FINDING #1: THERE ARE FIVE TYPES OF SALES REPS
The first thing we did was to run a factor analysis on the data. Put simply, factor analysis is a statistical methodology for grouping a large number of variables into a smaller set of categories within which variables co-present and move together. For example, if we were studying ecosystems, a factor analysis of every potential ecosystem variable would tell us that things like intense heat, sand, arid conditions, scorpions, and cacti tend to co-present in nature. Because we tend to find them together, we could give this category a name, i.e., “a desert.”
When we ran factor analysis on the data from our sales rep study, we found something really intriguing. The analysis indicated very clearly that certain rep characteristics tend to clump together. The forty-four attributes we tested fell into five distinct groups, each containing a very different combination of rep characteristics. When a rep tends to be good at one attribute in that group, he or she is very likely to be good at all of the others in that group as well.
Source: CEB, CEB Sales Leadership Council, 2011.
Figure 2.1. The Five Sales Rep Profiles
Figure 2.1 shows these five distinct rep profiles as well as the descriptive variables that are clustered within each. These groups are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Going back to the ecosystem example earlier, think of it this way: All deserts have intense heat and sand, but intense heat and sand are not unique to deserts. You find these things in other ecosystems too, maybe just in different abundance. In our study, every rep has at least a baseline level of performance across all the attributes we tested. For example, to one degree or another, all sales reps adhere to a formal sales process. All reps have at least a minimum acceptable level of product and industry knowledge. But for almost every rep, a specific subset of these attributes defines their primary approach to customers.
We like to think of these profiles as college or university degrees. In order to graduate, every student must cover a broad core curriculum: science, language, history, math, etc. But at the same time, university students have a “primary” or “major” as well—the thing they specialize in that sets them apart. And that’s what these five profiles are all about. They are the five distinct “majors” in sales.
These five profiles are not groups that we put together based on our interpretation of the data or our view of the world. We let the analysis tell the story. The five profiles are statistically derived, but they accurately and completely describe the five most common profiles found in the real world. Interestingly, they’re relatively evenly distributed across our sample population.
So who are these different reps? As we go through the five profiles, ask yourself the following questions: Which of these five profiles do you think best describes the bulk of your sales force? Where have you placed your bets as an organization or, perhaps more practically speaking, which type of rep are you trying to recruit right now? Which are you trying to get your reps to behave more like?
The Hard Worker
Hard Workers are exactly who they sound like. These are the reps who show up early, stay late, and are always willing to put in the extra effort. They’re the “nose to the grindstone” sellers. They’re self-motivated and don’t give up easily. They’ll make more calls in an hour and conduct more visits in a week than just about anyone else on the team. And they enthusiastically and frequently seek out feedback, always looking for opportunities to improve their game.
A CSO at a global logistics company put it like this: “These guys believe that doing the right things the right way will inevitably get you results. If they do enough calls, send enough e-mails, and respond to enough RFPs [requests for proposal], it’ll all come together by the end of the quarter. They’re the ones who were actually paying attention when we pounded the importance of sales process.”
The Relationship Builder
Just as the name implies, Relationship Builders are all about building and nurturing strong personal and professional relationships and advocates across the customer organization. They’re very generous with their time and work very hard to ensure that customers’ needs are met. Their primary posture with customers is largely one of accessibility and service. “Whatever you need,” they’ll tell customers, “I’m here to make that happen. Just say the word.”
Not surprisingly, one VP of sales we recently interviewed told us, “Our customers love our relationship builders. They’ve worked very hard to build customer relationships, sometimes over years. It feels like that’s really made a huge difference to our business.”
The Lone Wolf
The Lone Wolf will look familiar to anyone in sales. Lone Wolves are deeply self-confident. As a result, they tend to follow their own instincts instead of the rules. In many ways, the Lone Wolves are the “prima donnas” of the sales force—the “cowboys” who do things “their way” or not at all. More often than not they drive sales leaders crazy—they have no process compliance, no trip reports, no CRM (customer relationship management) entries.
“Frankly,” one head of sales told us, “I’d fire them if I could, but I can’t, because they’re all crushing their numbers.” And that’s the case for most companies. On average, Lone Wolves tend to do very well despite egregiously flouting the system, because if they didn’t do well, they’d probably have been fired already.
The Reactive Problem Solver
The Reactive Problem Solver is highly reliable and very detail-oriented. While every rep in one way or another is focused on solving customer problems, these individuals are naturally drawn to ensuring that all of the promises that are inevitably made as part of a sale are actually kept once that deal is done. They tend to focus very heavily on post-sales follow-up, ensuring that service issues around implementation and execution are addressed quickly and thoroughly.
One CEB member described the problem solver as “a customer service rep in sales rep clothing.” As she put it, “They come into the office in the morning with grand plans to generate new sales, but as soon as an existing customer calls with a problem, they dive right in rather than passing it to the people we actually pay to solve those problems. They find ways to make that customer happy, but at the expense of finding ways to generate more business.”
The Challenger
Challengers are the debaters on the team. They’ve got a deep understanding of the customer’s business and use that understanding to push the customer’s thinking and teach them something new about how their company can compete more effectively. They’re not afraid to share their views, even when they’re different and potentially controversial. Challengers are assertive—they tend to “press” customers a little—both on their thinking and around things like pricing. And as many sales leaders will tell you, they don’t reserve their Challenger mentality for customers alone. They tend to push their own managers and senior leaders within their own organizations as well. Not in an annoying or aggressive manner, mind you—then we’d simply have to call this profile “the Jerk”—but in a way that forces people to think about complex issues from a different perspective.
As one member put it, “We have a handful of Challengers in our company, and almost all of them seem to have a standing time slot on our CSO’s calendar to discuss what they’re seeing and hearing in the market. The CSO loves it. They’re constantly bringing fresh insight to the table that forces him to constantly check his strategy against reality.”
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