You already know that turning talent into performance requires a true understanding of talent. Spotting talent, hiring talent, developing talent, and coaching talent. . . it’s mission critical.
Talent assessments are an excellent tool for understanding the way your candidates and current salespeople are wired. The difference in approach with each group is key to productive new hires and successful coaching.
We use a sales talent assessment to guide our clients to hire and coach superior sales talent. This tool accurately predicts success in B2B sales roles and also provides leaders with a better understanding of the candidate’s innate strengths and weaknesses.
Below we hone-in on two of the 12 behaviors that you can coach to increase sales performance.
In case you missed it, here’s an overview of Coaching Achiever & Competition, Coaching Responsibility & Work Ethic, Coaching Discipline & Positivity, Coaching Relationship & Individualizer, and Coaching Activator & Accelerator.
Salespeople who lead with Learner crave knowledge about their job, and they benefit from their naturally higher level of awareness. Always thinking about ways to solve problems, they ask questions and apply their knowledge to ensure their client’s needs are met.
These individuals are lifelong, proactive learners who seek opportunities to become subject-matter experts in their work. Mastery of their job is critical for them, and they typically enjoy educating others in areas of their expertise.
With the need to dive in and know more about the products, this strong Learner asks many questions to satisfy their curiosity cravings. They're most confident when they’re the expert on any subject and enjoy others seeking their opinions.
Clients benefit from their expertise since they always have an answer at-the-ready. They’re creative, up-to-date on the latest information and trends, and excited to apply their knowledge to a given situation. They’re highly focused on ensuring the client’s unique problem is solved and their needs are met.
Puzzle-solving salespeople filled with the talent of Problem Solver can easily spot the root cause of a situation and get to the bottom of it. They’re wired to isolate a specific issue, create smart solutions, and make things right.
These individuals are effective at needs analysis and they provide clients the best products and solutions to achieve positive results. Thinking about ways to creatively unravel obstacles they reflect on the issue until they find an answer.
These are the people that others naturally call on to help because they unravel the problem and work hard to fix it, their minds never stopping.
It’s almost like they’re looking at the world through an entirely different lens. They pick up on things to which others are blind, and they can assemble a bunch of seemingly random pieces of evidence into a meaningful vision. Now that’s talent! We call it the Problem Solver talent.
The best thing about the salesperson chock-full of Problem Solver is not even that they’re so good at solving problems. It’s that they’re good at finding problems! They’re a top-notch detective able to uncover the needs of clients that others missed and match those needs with a creative, customized solution. One-size-fits-all package seller? Never!
Your team is made up of many unique individuals. It’s vital to coach and develop each person based on their talents. These are just an overview of two talents we cover in our eBook Coaching Sales Talent. Download your free copy to find more tips for coaching Learner and Problem Solver – as well as the other 10 talents listed in the eBook.
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