What Is Self-Awareness in Sales?
Self-awareness in sales refers to the ability to recognise and understand personal thoughts, feelings, habits, and behaviours that shape salespeople’s interactions, choices, and success. It is an essential trait for salespeople as it enables them to gain insights into their strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. By developing self-awareness, sales professionals can effectively adapt their approach, leverage their strengths, and overcome challenges to build more meaningful relationships and increase sales success.Challenges of Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses
Identifying your team’s strengths and weaknesses in sales can be like navigating a maze with hidden obstacles. It’s not as easy as glancing in a mirror. There are unique challenges that salespeople face in their self-analysis journey. One challenge is the presence of biases. Your team members all have preconceived notions that can cloud their judgement and make it hard for them to see themselves objectively. Another challenge is the scarcity of feedback. In sales, team efforts are often focused on achieving immediate results, leaving little room for feedback. Additionally, finding dedicated time for self-reflection can be a struggle. In the midst of busy schedules, it may seem like a luxury that your team can’t afford. These obstacles are challenging, but with the right mindset, they are not that hard to overcome. Let’s draw inspiration from athletes who spend more time on training and skill development than on performance and apply that to our team’s sales approach. By embracing continuous learning and improvement, salespeople can unlock their untapped potential to create differentiation.Important Self-Awareness Tests
Self-awareness tests come in a variety of forms, each designed to provide valuable insights into your team’s potential. They serve as tools for tracking progress and fostering personal growth. Let’s explore widely used self-awareness tests in the sales field.
Merrill-Reid Personality Test
The Merrill-Reid method categorises individuals into four personality styles. Each style has its impact on sales performance. Let’s explore these personality styles:
- Amiable: Amiable salespeople are known for their warm and friendly nature. They excel at building strong relationships with clients and creating a sense of trust and loyalty.
- Analytical: Analytical salespeople thrive on data and facts. They have a meticulous approach to sales, paying close attention to details and conducting thorough research.
- Driving: Driving salespeople are highly ambitious and results-oriented. They are motivated by challenges and thrive in fast-paced environments. Their nature makes them effective at closing deals and driving revenue growth.
- Expressive: Expressive salespeople are charismatic and persuasive communicators. They excel at building rapport with clients and capturing their attention through engaging conversations.
By understanding behavioural traits that impact sales performance, salespeople can adapt their approach to better connect with clients and foster collaboration within the team.
360-Degree Test
The 360-Degree test provides insights into how colleagues and customers perceive your team members’ strengths and weaknesses. Although receiving constructive criticism can be daunting, it presents an excellent opportunity for improvement.
The anonymised feedback from peers allows your team to validate perceptions and uncover areas for growth. Remember, perception is reality, and addressing these perceptions can help enhance your team’s sales effectiveness.
Interpersonal Skills Test
Effective communication, emotional intelligence, and teamwork are vital in sales. The interpersonal skills test evaluates your team’s ability to connect with others, understand their needs, and collaborate effectively. This test helps sales professionals identify areas for improvement in interpersonal relationships and enhance their communication skills.
Grit Score by Angela Duckworth
As defined by psychologist Angela Duckworth, grit refers to perseverance and passion for long-term goals.
The Grit Score questionnaire measures your team members’ level of grit and determines their ability to see things through despite challenges or setbacks.
In sales, where resilience is crucial, assessing their perseverance and passion can provide valuable insights into their potential for success.
Sales Skills Assessments
Sales skills assessments evaluate your team members’ proficiency in specific areas of selling, such as communication, prospecting, qualifying leads, presenting, and closing.
These assessments help identify their strengths and areas where improvement is needed. By focusing on developing the necessary skills, they can enhance their sales performance and achieve better outcomes.
We are excited to offer our free sales skills assessment tool, designed to help salespeople gain valuable insights into what drives their success and how to enhance their sales skills to become more effective.
- Consider Sarah, a member of your sales team, who acknowledges the need to enhance her active listening skills during the Sales Skills Assessments.
As Sarah’s sales team leader, you can help her practice active listening techniques, enabling her to better understand customer needs and build rapport through consistent practice.
Benefits of Self-Awareness Tests
Self-awareness tests offer several benefits to sales professionals, enabling them to reach their full potential.
Identifying Strengths and Weaknesses
Self-awareness tests help your team recognise their natural talents and limitations. By gaining a deeper understanding of themselves, they can take proactive steps to overcome their weaknesses and make targeted improvements to become versatile sales professionals.
Developing a Growth Mindset
Self-awareness tests can shift your team’s mindset from fixed to progressive. Embracing a growth mindset allows them to view challenges as opportunities for learning and growth. With this mindset, they can learn from failures, continuously improve, and adapt to changing sales dynamics.
Improving Communication and Collaboration
Self-awareness tests enhance interpersonal relationships by improving your team’s communication skills, listening abilities, and emotional intelligence. As sales is a people-centric profession, honing these skills can significantly impact their ability to connect with colleagues, customers, and stakeholders.
Personal Benchmarking
Personal benchmarking is a powerful tool for sales team leaders and their salespeople. It serves as a barometer to track personal and professional development, enabling individuals to align their actions with their objectives and ensure continuous improvement.
How to Improve Sales Performance With Self-Awareness Tests
Now that we understand the value of self-awareness tests, let’s explore how sales professionals can utilise them to enhance their sales performance.
Creating an Action Plan
Based on the insights gained from self-awareness tests, your team members can set clear and achievable goals, identify specific actions to take, and establish a method for measuring their progress over time. Remember, developing new habits and making changes stick require mindset shifts and sustained motivation.
Seeking Feedback From Colleagues and Customers
By actively encouraging and embracing constructive criticism, your team can refine their sales skills, enhance their effectiveness, and build stronger relationships with both their team members and customers.
Remember, seeking feedback is not about aiming for perfection or receiving criticism for the sake of it. It’s about creating a culture of continuous improvement and supporting one another’s growth as a cohesive sales team.
Triggering a Self-Improvement Process
Self-awareness tests serve as a catalyst for self-improvement. Encourage your team to seek out learning opportunities, experiment with new approaches, and reflect on their experiences.
Cultivate a curious mindset, not only about sales but also about their clients, industry trends, and technological advancements. Embracing continuous learning is key to unlocking their full potential as sales professionals.
Conclusion
Understanding the importance of self-improvement in a sales career is crucial in shaping your team’s success story. By equipping your team with the right mindset, you can empower them to excel in any sales scenario.
Our online sales programmes enable your team to discover new opportunities, capitalise on them effectively, learn to adapt, and develop the resilience required to overcome obstacles.
Invest in your team’s growth and development through our online sales programmes by equipping them with the sales competencies to navigate the competitive sales landscape and yield remarkable results.
