The New Tactical Sales Development Plan

We are continuing to fine-tune some of the development plan content and we haven't decided upon an official name, but here is some information that we have finalized . . . almost.

Purpose

Our assessments provide pages of data about a salesperson but we feel there is a need to turn that information into actionable items.  The development plan will be a sales manager's tool to use in coaching, motivating and growing their salespeople.  The plan will provide specific topics in which to grade the salesperson based on first-hand observations.

Highlights

Communication:  The first page of the report is an adapted form of our selling style cheat sheet.  This page will provide the sales manager with a quick reminder of the salesperson's style and how to effectively communicate in that style.  This information allows the sales manager to be most effective in coaching the salesperson and properly motivating them to attain the stated goal.

Customization:  Each development plan is customized to the salesperson's strengths and weaknesses in regards to their assessed sales skills and sales aptitudes.  Remember, we stress that sales managers should work with their salespeople to negate weaknesses but apply the most energy to developing the salesperson's natural strengths.  The development plan contains a grading sheet to track the salesperson's growth in these areas.

Productivity:  The development plan will include a section on the salesperson's productivity - items such as organization, preparation and product/service knowledge.  This section is still being refined, but it will provide the sales manager with an area to track routines and assign specific goals for the salesperson to accomplish in making their sales day more efficient.

Review:  The development plan information will become an integral part of any sales employee review process.  We would also welcome the chance to review the employee's development with the sales manager and provide advanced development plans once the salesperson has mastered the topics covered in the initial plan.

Investment

The development plan will cost $250 in addition to the sales assessment investment of $500.  Obviously, this tool will only be used for sales candidates that you choose to hire.  We will also offer this tool for existing salespeople already on your team.  There will be an option to roll up the results into an overarching overview of the team also.  The overview will be available later this summer.

Summary

We are still in our final revisions of the development plan and will inform you of its availability once it is released.  Our expectation is to release the development plan in July at the latest.  This tool will allow faster onboarding of new sales hires, specific milestones that lead to revenue success and a tactical blueprint for building a stronger sales team.