ACME sought to improve its sales productivity and create value in its ever-growing organization. To accomplish this goal, they implemented a talent assessment to understand their teams' performance better. Through the process, they uncovered how to improve sales productivity and the potential of a sales restructuring that could exponentially increase revenue growth in the next three years. By leveraging the insights from these assessments, ACME discovered seller archetypes and strengths and weaknesses, behavior for quota success, individual learning journeys, and detailed coaching playbooks - all essential elements for transforming sales productivity and creating value for the company.
Unpacking the Challenges of a Fragmented Sales Organization
ACME, a global company, had expanded via acquisitions and needed to understand its existing talent pool. But it was difficult to isolate due to the complexity of their organizational structure. ACME's sales organization had become increasingly fragmented, with different teams based on geography, product lines, and industries, thus causing a struggle to gather a comprehensive understanding. However, the teams approached this challenge, prioritizing transparency and humility. The goal was to establish a unified fact base of information, allowing for informed decisions of future growth and success for the company.
They had decided that a talent assessment was the best way forward which soon led down an even bigger path: restructuring the organization for future success with sales productivity in mind. SBI had built a relationship built upon trust, and the teams worked together to develop a tailored assessment solution fit for this ambitious goal. An integrated talent assessment approach enabled ACME to reach far beyond initial expectations and establish an inspired direction for the company's evolution.
Navigating Challenges in Data Collection
No great growth story is told without its challenges. The team first experienced an initial challenge of a lower-than-anticipated response rate throwing a slight curve into the data collection process. Looking at the reasons behind the low response rate, it's clear that cascading communication played a significant role, and a quick pivot helped remedy the communications issue. Additionally, defying the definition and scope of 'peer' reviewers created confusion among respondents, leading to some failing to complete the required peer reviews. Nevertheless, despite these challenges, the impact on the output was minimal, and the overall completion rate provided a vast sample size to derive insights from various roles. These insights can ultimately guide and improve future surveys, adjusting to enhance the experience for participants. Despite the challenges encountered during the survey process, the results provided valuable insights into the company's operations.
How Talent Assessment Results Helped Identify the Right Mix of Skills and Qualities for the Future of ACME
After thoroughly assessing their employees' skills and abilities, SBI created deliverables to carry forward the momentum of discovery. The team also identified new opportunities and recommendations to support ACME's growth.
- Talent assessment results and performance metrics informed seller archetypes and successful behaviors for quota attainment. The results highlighted where ACME could advance developing roles and implement tailored training programs.
- A clearly-defined, strategic sales coaching motion was created in sales playbooks to enable frontline managers. These playbooks will reinforce the results and help employees develop their skills in a targeted manner.
- Composite talent scores were used to populate Individual Development Plans (IDPs), providing a roadmap for coaching and developing Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART) goals. The goal is to identify areas for improvement and provide actionable steps toward improvement.
- ACME can improve customer messaging, boost performance, and drive collaboration by developing a formalized onboarding program and scaling team selling and channel partnerships. With the opportunity, tools, and coaching for reps to gain new skills, ACME can measure improvement and manage reps who cannot make the jump.
By implementing these recommendations, employee development for ACME becomes a dynamic process where goals and progress are consistently tracked, and adjustments are made as necessary. The team can identify the talent they already have and determine where they need to focus their efforts to develop new skills and capabilities. This allows them to build a strong bench of talent that is ready to take on the challenges of the future. The actions create a culture of continuous learning and growth, making the most of the identified talent in the organization. ACME realized that talent assessments are a powerful tool for identifying the right mix of skills and qualities needed to propel them into future revenue growth.
Is Your Organization the Right Fit for a Talent Assessment?
With the rapid pace of change in today's business world, organizations need a workforce that can adapt to new challenges and seize opportunities as they arise. Teams should assess the skills and abilities of their employees to optimize employee performance and sales productivity. It is critical to why organizations are thriving. Although the assessment may be time-consuming, it will benefit all parties involved in the long run. For example, our client experienced how navigating an unfolding org redesign enabled them to transform their team into a dynamic and adaptive workforce. With SBI PRO's Talent Assessment, ACME began understanding their strengths and gaps, allowing them to make better decisions when casting their talents.
If you want more information on what digital talent assessments can do for your company and how SBI PRO can enable employers with validation-backed decisions, click here.
