“Without proper self-evaluation failure is inevitable.” – John Wooden
Hopefully, self-evaluation is something you do yourself or it’s a process your management team leads you through at least one time a year.
Do you self-evaluate every performance? Meaning, after every sales or service call that you make do you consciously ask yourself what you did well or what you could have done better?
If you are not doing this now, start! Conducting a quick self-evaluation immediately after a call will dramatically improve your overall performance.
Ask yourself, what did I do well? What things did I say, what facts, figures, or stats did I use that had a positive impact on the meeting? Did you complete your desired task for this call?
Likewise, was there any part of my performance that I wish I could undo? Did I spend too much time on small talk? Did I talk too much about our stations and not enough about his/her business? Did I cut him/her off? Did I talk too much, period?
Admitting to yourself that you did something wrong or that you have a flaw is never an easy thing. However, by doing so, it will help you to not repeat them.
There are hundreds of big and little things that we do on each call. By consciously asking yourself and conducting a self-evaluation after each and every call, it will help you better prepare for future meetings and ultimately make you a better salesperson.
You just walked out from an appointment with your client or prospect and now it’s off to your next task for the day. STOP! What you do next can have a profound impact on your future success in sales. Before moving on to your next task, take two minutes and conduct a self-evaluation of your performance by asking yourself these questions:
1. How did that meeting go? (Honestly rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10)
2. What could I have done better?
3. What did I do well?
4. What did I say or do that I should not have said or done?
Statistically, only 1 in 7 salespeople conduct a self-evaluation after each sales interaction. 85% of salespeople fail to do this.
Self-evaluation is not just for sales. Top athletes self-assess how they performed after each performance. They ask themselves… What did they do right? What did they do wrong? Where did they fall short? What can they improve? What can they do to give themselves a competitive advantage?
This same rule applies to management. If your goal is to improve and continually become a better manager, you too should evaluate yourself after every individual or group meeting with your sellers.
If you are in the 85% of sellers that do not currently do self-evaluations, START! By doing so, your performance will continue to get better with every customer contact.