Jonathan Farrington’s Blog

I have to tell you that when I was first introduced to psychometrics in 1983, I was somewhat sceptical and that scepticism has remained with me ever since; I will explain why in a moment but first a little background information – this might be the boring bit but do stay with it!

Psychometrics evolved from the need to examine ability. At the end of the 19th century, French psychologist Alfred Binet worked on some of the first tests to measure children’s ability. The US army developed its own tests to help recruit fresh troops for the first world war, the so-called Alpha tests designed to work quickly through the hundreds of thousands of applicants and work out who had the required education and background. More notoriously, the tests went through a period of popularity with eugenicists – something psychologists are still trying to live down – with the invention of IQ and aptitude tests.

Broadly speaking, there are two types of psychometric tests. The first measures ability – verbal or numerical reasoning, for example. The second measures personality traits such as how a person might behave in a given situation or what motivates them. In the world of work, tests are increasingly tailored to the jobs they are used for. The choice of test is absolutely crucial: In order to decide to use a test, you must first analyse a job in terms of what makes one person more successful at it than another. You must be absolutely clear that what you’re measuring is relevant to the job performance.

So why my scepticism and why do I believe that psychometric testing and professional salespeople are uncomfortable bedfellows?

Pick up a typical company report and what words do you find? Verbs like analyse, forecast, plan, assess and schedule, are used by organisations that are efficient, productive and predictable. What set of people are required? Obviously, people who are efficient, effective, proficient, competent, productive and co-operative. These traits we can measure and predict using psychometric testing.

But I believe we need to go beyond – as business captains we need to be inspired, motivated, creators, who are enthusiastic and able to consistently deliver against our key objectives. We should be developing individuals who are not afraid to challenge paradigms, who are prepared to go that extra yard in search of excellence and who understand that success is 80% attitude and only 20% aptitude. And this is where my scepticism has its roots because the “personality” element or the “attitude” in my Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success selling formula, cannot be accurately benchmarked.

Witness the admission of John Rust, professor of psychometrics at City University and director of the Cambridge Assessment Centre, “Some skills such as numeracy or language are easy to test. Others – creativity, for example – are more nebulous. Lots of people criticise creativity tests because they are very hard to do”.

The question is, are any of these assessments reliable or valid? Rust does believe creativity can be tested. He cites the example, now used more often in psychology lectures than HR departments, of giving a candidate a brick and asking them to come up with as many uses for it as possible.(The mind boggles) Here psychometrics enters a grey area. “Using personality tests for personnel selection is sometimes regarded as controversial. The difficulty is that people can often perceive what characteristics are desirable – you’re unlikely to admit to having hallucinations. People who answer honestly might be at a disadvantage and this tends to show up if you look at the relationship between test scores and performance”.

“Correlations between personality test scores and job performance are often weaker than a similar comparison with ability-based tests”, he adds. “Ultimately, psychometrics can only ever be used by companies in the context of a wider selection process, the test will only inform the decision – it won’t make the decision”.

You see, returning to my ASP + K formula, at what point does a psychometric finding have reliable relevance? The attitude element is uncertain and for me this is critical, as it drives the motivation of all the other elements: Skills, including; negotiation, presentation, account management, relationship building, opportunity assessment etc, cannot be assessed. The individual’s commitment to appropriate sales process which might include; forecasting, pipeline development, activity analysis etc, cannot be assessed. And finally, knowledge, that includes industry knowledge, sector knowledge, company knowledge, product knowledge and even self-knowledge, cannot be assessed.

Having recruited, trained, mentored, coached and developed literally thousands of front-line sales professionals, my question is a simple one:

“In the field of professional selling, have we been seduced into allowing psychometric testing to become our bedfellows?”

Is there a better way? You betcha! More soon.

OK some changes to announce:

This will be the last Friday posting on the thejfblogit. From next week, new postings will appear on Mondays and the first one under the new timetable will be on Monday March 5th BUT if you prefer to listen or even participate, you can tune into my show on BlogTalkRadio.com on Sundays (1800 GMT/1200 EST). You will see the button in the side column on the right and if you follow the link, you will find all the necessary information – but please note the show does NOT start this Sunday, I have put it back by one week to Sunday March 4th.

I will also post a note with full details here early next week

The second announcement is with regard to the bi-monthly newsletter – that is the frequency of distribution, not the title by the way: We have been thinking for some time now that this has become somewhat superfluous since the arrival of thejfblogit.

Therefore with immediate effect, we are replacing it with a monthly review, which will contain a brief overview of all the articles I have published during the previous month, not just those from the JF and jfa Group sites.

That’s two down and just one to go – I will announce the launch date of “The Top 10 Sales Articles” initiative next week and confirm where you can listen to it or read it every week.

