7 Steps to Capitalizing on Uncertainty

Right now there is tremendous uncertainty with the upcoming election, the “Fiscal cliff of January 1” and even regional uncertainty due to Hurricane Sandy. There is not any uncertainty in the fact that, regardless of what occurs, your business will need loyal, engaged and productive employees. This is especially true for your sales organization. As a preponderance of evidence indicates the last quarter of 2012 is one that has a lot of business owners nervous.

The most productive and profitable companies know the importance of their staff and realize they are the key…regardless of what happens!

Don’t be paralyzed by uncertainty.  No matter what occurs you will still need productive, loyal employees.  Regardless of how the election turns out, “Fiscal cliff” as it relates to the resolution of the debt issue, and now Hurricane Sandy, impacts your company, it will be even more important to have top performing employees in every position.  Following are 7 strategies to capitalize on today’s uncertainties.

How can you Capitalize on this Uncertainty?

1.      Evaluate each department and staff member:  Identify those who are not engaged, “A” players or top performers.  If they aren’t, determine who needs to be replaced with a top performer.

2.      Develop a Recruiting Needs List:  Once you know what positions need to be strengthened with higher performers, decide what you need in terms of skill, expertise, and past success.

3.      Identify where top performers are working: Typically, top performers are busy performing and don’t have time to look.  However, with the turmoil such situations as the IKON/RBS Integration may cause, many very productive sales people are open to a new opportunity.

4.      Target those you wish worked for you.  Identify those who appear to be top performers and can strengthen your organization.  If needed, get an introduction or ask them to connect on LinkedIN.

5.      Build your bench.  The July-August 2012 Harvard Business Review article, entitled, “Motivating Sales People: What Really Works” pointed out what we have known for years. The districts, or sales teams, with a person on the bench ready to take a territory, performed 5% better than those without one.  Now is the time to not only strengthen your organization but also have back-ups or bench strengths. They will pay for themselves in allowing you to replace low performers or even just to motivate everyone to perform. 

6.      Ensure the performance is the person.  Many people viewed as top performers really are not. The sales level or attainment of quota may be because of conditions above and beyond the individual’s skill, knowledge, experience, work ethic and values.  It may be due to the assignment or to a lower level of expectation.

7.      Know Who you are really hiring.  Using Pre-Employment Assessments to determine the Job Fit of the person to the position has become common place because the small up-front investment is paid back many times over.  Avoiding a mistake is critical. Once that person reports to work, use the information from the assessment in the on-boarding process to get the person off to a fast and productive start. We have recently worked with a large sales organization to develop and innovate their on-boarding process that significantly improves their performance and retention. 

Today’s uncertainty can paralyze or propel you and your organization. While conditions always change…having engaged, productive staff is always a strategy that produces success. 

Click here for resources to help your sales organization hire top salespeople.

If you are interested in discussing how you can improve your hiring process feel free to contact me at Wayne@outlawgroup.com or www.outlawgroup.com