Measuring Soft Skills

Measuring Soft Skills

As mentioned in a previous chapter, when managing an inside sales or sales development team, there are 2 main methods of measuring their performance: (1) Key (hard facts) metrics; (2) Soft measurements.

 This Chapter will discuss the second method. (The first method was covered in a previous Chapter).

(2) Measuring Soft Skills:

There is a lot less to be said about this method but please note that this is no less important than the first method.

Measuring these soft skills is probably harder because a manager cannot rely on factual data, and instead must hone his own managerial, training, coaching skills.

·         Job Satisfaction & Motivation: It is always important for a manager to determine his teams overall job satisfaction and motivation. A sales rep can make all the right noises, say all the right things, call all the correct people but if he is not motivated to make the sales then the lead will not want to buy from him. The old adage is still true: people buy from people.

·         Phone Manner: The same can be said about this point as well. If the sales rep does not perfect his phone manner then the product/solution will not sell itself. It is part of the manager’s responsibility to determine whether or not the sales rep is communicating clearly, eloquently, politely etc..

·         Sending correct emails & Collateral: Email communication is still a fundamental part of a salesman job. A manager must ensure that the emails are engaging, coherent, timely and relevant. A manager must also find out if the rep has a good grasp of the marketing collateral available.

·         Product Knowledge: It is important to determine the level of knowledge the sales rep has of the product itself. The sales rep cannot be expected to sell the product if he/she does not have a sufficient in-depth knowledge of the product itself. It is therefore not only important to find out if the rep has this knowledge but also whether or not the rep has the ability / intelligence / drive to gain any lacking knowledge.

·         Sales Skills: All sales managers must measure their team’s general and basic sales skills. This includes qualification questioning, negotiation, listening skills, objection handling, sales pitch, demo abilities and deal closing skills. This is clearly linked to the key metrics mentioned in the previous Chapter as they give the manager an indication as to which element his team member needs assistance with. The main method for measuring these soft skills is by role playing, attending sales meetings & demos and by listening into sales calls.

In conclusion I believe that it is important to measure an Inside Sales or Sales Development team on all of the above (including this Chapter and the previous Chapter), both hard facts and also soft skills. Focusing too much on one is not the correct method. In fact, focusing too much on only one aspect of one style is also not correct. A classic example of this is not to focus too much only on the bottom line $$ amount but to make sure that the entire process is being performed correctly. The flip side is to make sure not to focus only on the number of dials made but to make sure these are dials of quality to the correct people and that the right soft skills are being implemented to maximize the results that come out of these calls.

The key is to find the balance between the quantity and the quality of the calls.