Key Drivers for Product Sales Teams

“We started out from humble beginnings, with a healthcare product that really works. Our sales approach is really simple, just try our product and we assure you that you will see the effects pretty soon.” ~ Jane, GM of HM Enterprise

Background

HM Enterprise started out in 2009 as a business of convenience where Jane, a housewife then, chanced upon a healthcare product and found it especially amazing to trigger detoxifying effects in her body upon first usage. Soon after she started to share the product’s wonder with her family members and received good testimonies about the product. With their support, the idea of building a business around the product was born and she, together with her sister, started a trading business to import and sell the products.

With time, the business grew to cover the major cities in China, including Guangzhou, Xiamen, Shanghai and Beijing. Her sales team grew from 2 to a whole network of independent salespersons, full-time sales executives, managers and shops. The rapid growth soon took a toll on Jane, demanding more of her time and effort to manage the complex web of relationships and responding to the problems that never seem to end. Soon, her husband started wondering how come this business of convenience has become what it is now, and questioned his wife’s priorities.

Facing such a dilemma, Jane is ready to slow down the business to spend more time with her family, but in doing so will implicate the families who now depend this business for income. Before any major decision is undertaken, Jane learned about Morphos International through a trusted friend, and discovered a better path ahead.

Training Needs Analysis

Through analysis of commission data and data on career competencies of the sales team, we discovered reliable results (p < 0.05) to determine 3 key drivers for sales commission performance, they are:

• Dealing with Difficult People
• People Motivation
• Foresight

Training programmes are designed to focus on the above 3 areas of development.

Strengthening Selection

Through analysis of commission data and data on personality traits of the sales team, we discovered reliable results (p < 0.05) to determine the 3 traits with the most impact on performance, which could be used during selection procedures.

• 73.7% of differences in performance can be attributed to the change-related trait of “pioneering initiatives”
• 64.1% of differences in performance can be attributed to the emotion-related trait of “optimistic outlook”
• 63.8% of differences in performance can be attributed to the general work-related trait of “achievement”

The above traits are designed into the selection process as assessment criteria.