Build a plan to shore up weak spots

• Make training simpler and more targeted

• Focus on activities that move the number

• Grow confidence with specific actions

• Choose the right strategies for each product and market

• See each new hire’s strengths and gaps before they start

• Pinpoint training and management needs for a rep or a whole team

Sales IQ Plus is an objective starting point, a personalized map of your sales knowledge right now. It shows where you are, why you are there, and how to improve with insights based on your responses.

How often should the Sales IQ Plus assessment be taken?

We recommend administering the Sales IQ Plus assessment three times each year. As you master one area of selling, another area might need your attention. Nobody can attend to all areas all of the time, so occasional check-ups will make a big difference in maintaining a constant state of self and sales improvement.