[HBR] How behavioral analytics grew sales by $200M in just one year…

How much does your sales team benefit from feedback?

We don’t mean, “How often do they get feedback?”

We’re asking, “Do they get feedback in a way that actually increases sales?”

Harvard Business Review (HBR) recently reported that busy sales managers are prone to giving curt feedback to their teams and primarily focusing on intention (“You need to generate more leads,” or “Your sales should close faster”) rather than on behaviors (“Let’s explore a more effective way to organize your leads,” or “You need to have more urgency in following up on high-potential leads”).

HBR concludes the most constructive conversations “empower reps to know where they stand and assess whether they are spending their time and efforts in the best way.”

But shifting gears into this more constructive behavioral feedback can be difficult and a little confusing.

What if you could know exactly which reps are prone to disorganization? Or which ones connect with prospects quickly and which do not?

What if you could know which ones are quick-to-overpower and slow-to-listen?

What if you had hard data to back up what you’re seeing and clear steps toward increased performance for each sales team member?

Well, you can have this data.

A Flippen Group client who is a CEO recently expressed frustration that a member of his salesforce was not following up with a potential customer as intensely as he would like, even after prodding.

Our client had invested a great deal of money in the prospect and didn’t want the lead to grow cold.

We looked at the team member’s Flippen Profile data; it showed a lower Urgency and Intensity score and an extremely low Self-Critical score.

Urgency and Intensity measured his focus on task accomplishment and the pace of his internal clock. This individual was clearly too laid back in their approach to the customer.

Self-Critical measured his ability to self-critique without excessively beating himself up. This team member’s score was so low, they were convinced their style was fine.

We coached our client on how to address his colleague’s behaviors based on the data, and as you can imagine, sales increased quickly!

Another client found one of their teams’ sales revenue stalled at $1.7 billion and beginning to contract. This was a publicly-traded company where rapid growth through external acquisitions had created a fragmented, misaligned sales team.

The Flippen Profile behavioral data on the sales manager showed he had strong Nurturing behaviors (he was caring for and encouraging his team well), but his Criticality behaviors were too low.

He was not holding underperformers accountable, and any feedback he gave them was too soft to create any behavioral change.

After we coached up his Criticality behaviors, the performance of his team improved, and within a year they had increased revenue by $200 million!

Would you like to see the performance of your sales team improve?

Do you know what behaviors to address and, more importantly, how to address them?

We can help! Contact us.

For more than 25 years, the Flippen Group has leveraged neuroscience, psychometrics, and adult-learning technologies to bring out the best in Fortune 500 companies, school districts, government organizations, and professional sports teams. Our behavioral analytics tools, combined with expert coaching, will help leaders gain insights into how their own behaviors may be holding their team back.