{"id":2029,"date":"2009-05-20T16:18:00","date_gmt":"2009-05-20T21:18:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/05\/preset-for-mediocrity\/"},"modified":"2009-05-20T16:10:29","modified_gmt":"2009-05-20T21:10:29","slug":"preset-for-mediocrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/05\/preset-for-mediocrity\/","title":{"rendered":"Preset For Mediocrity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.sellingpower.com\/html_newsletter\/article.asp?usr=SP9477331254&amp;NLid=1&amp;Layout_ID=894&amp;ARTid=3973&amp;nDate=May+18%2C+2009\" target=\"_blank\">SellingPower.com\u2019s article<\/a> deals with something we have seen throughout our many years of sales assessing, hiring and coaching \u2013 financial comfort zones.\u00a0 Here is a good explanation of it from the article (emphasis mine):<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Eker stumbled on the concept of financial blueprints while running his first company, a fitness business. In that business, his trainers often referred to a body&#8217;s &#8220;set point,&#8221; or the metabolic rate at which a body is comfortable. Eker, looking back over his financial history one day, realized that again and again he followed the same financial pattern of making a lot of money and then losing it. Up and down, up and down for fifteen years. &#8220;Wow,&#8221; he thought. <strong>&#8220;In the same way we have a set point with weight, we must have a set point with money.&#8221;<\/strong> His follow-on observations of others confirmed his theory, that everyone has a financial set point they unconsciously return to all their lives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>So true \u2013 this plays out time and again in the sales world.\u00a0 Salespeople often get caught in a stagnant mode once they hit their financial set point.\u00a0 They stop prospecting, they find busy paperwork, they fine-tune tasks\u2026essentially their behavior goes into cruise control.<\/p>\n<p>When hiring salespeople, it is important to dig for this set point.\u00a0 Typically a candidate will not provide it willingly, but you can pursue their past successes.\u00a0 It is perfectly legitimate to ask for a previous W2.\u00a0 It is always valuable to delve into the largest deals they closed and the commission they earned.<\/p>\n<p>A candidate with enough of a history will show distinct financial set points that you can then determine if they are a fit for your position.\u00a0 One last thought is that this set point works 2 ways \u2013 you won\u2019t retain a salesperson in a $75K position when their set point is $150K.\u00a0 If your compensation plan is inflexible, capped or unattainable, they will leave once they realize the ceiling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SellingPower.com\u2019s article deals with something we have seen throughout our many years of sales assessing, hiring and coaching \u2013 financial comfort zones.\u00a0 Here is a good explanation of it from the article (emphasis mine): Eker stumbled on the concept of financial blueprints while running his first company, a fitness business. In that business, his trainers often referred to a body&#8217;s &#8220;set point,&#8221; or the metabolic rate at which a body is comfortable. Eker, looking back over his financial history one day, realized that again and again he followed the same financial pattern of making a lot of money and then losing it. Up and down, up and down for fifteen&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/05\/preset-for-mediocrity\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20,4],"tags":[1329,1328,877,121,506,1327],"class_list":["post-2029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-compensation","category-sales-management","tag-compensation-set-point","tag-money-set-point","tag-sales-commission","tag-sales-compensation","tag-sales-plan","tag-set-point"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-wJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1676,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/compensation-consternation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":0},"title":"Compensation Consternation","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 25, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know, lame title, but I couldn't resist. ManageSmarter.com offers up this article - Compensation Complexity Hinders Sales - regarding current compensation plans.\u00a0 Here are some numbers they quote within the article (my editing): Only 41% of sales leaders were satisfied with their current compensation plans (down from 59% two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Compensation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1668,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/07\/a-fundamental-lack-of-communication\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":1},"title":"A Fundamental Lack Of Communication","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 18, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"The more companies we work with, the more we see communication breakdowns being the root of most problems.\u00a0 Our work with our clients spans more than just recruiting.\u00a0 We assist them in onramping their new salesperson.\u00a0 This function places us in the unique position of working with both the salesperson\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Communication&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Communication","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/communication\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1501,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/04\/sales-retention-through-compensation\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":2},"title":"Sales Retention Through Compensation","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 4, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Commission-only sales plans are risky in my opinion.\u00a0 I know they are the truest form of selling - you eat what you kill.\u00a0 I simply think that many salespeople view this structure as a lack of commitment from the company.\u00a0 I'm not saying that is accurate, but I have talked\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Compensation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1135,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/08\/raises-for-results\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":3},"title":"Raises For Results","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"August 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"This CareerJournal.com article can only be categorized as good news - More Employers Are Basing Raises, Bonuses on Results.\u00a0 Of course, none of this is surprising for salespeople since the vast majority are compensated based on their successful selling.\u00a0 For other positions, this may be a bit of a surprise:\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Compensation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":802,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/04\/sales-manager-compensation-for-retention\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":4},"title":"Sales Manager Compensation for Retention?","author":"Mike Cardinal","date":"April 4, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"A recent conversation brought to mind the responsibility of sales management for the development of both existing and new sales people. Why? Retention. As the employment market has shifted to an \"employee market\" - at least for talented sales professionals - sales management needs to make plans to retain sales\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Compensation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1328,"url":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/12\/compensation-keep-it-simple\/","url_meta":{"origin":2029,"position":5},"title":"Compensation &#8211; Keep It Simple","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"December 10, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Every year we find December to be a fertile time for sourcing salespeople.\u00a0 One of the biggest reasons - the upcoming year's compensation plan.\u00a0 More specifically, new commission plans tied to new quotas.\u00a0 The salespeople receive the new plan and are, well, disgruntled.\u00a0 Or ticked off. Good salespeople tend to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Compensation&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2030,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2029\/revisions\/2030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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