Case Studies || Assessment Articles

A Profile XT and Sales Indicator Case Study

by Steve Woods of Workforce Metrics

"JOB PATTERNS MUST CHANGE, IF YOUR BUSINESS HAS CHANGED!"

Assessing your top performers, and using their data to create job patterns, are processes well-known among users of the Profile XT^TM and Profiles Sales Indicator. If you can go beyond the standard procedures, and if you know your business well enough to reach for change, you may be able to analyze your job patterns in relation to shifting demands of your market and position your company for even greater profitability!

Here's how one company leveraged their data into the largest increase in sales they have seen since the end of the boom economy of the late 90's.

This company manufactures and distributes industrial trade show displays, from simple table top props to those spectacular two-story monsters we see at major conventions. They survived the recession of 2001 the way many businesses had: they laid off employees, reduced overhead and held onto only their top performing sales staff. With the economy warming up, the CEO and General Manager saw the need for additional sales reps, but recognized that they could not afford the rate of turnover they had been comfortable with in their halcyon days.

Our task: help them reduce the probability of turnover of new sales reps by creating a job pattern using the Sales Indicator and Profile XT^TM. With precise criteria in place for selection of "top performers", five of their nine sales reps took both assessments. We then created the Job Analysis Reports (pattern studies) and met to present them to our client.

"Well, this pretty much explains everything" said the CEO to the GM at the end of our presentation. "Yeah," quipped the GM, "no wonder sales are flat!" All of the benchmarks of the Sales Indicator were at the lower end of the five scales, and the personality picture that emerged from the Profile XT^TM had a relatively laid-back theme as well. In the discussion that followed, an important issue emerged: While every sales rep in the pattern study was indeed a clear-cut top performer from the standpoint of sales volume, a careful analysis of their activities revealed a critical fact: the vast majority of their sales were simply re-orders from (long lists of) old clients. These 'veterans' as we came to refer to them (all had been employed from seven to thirteen years) were making money for the company, but the business wasn't adding new clients, even with the economy presenting new opportunities!

We asked more questions, and the CEO and GM agreed that their market had shifted in the last two years: More competition, less budget for trade shows, and higher expectations. In short, the successful sales rep of today needed more hustle, more drive and more smarts to close a sale. They needed a 'new breed' of people if they were to see the company grow once again.

Through a careful and time consuming process, we helped them modify their success patterns, to reflect their new needs. Seven new sales people were hired, using the revised job patterns. The results of this effort were dramatic: First, after three months, all seven new sales people were still on board. In the past, sales turnover was nearly 50% per year, 75% of that within the first forty days of employment. Second, the new sales reps were closing their first sale in less than half the time of previous years. In the past, it had taken an average of four months to "first close." All seven of the "new breed" closed a sale before their seventieth day on the job. Finally, the GM reported quarterly sales were higher than any quarter since 1999!

Job Patterns are powerful tools for selecting people who fit your jobs. If you have a clear idea of how jobs have changed, they can help you select people to meet those changed needs.

Developing a set of job patterns to profitably lead you through changes in business conditions is not an easy task, and not for the faint of heart-but the alternatives (clinging to the status quo or blindly making changes on "gut feel") are no less daunting, and a lot less likely to bring you to new levels of success! Consult with your Profiles Representative to discover what has changed in your business, and how can you identify people who will help you succeed in the changed competitive arena?