Sales managers (as well as introspective/paranoid sales professionals) are always looking for models to measure both the maturity and future potential of individual contributors.

Whether you are separating fact from fiction during a hiring campaign or simply culling the herd, behavioral competencies should be weighted as strongly as historical economic contribution.

Sadly, past performance is not the end-all indicator of future success we believe it to be.

Over the past few years ERP & CRM solutions have stabilized while customer buying behavior has evolved. Combined, these shifts drive the absolute need for a more mature engagement model; one that many of today’s existing sales professionals don’t know how to execute.

How we engage, and what we bring to the opportunity will dictate whether we drive predictable revenue or simply become “column B” cannon fodder.

Here’s a simple model for determining how competent (and at risk) you are as a sales professional:

1. The Preacher

You still believe in your heart-of-hearts that you have the best “widget” on the market and will go to any lengths to convey that passionate belief to an unsuspecting (and likely unqualified) prospect pool.

No product demonstration is too long and no feature list too granular to explore in painful, click-by-click detail with your overly polite buying community.

You shamelessly vomit acronyms and benefit statements over your prospects with reckless abandon and consistently misinterpret their glassy eyed catatonia as contained emotion rather than the tempered resolve of the passively aggressive that it truly is.

You have a propensity for multi-legged sales calls, generally lose the deal at “hello” and compensate for your abysmal close ratio with excessive feature/function research.

2. The Analyzer

You’ve realized that prospects (like people) pay much closer attention when engaged in dialogue that interests them.

Mind-numbing product monologues are replaced with provocative questioning and meaningful commentary focused solely on your prospect’s industry challenges, business opportunities and project risks.

Research and relevance are rewarded with insight, information and face-time.

You are capable of viewing your solution set through the eyes of the customer and have the self-control to limit your communications to the elements that impact your prospects’ business.

You win more often than you lose, the majority of your projects are profitable but customers tend to keep you honest with competitive pressure.

3. The Comparator

Not only have you discovered that prospects like talking about their own issues more than your products, you’ve also uncovered how passionately curious they are about how they rank within their industry peer group (and subsequently how you can help them improve their standing).

Insight into industry trends and competitive operating metrics is rewarded with executive access and an unfair competitive advantage.

The prospect draws the natural conclusion that your relevant content will translate into increased project benefits and decreased risk.

You work smarter than the Preacher and Analyzer, have a natural curiosity about business models and operational mechanics and tend to extend yourself deeply into prospect organizations.

You seldom lose to competitors but are periodically surprised by funding challenges.

4. The Thinker

You have transcended the traditional buyer/seller relationship by bringing personalized, client-specific content to the table and have re-oriented the project to deliver incremental business benefits the prospect had not originally anticipated.

You are comfortable challenging senior executives; understand your prospect’s industry drivers, ecosystem challenges and economic pressure points, as well as how they play into the overall ERP/CRM project.

You recognize bad projects from a distance and know when to walk away when prospects ignore sound advice.

Your experience, business acumen and guidance result in sole source awards (even with the illusion of the odd competitive process) and higher margins.

Most importantly your projects are predicated upon sound economic arguments and seldom, if ever, see their funding fall victim to capital reprioritization initiatives.

Consultative sales professionals drive strategic relationships, and strategic relationships drive revenue certainty.

Identify and assess where and how you engage with prospect organizations then start filtering your content through their lens to determine what role you are playing.

The transition from Preacher to Thinker takes time, patience, courage and commitment.

A world of opportunity awaits those that emerge on the other side.