As usual, there are new articles posted on the two main commercial sites:

On the Group site: thejfagroup.com I examine the findings of a recent report that suggests that Leaders need to develop their “soft” skills rather than become complacent and rely on traditional “hard” skills:

“What Leadership Was And What It Has Become”

Here is a brief extract:

“Leadership was once about hard skills such as planning, finance and business analysis. When command and control ruled the corporate world, the leaders were heroic rationalists who moved people around like pawns and fought like stags. When they spoke, the company employees jumped.

Now, if the gurus and experts are right, leadership is increasingly concerned with soft skills – teamwork, communication and motivation. The trouble is that for many executives, the soft skills remain the hardest to understand, let alone master. After all, hard skills have traditionally been the ones which enabled you to climb to the top of the corporate ladder. The entire career system in some organisations is based on using hard functional skills to progress, but when executives reach the top of the organisation, many different skills are required. Corporate leaders may find that although they can do the financial analysis and the strategic planning, they are poor at communicating ideas to employees or colleagues, or have little insight into how to motivate people. The modern chief executive requires an array of skills”. Continue Reading

And on my personal site: jonathanfarrington.com I examine the differing negotiation styles of the “four personality types”:

“How To Negotiate With The Four Personality Types”

Here is a brief extract:

“People negotiate differently and behave differently during the negotiation process. We can observe different styles of negotiation and how different types of behaviour can affect the outcome of negotiations.

In commercial negotiations, some people negotiate quickly and take risks, others take their time and try to avoid risk. Some buyers are very loyal, others will automatically shop around. Some negotiators can be quite intimidating to the point of being rude; others are quite passive and easily manipulated.

This makes selling and negotiating a real challenge. To negotiate with all these different buyer types we need to be able to adapt our behaviour and be flexible in our approach”. Continue Reading

I very much hope you will welcome and embrace the exciting changes I have announced and I look forward to chatting with some of you live next week.

In the meantime, as ever, have a great week wherever you are in the world and if you need inspiration, do visit the Article Vault

JF

Old ways of doing business no longer work: the increasingly intense competitive challenges of the world economy challenge everyone, everywhere, to adapt in order to prosper under new rules. In the old economy, hierarchies pitted labour against management, with workers paid wages depending on their skills, but that is eroding as the rate of change accelerates.

Hierarchies are being replaced by networks; labour and management are uniting into teams; wages are coming in new mixtures of options, incentives and ownership; fixed jobs melt into fluid careers.

As business changes, so do the traits needed to survive, let alone excel. All these transitions put increased value on emotional intelligence. Competitive pressures put a new value on people who are self-motivated, show initiative, have the inner drive for outdoing themselves, and are optimistic enough to take reversals and setbacks in their stride. The ever-pressing need to serve customers and clients well and to work smoothly and creatively with an ever more diverse range of people makes the ability to empathise all the more essential.

At the same time, the meltdown of old hierarchies increases the importance of traditional people skills such as building bonds, influence and collaboration. And that is as true for employers as it is for employees. The task of the leader draws on a wide range of personal skills. Research has shown that emotional competence makes the crucial difference between mediocre leaders and the best. Indeed, emotional competence makes up about two thirds of the ingredients of star performance in general, but for outstanding leaders emotional competencies – as opposed to technical or cognitive cues – make up 80 to 100% of those listed by companies as crucial for success. Read On

I am delighted to announce that we have launched the new JF site: www.jonathanfarrington.com The principle objective was to expand the number of categories within the Article Vault and thus aid navigation but we decided we may as well complete some minor cosmetic changes at the same time, and the end result is superb. In fact the guys also upgraded the Group site: www.thejfagroup.com and again the effect is pretty stunning – so well done that team, you have exceeded my expectations yet again!

“The Top 10 Sales Articles” project seems to be stirring up considerable interest and I received some communication from a Blog Radio station this week – now that would be an excellent platform to launch the initiative – so more soon!

Two new articles on the main sites for you this week: “Sales Managers Need To Constantly Challenge Paradigms But Keep The Overall Strategy In Mind” –one day I will get the hang of writing shorter titles! Here is a snippet:

“One of the key tasks of a sales manager is to continually seek ways to improve the way in which their team operates – constantly challenging paradigms and questioning “the way we do things around here”, will ensure the team remains at optimum performance levels.

However, it is also important to stay within an overall long term strategy and not effect change for change’s sake. Here are some thoughts on moving forward in a structured manner.”

On my personal site, by popular demand, I return to thoughts about negotiation with: “Negotiation – Some Thoughts On Movement And Concessions”

“Asking questions and listening effectively are important skills both in selling and negotiating. The first phase of negotiation involves both parties agreeing the background to the negotiation and fishing for the opening demand or offer.

It is often better to present the opening demand or offer in terms of a hypothetical question, as this allows the negotiator to retreat to his initial position if necessary.

The opening offer will probably be at or just about the level of the negotiator’s maximum expectation, giving him room to manoeuvre, but not so high that the offer lacks credibility. Do not attempt to win. at this stage, but hold sufficient back so that you are able to move, if necessary, at a later stage”.

