Last week, we defined Project and Goal Focus which is important for successful selling in any market. Salespeople must stay on target over extended periods of time while overcoming many obstacles.
The companion aptitude to Goal Focus is Results Orientation. It is one thing to stay on target, it is another thing to actually accomplish the tasks needed to reach that target. A salesperson with little aptitude for achieving results will be the proverbial “cloud of dust” salesperson. You will see a cloud of dust kicked up by all of their activity, but at the end of the day, the wagon hasn’t moved.
Results Orientation
The ability to identify actions necessary to achieve task completion and to obtain results. This ability will be manifested in a persons ability to meet schedules, deadlines, quotas and performance goals.
A salesperson with strength in this aptitude will view results as being important. They will lean towards tasks where the outcome or product occurs within a fairly short period of time. They need more direct rewards. Abstract values and rewards are usually not as attractive to this person.
A salesperson with a weakness in this area does not tend to be motivated by external results. They may view the importance in a situation on one specific area which may not equal results on its own (e.g., being fast, enjoying the work, being perfect, etc.). This lack of focus on all the variables involved in achieving results could lead to the result being incomplete.