Stop Rating Your Salespeople Based on Results!

Congratulations! Your sales team had a great week. You challenged them and they came through. They crushed this week’s goal! It’s all good, right?

Not necessarily…

I had a golf coach who once told me that just because the ball went straight doesn’t mean I hit it right.

So before we celebrate our awesomeness too enthusiastically, we should probably stop and think about something psychologists call the “hindsight bias.”

The hindsight bias occurs when we judge an action or behavior solely on its end result. If the end result is what we wanted, it must’ve been the right action or behavior. Right?

Again, not necessarily…

That way of thinking works for a few simple tasks. If I’m driving down the freeway in the fast lane and suddenly decide to turn left, I’m going to run into the wall. I can judge that behavior based on the devastating results.

But for more complex actions and behaviors – like selling a home – this isn’t the best way to look at things. Making a sale – an end result – is a great thing. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the actions and behaviors that led to the sale were great.

I have seen more than my share of situations where sales were brisk but the salesperson clearly demonstrated poor sales skills. Conversely, I’ve seen situations where sales were very weak even though the salesperson did all the right things.

The fact is, there are many factors that go into a buying decision. The sales presentation, as important as it is, is just one of those factors.

So what’s the point?

Basically, as sales managers, we need to stop evaluating our sales people’s performance exclusively on results and start paying attention to the quality of their actions and behaviors.

But how?

First, you need to fall “out of love” with the almighty sales report. The sales report is a lagging indicator. It measures the actions of salespeople weeks or even months ago. It’s about results, not about behaviors. So you need to let it go.

Second, can you truly say your salespeople’s actions and behaviors have been consistently exceptional? Are you sure? Have you been looking for quality instead of quantity?

That’s the bottom line. Be sure you reward behaviors and not just results.

There are times when our sales people will perform at an exceptionally high level and still won’t get a sale. Are we to chastise or discipline them for doing the right things?

Conversely, what message do we send when we celebrate a salesperson who does all the wrong things but still gets the sale? Perhaps they simply had the right product at the right price at the right time with the right customer. Should we reward them for poor performance?

Judging our sales staff on results alone is a lazy way to manage sales performance. I know that’s harsh, but it’s the truth.

So stop looking at results alone and start looking at behaviors. Your reward will be an immediate improvement in both salesmanship and sales!

At my upcoming Sales Leadership Summit, Execute 2016, we will take a deep dive into the topic of measuring great sales behaviors. When you determine the metrics that matter, you can reward your salespeople for doing the right things.

Click below to learn more about Execute 2016: Turning Vision Into Action and Strategy Into Sales