Thank you for all your messages, do keep them coming and if you feel you would like to comment on this week’s posting or any of the previous ones, please do!

My webmaster is inundated with requests for reciprocal links from other sites but unfortunately, this is not a strategy we pursue – however, by posting a comment here you automatically gain a link!!

Have a great week - JF

When it comes to looking after our customers, quite often there’s a gap, a huge gap between theory and practice. There are books about customer relations; there are videos about customer relations; there are Gurus (mostly self-appointed) about customer relations. None of them actually have to deliver customer relations. That chore is left to what was known in the last two World Wars as the PBI – as in “Poor B….y Infantry”. - the foot soldiers. The front line people, your front line people. So what do they make of it all?

You know about Pareto’s Law – I discuss it often enough – yes that one, the one that says 80% of the business comes from 20% of the customers? Well, it (almost) applies in this case. More than 80% of front line staff haven’t yet totally bought into the idea of effective customer relations. The other 20% have discovered a very enriching way of achieving a satisfactory outcome from interactions with customers. In other words, most of the time they succeed! And when they succeed, the customers actually thank them!

This can’t be about you – can it?

So what’s the problem? The first answer is: ‘the Directors” the next answer is “the Managers”. “Nonsense”, you say. “I’m one of those, and I have explained very earnestly why we must all focus on achieving first class relations with customers”. Mmmmm! Creating business and profit enhancing relations with customers requires the right environment, ethos, culture and philosophy. You can’t achieve it by simply telling other people to do it. You can tell them the technique for turning “difficult” phone calls around, but if they don’t feel like doing it, then they won’t.

If you and your whole organisation don’t believe in developing good relations with all of your customers – it won’t happen.

When so much time and money is spent on training people about the need for constructive relations with customers, why is it often so bad? For much the same reason that when so much money has been spent on telling people that smoking kills you, they still insist on smoking. No, the issue is the environment. There used to be spittoons in bars. What is a spittoon? It’s a bowl or bucket into which people spit. Oh yes, people used to spit into spittoons. They spat because they chewed tobacco; they spat because they had – please forgive the term – phlegm. For whatever reason, they spat. And so there were spittoons. So long as the environment accepted people spitting, there were spittoons. Once that environment changed, the very idea was repulsive. Which gets us back to relations with customers. So long as the environment in your organisation is tolerant of taking a patronising, competing or negative attitude to customers, some people will do just that. Continue Reading

Last week, I promised faithfully to keep you fully updated with regard to a new initiative I plan to launch and I am now able to confirm the TheTop10SalesArticles.com should launch on March 5th – Mmmm I hear you ask, complete with quizzical expression, “So, Jonathan give us the sales pitch” OK, no sales pitch as nothing to sell but here are the details:

The primary objective of The Top 10 Sales Articles is to provide an additional location for the very best business authors to showcase their work and benchmark the quality of their writing against that of their contempories.

As a general rule, ten nominations will be posted on the site every Monday and the winner will be announced the following Friday – the winner of the Article Of The Month award will be announced on the last Friday of every month.

Where will the articles be chosen from? I have invited just ten article communities who either specialise in sales and marketing or who have extensive sales related sections within their site, to become founding partners and the ten articles will be drawn from these sites only.

Thus, from March 5th, you will be able to read a review of the very best sales related articles from the previous week, in just one location – exciting stuff! Just one downside – I will never get to be nominated.

Two further in depth articles for you. On the Group site: thejfagroup.com I examine the growth in personal coaching, particularly for business leaders.

“Executives Who Balk At Taking The Journey Of Self Development Could Find Themselves Isolated”

“Traditionally, one of our largest clients ran its business from manuals. Staff who wanted to know how something should be done would be directed by a senior manager “to look in staff manual 108” for the answer. It was not a motivational style of management, and had become unsuitable for fast-changing modern business conditions. So eight years ago, based on our recommendations they created what they called “The ultimate service provision” by merging all the information technology (IT) and back-office functions. Management broke with old habits and traditional training, and decided to improve the leadership skills of the senior managers through coaching.

The outcome has been a resounding success, producing far better results than conventional development training. The evident superiority of coaching explains why more companies are taking the same route and making it a priority.” Continue Reading

And on my personal site: jonathanfarrington.com there is a piece on changing the emphasis and focus away from leadership and back onto the “followers”:

“Moving The Focus Away From The Leaders To The Followers” “Some researchers prefer to move the focus away from the leader altogether and to examine instead what makes others prepared to follow these individuals. In 1988 an important article published in the Harvard Business Review, entitled “In Praise of Followers, began to shift attention away from the machismo of leadership to the less glamorous side of the same equation: the role of ‘followership’.

What the advocates of followership recognised was that to become an effective leader, most people first had to learn how to be good followers. With few exceptions, this is as true of the corporate world as it is of military and political leaders. Aristotle noted: “He who has never learnt to obey cannot be a good commander”. Continue Reading

OK, that’s it - as ever, wherever you are in the world, have a great week - JF