Are you objective enough to give yourself an accurate evaluation about your last sales call? In the end, your customer will give you the most important evaluation, but your ability to be true soon after the moment is a big part of continuous improvement. Don’t take it lightly!

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I once finished an important sales call at an important client with my manager.  I thought the sales call went well, but after the call, on the way back to the office, my manager said to me, “How do you think it went?”.  I quickly responded, “I thought it went well.  How do you think it went?”

My manager looked at me and said, “I thought you did a good job.  We will know what the customer thinks soon.”

He was right, we would know soon, but by then, the sales call might only be a memory.  We needed to do our sales post mortem (BSJ 9/22,The ‘Successful’ Post Mortem) then as an individual, you need to evaluate your performance as you look for ways to continuously improve (BSJ 4/19 Continuous Improvement – Get Better or Lose You Job).

I thought about it for a while, and envisioned a report card to use after major sales calls.  I just thought about it, and did nothing other than that.  I told a coworker about it, and he actually used the elements that I thought about and constructed something that I eventually re-developed and will show you.

The most important thing is to keep it as simple as possible.

To the Point

This is as simple as it gets.  A word document that scores some major categories and gives a letter grade of A, B, C, or D.  This simple scoring allows a numerical grade to be levied in this fashion:

A = 4

B = 3

C = 2

D = 1

What are you measuring?  Well we will define the categories shortly, but the important thing is that you self-grade based on your opinion of your performance in the following areas:

• Preparation & Organization
• Presentation
• Relationship Development
• Close
• Follow-up

Preparation and Organization– Did you do your homework, gather your information, and research the client, as you need to do?  Were you organized by having all of the information at your fingertips?

Presentation – Did you do a good job presenting to the prospect including the presentation documents, including sales collateral that you left behind.  Did you support your claims and offer proof statements, references, and testimonials as was necessary?

Relationship Development – Every touch to the prospect should enhance the relationship!  Did you enhance the relationship today?  Did you find out any more about your customer’s business than you knew before? Did you make yourself even more memorable?

Close – The close is obviously an important portion of the sales process.  Your technique, timing, and effectiveness are all important.  How did you technically do on the close?

Follow-Up – Did you close this out with a letter, card, or perhaps an email?  Did you complete any takeaways from the meeting quickly and responsively?  The job is not over until the takeaways are done.

Being Objective

So now that you have a system, you need to be objective.  You have 5 categories, but you can add more.  Remember, you need to keep it simple.  Grading 4 – 1 for each category and totaling your points cumulatively, and you will show a total score fore each self-evaluation.

Here is an example:

Preparation & Organization    4 points

Presentation                               3 points

Relationship Development      2 points

Close                                            3 points

Follow-up                                    2 points

Total                                            14 points/out of 20 Points

Clearly, your self-evaluation shows that you have some work to do, and you know it.  If you are willing to lie to yourself, you will never improve.  If you will remember the BSJ post on continuous improvement (Black Sales Journal 4/19 – Continuous Improvement – Get Better or Lose Your Job!), here are the weak points that you can focus on.

You may think this is overly simplistic, and will not work; yet I will disagree.  Any time you can focus on getting better, you are changing something!

Black sales professionals have significant challenges, and have much to do.  So why should you add to that?  Yes, it is the continuous effort to be the best.  Being the best comes from continuous improvement.   How do you know if you are improving?  You measure it.

If you are able to get consistent self-scoring of 18-20, you are maximizing your situations. Knowing that you are improving in the ways that will increase your future sales is important.  Yes, the ultimate measure is whether you make your sales goals.  This is meant to help you evaluate your weaknesses so you can consistently reach that goal.

I know several people who are using this or a similar grading system, and they like it.

Evaluate yourself and ‘keep score’.

Your comments are welcome. You can reach me at michael.parker@blacksalesjournal.com.

Any sales professional looking for that new sales position recognizes that their success is based on a process.  The sales process includes your understanding that each sales professional is different, and each product is different.  The most important part of that is realizing that each sales professional needs to be able to determine and articulate what gives him/her success based on their own level of skill.

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In Black Sales Journal 2/28, How Many Prospects Do You Really Need we discussed knowing your metrics.  This was a wake-up call to some who do not necessarily agree with the sale process fundamentals.  I assure you those fundamentals exist, and the variable for each sales professional is based on individual effectiveness, product, and industry.

The most important item to know is that you need to be able to articulate the basis of your own success.  This is powerful in an interview, and you need to be able to do it cogently and clearly.  You will find, that if it is well rehearsed and documented, it will put you to the front of the line in getting that new sales position.

You Are the Expert on You

You have heard me cite the phrase “You are the expert on you!” as it is obvious that you should be able to define yourself better than anyone else.  Nowhere is it more important than in the interview process.  Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is one thing, and your benefit will potentially be that you may be able to sell someone on them and get past first base.

Knowing your process, and being proficient at articulating it can be the shot that you need to impress that hiring manager.  What is more important, two things can happen on that next interview:

1. You could be asked to define your sales process
2. You could be asked to define why you are successful

Either way, you will need to be good at explaining it, yet not glib or slippery.  You will want to show that you are successful because you do the things that make you successful intentionally, consistently, and systematically.  You will want to show that your routine is solid, and not responding to what happens on a particular day.  Your respect for the law of large numbers and volume will come through in your characterization of your daily effort.

You can give the best presentation of yourself possible, as well as the best display of your mastery of your own “process” by practicing it in the mirror and with a caring listener.  Someone who cares enough to listen to you drone on and on until you have mastery of this important piece.

A Practical Example

The interview would lead to this statement and comment:

“Jerry, from what we can see your sales results are admirable, and enviable in terms of your percentage of goal attainment, and your ability to do this year after year.  Will you share with us what makes you successful?”

Jerry responds “Bob, I would attribute the consistency of my success to the regimen that I hold myself to.  In addition to that I wholly subscribe to the law of large numbers and their effect on prospecting and quoting.  I measure my success against my continuous activities and results and adjust my prospecting efforts based on my call (prospecting) to appointment ratio, my appointment to quote ratio, and my sold to quote ratio.  I track them and utilize them in determining my effectiveness and my level of future activity.”

Jerry expands:“I make 75 prospecting calls a week religiously by phone, and 20 in person cold calls per week.  I believe that if I do this, I give myself a realistic chance of increased success and earnings.   I reach all hard to get prospects by phone after hours, which means the hours of 5:00 to 6:30P, as I have found that to be a time when the “gatekeeper” is not on duty, and the decision maker has to answer the phone on their own.”

Then Jerry pulls it together: “What I do works for me and I believe in it.  My results are in the portfolio that I just handed to you.”

Why Does It Work?

Every sales manager wants you to have a system that works.  It makes management easier.  Your sales statistics are yours, and others have their own.  Believe me, if you cite you discuss your process like I am suggesting, and you are able to back up your claims, you will be a primary candidate.

When I was a sales manager, I knew my role was to get the most out of every sales candidate.  A candidate with the basics well in hand was one who would be ready for advanced sales techniques, as opposed to me pressing him or her for the rudiments.  Knowing your plan is more than rudimentary though; it is the start of being the true professional.

We welcome your comments. You can reach me at Michael.Parker@BlackSalesJournal.com.