Sales Excellence Assessment^SM from Miller Heiman® is a web-based tool designed to help companies implement a sales management and coaching process that will ultimately lead to higher sales and happier employees. The information the tool generates is used to drive constructive dialog between salespeople and their managers, align organizational strategy and objectives, and identify training and development priorities.

Research indicates the role of the sales manager is crucial in regards to the performance of the sales force. Sales managers are expected to coach and motivate their team, however, they often lack the information and skills they need to be highly effective. The average sales manager has only one performance-related discussion a month with each sales representative. And when they do have this discussion, they’re more often supported by instincts than facts. This is insufficient to drive consistent results.

The Sales Excellence Assessment^SM tool provides sales managers the information needed for productive coaching. It starts by clarifying the organization's objectives and key performance indicators. It requires the sales representative to assess and rank themselves for 54 job-related sales skills, their perceived effectiveness in using them, and the perceived importance of those skills to the organization. The sales manager is asked to complete the same assessment for each sales representative.

The report produced by the Sales Excellence Assessment^SM tool identifies the gaps between the sales representative’s assessment of his or her skills and the sales manager assessment of them. This will help open dialog for coaching and management, create alignment, and target areas for training and development. Results can be rolled-up to the top of the organization, providing C-level executives better insight into the sales organization.

If your organization is trying to accomplish the following, then Sales Excellence Assessment may be the right solution:

• Improve the effectiveness of sales managers
• Improve the effectiveness of sales professionals
• Provide sales managers better information to support better coaching
• Improve the dialog between sales managers and their teams
• Identify and prioritize the most urgent training and development needs
• Reduce sales force and management turnover
• Improve the adoption of training and change initiatives