Sales Management: Tips For Conducting Performance Reviews

Author: Jerry Glynn Author's Email Address: jglynn@chaosmap.com One of your tasks as a sales manager is to conduct performance reviews, and whether they are conducted at the end of the year, monthly, or otherwise, these reviews are very important for you, for the company, and of course, for the members of your sales team. Feedback can boost morale, improve performance, and can also help resolve issues and get to the bottom of factors effecting employee performance. Tip One: Have your sales team provide a list of individual accomplishments achieved since their last review. Not only will this make them feel as though they are going into the performance review with a good measure of their actual performance, but it will also help to refresh your memory when it comes to deals they have closed and projects they have worked on. Tip Two: Be honest. Of course you should mention the good things, but you shouldnt shirk from mentioning the areas that you feel they need to focus on and improve. This is a performance review, after all, and if you do not take this time to point out problems, the chances are good that they are not going to magically disappear by the time of the next performance review. Avoid blanket statements such as you did a good job, you need to work on this, this is what I would like to see, my door is always open, etc. Try you are an asset to the sales team, what would you do over again if you could, where would you like to be, and how can I help, instead, Tip Three: Provide concrete examples. When you are offering your feedback, positive or negative, be sure to provide concrete examples that illustrate your point. You can say that you admire someones leadership and drive, or that you think that they need to be more proactive, but without examples, your helpful insights will sound vague. Tip Four: Relocate. What does this mean. Typically, performance reviews take place with the reviewer behind a desk facing the employee, which, as you have probably noticed, does not do very much to alleviate anxiety and stress for either you or the person whose performance you are reviewing. Why not choose a more neutral location, the cafeteria, the lobby, or somewhere else that will facilitate a less tense atmosphere for both of you. Remember, performance reviews are meant to facilitate communication and improve productivity, but, as you know, they also create anxiety on both sides of the table. Following these tips will help make the review process go more smoothly for both you and the members of your sales team. Cloud9 Analytics delivers easy-to-use business intelligence applications directly to sales, marketing, and support organizations as a service over the Internet.For more information visit http://www.cloud9analytics.com