One of the biggest challenges that I’m hearing from the CEOs that I work with is the need to drive top line revenue, especially in the current economic climate.
The answer lies in one of two places–either drive more revenue from your existing customers, or go out and get new clients. The problem for most companies is this requires two different types of skill sets from your sales and business development staff–or in other words: the hunters and the farmers.
Hunters obviously drive top line revenue by searching out new business–but true hunters are hard to find (only 20 percent of sales people actually have true hunter characteristics).
Farmers are great as account managers and can drive more revenue out of your current customer base by focusing on more satisfaction. But do you have farmers in hunter roles?
To find out, consider using the CPQ test developed by Dr. Larry Craft, a behavior scientist with over 25 years of experience in the employee assessment industry. (http://www.asherstrategies.com/cpq.html
The test measures the basic eight personality traits that are proven to predict job performance and retention: Goal orientation, need for control, social confidence, social drive, detail orientation, good impression, need to nurture, and skepticism.
The scores are compared against the scores of the ideal candidate for the position so you can compare and see if you have the right person in the right position.
Of course, assessment tests are not the only thing that you need to do when you want to get more performance out of your sales force, but it’s a good place to start.
Many companies are currently looking to hire salespeople right now, and performing an assessment on candidates can go a long way in determining if they are going to be a good fit for the position that you need to fill.
Published by edstillman
I grew up in Carlsbad, north San Diego County, lost my dad as a teenager, went into the USAF for four years and hired on with 3M in 1969. Received my AA from Santa Barbara City College, BA and Masters from Redlands University and after 33 plus years, I retired from 3M in 2002. As I look back on my life, I have been creating myself and developing my skill sets to be a business coach and a Vistage Chair. I am president of SEOT, a "personal improvement" consulting firm spending most of my time working with Central Texas executives running small to medium size for-profit companies who are focusing on improving their profitability greater than their competition. My area of interest is assisting senior executives in creating a better balance between business commitments and personal relationships. I also facilatate three leadership labs each consisting of a dozen owners, presidents and CEOs. We meet monthly both in a group setting as well as in a 1-to-1 coaching session. Our focus is to sharpen each others' skills in becoming better leaders, making better decisions and taking ourselves and companies to that next level.
Who are we? My members are experienced top executives who recognize that they don’t have all the answers and who actively seek the company of successful peers—both to give and receive insights and ideas. My members mine the 200 plus years of chief executive experience that comes together in our monthly meetings and members are eager to offer their own experience and insights in the process.
As a group, we spend our time exploring topics members can't discuss anywhere else. My members have many other places where they can engage in idle, "cocktail party" chatter. Our mission is to provide the setting for discussing the "undiscussable."
Where or who can you go to for confidential, honest feedback to assist you in minimizing your personal "Worry List"?
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Austin Vistage | Ed Stillman 
The fact that hunters and farmers are radically different, and that 20% or less of people who call themselves “salespeople” are genuine hunters, is a good insight that seems to cost many early-stage companies a lot of lost valuable time re-learning this lesson. The survey to which you have a link seems kind of generic – not really focused on your thesis.
Good read article. Keep inspiring more readers. Great experience of yours.