Fishing in the talent pool
Recruiting sales professionals with the right attributes to quickly become top producers is more important than ever in these challenging economic conditions.
By on Sep 29, 2009Recruiting sales professionals with the right attributes to quickly become top producers is more important than ever in these challenging economic conditions.
But Ken Buist at The Trusted Adviser (www.thetrustedadviser.com) says his group's research suggests it is now possible to predict more accurately who these top producers are likely to be.
To date, the focus has been on behavior and temperament, Buist says. But in the past 12 months his group has taken a closer look at what's on the "inside" of top producers. They've examined the character traits of 230 sales professionals in a new white paper, "The character traits of highly successful people."
The paper investigates whether there is a particular "shape" associated with top producers and what influences values (or hidden motivators) have on their performance.
"The results indicate that what drives top producers on the inside is consistent, whilst the behaviors displayed on the outside are variable and useful, but probably less crucial when it comes to identifying top producers," Buist says.
In studies across 39 corporations conducted by Buist and his colleagues, top producers were spread across at least five major and three minor 'shapes' of behavior. However, 72% of top producers displayed "utilitarian" as their number one "value."
Buist says this shows that the drivers on the inside of top reps are at least as important as skills and knowledge. But to help The Trusted Adviser to expand this study, Buist is inviting eyeforpharma readers to complete their own personal assessment of behavioral style and hidden motivators ( click here for the free assessment). And we'll feature a summary of the results in a future newsletter.
So take a minute to find out what drives you from the inside out! And let us know what you think of this kind of assessment. If it's something you find of value, we'll offer you more opportunities to participate in similar studies in the future.