Assessments: So Many Choices
by Cindy Stradling
When I meet with clients and they are interested in conducting an assessment for their organizations I am very careful to find out why they want to conduct and assessment and what information they intend to obtain. There are so many choices, I could write blogs for the next six months and still not have explored all of them. For the month of April I am going to share with you my experience of four of the assessments that I have personally taken.
Week Two – Insights Discovery Personal Profile
I took the Effective Selling Chapter assessment to better understand my personal sales skills and abilities. It also provided me with insights (no pun intended) regarding my communication style. The Insights assessment is a personal development tool which gives individuals an engaging, reinforcing transformational insight in themselves and others.
It identified my personal style as friendly and supportive. I am imaginative and creative visionary who is a source of inspiration to others. It explained that I prefer to focus on positive, harmonious and uplifting aspects of people and human relations.
Some of my strengths included being intuitive, optimistic, easy going, fun, enthusiastic, adaptable.
It also indicated some of my weakness included being easily distracted, de-motivated with routine tasks, can procrastinate on longer term tasks, may not dot all her “i”s and cross all her “t”s.
I found both the strengths and weaknesses identified were in fact a good representation of me. I am consistently improving the way I do things and this assessment helped me to focus on the areas that need the most attention. Since doing the test I procrastinate less, am more focused and still working on getting excited with routine tasks.
The Effective Selling Chapter is used to develop strategies for improved customer relationships, greater self-understanding and more and greater sales. It assessed me in six stages:
Before the sale begins
Strengths: positive attitude, adaptable in prospecting, builds connections and long term relationship
Areas for improvement: avoid procrastination, prioritize more effectively, research competition more
Identifying needs
Strengths: easy to be trusted, fascinated by other’s motivations, needs, fears and problems, has strong relating skills
Areas for improvement: probe more, spend less time with people who are not key decision makers, gather more details for complex processes
Proposing the solution
Strengths: maintains high standards in telling it like it is, is fluent and reassuring in articulating customer’s goals, presents in a fast-paced vocal manner
Areas for Improvement: stick to the point, ensure fully knowledgeable about every aspect of the product/service, have relative business cases available
Dealing with buying resistance
Strengths: is constantly alert to customer’s concerns, uses intuition to uncover any hidden blockers to the sale, maintains professionalism always
Areas for Improvement: be less sensitive to tougher objections, provide more detailed information when needed, pause and reflect before moving on
Gaining commitment
Strengths: makes the process FUN! Focuses on the long-term benefits, reduces loss to client by ensuring their needs are met
Areas for improvement: pay more attention to details, refrain from over-assuming, at times take smaller steps
Follow-up and Follow through
Strengths: maintains regular contact with her clients, sees customers as friends to enjoy time with, remains aware of new development opportunities
Areas for improvement: confirm details, ensure action is always taken for customer requests, check levels of satisfaction more frequently.
I took a great deal of value from this assessment and have made many positive changes as a result of the information outlined in the Insights report. I recommend this assessment for any salesperson who wants to identify their own blind spots and improve their performance.
The Insights Discovery Personal Profile also has chapters for Communication, Teams and Management
Next week: My results from taking the Kolbe Assessment.