Are you interested in learning about ways that your sales force might be able to improve?  This is why you need to have a sales force assessment completed so that you will be able to get feedback. 

If your sales department is in need of some feedback or you are beginning a new sales department, you need to have a vision for how you are going to be able to drive your revenue.  You need to inspect your situation and look at how you have arrived at your current position.  This means that you need to think critically about the success and the problems that the sales force has experienced.  You need to think about the causes of those problems and the causes of the successes so that you can repeat or avoid them.  Then you will need to determine what your goals are as a sales force.  Write them down and then list them according to the goals you will be able to achieve the first, and then move on down.  Make sure that you have the resources that you need in order to help your sales force be successful with meeting these goals.  Consider the sales force members themselves.  Are they capable of achieving these goals?  You need to consider if additional training will be able to get them where they need to be, and if not, then you may need to consider bringing in new people who are able to learn and drive the sales of the company.  Once you have determined the goals of the company, you will need to share the vision with your staff and make sure that everyone is on board with the decision.  Now there are a few companies that can help you with your sales force assessment. 

The Whetstone Group will be able to provide you with feedback in a number of areas, such as in the effectiveness of sales, in the management of sales, in the sales team and the sales personnel, the training and education of the sales staff, and the sales results.  They will be able to provide you with insight regarding what areas you might need to focus on in order to improve your company's sales team.  This assessment will not take a lot of time, and then you will be able to get some ideas right away so your company can improve.

Another company that provides sales force assessment is the G & S Research Inc.  This company will take a look at your sales environment from a number of angles.  They will tailor the program's design so that it will meet the needs of the particular brand.  They can have an approach to this which will involve both the measurement of the prescriber perception of the sales force and of the manufacturer.  The company perceptions can influence the market share.  Having sales force effectiveness studies are a way to monitor and also test the effectiveness of the programs' performance and the performance of the representatives.  Additionally, a competitive monitoring component will allow you to remain on top of the activities of the brand. 

There are many reasons why you want to participate in market research and conduct this assessment.  You need to be able to adjust your messaging strategies, address the sales force training, and more.  The assessment has a number of goals.  One of those goals is for the company to be able to identify training that is needed as well as core metrics for the standard in performance.  Sales performance needs to be evaluated on area, district, and national levels.  Perceptions, performance, and activities of competitors need to be monitored as well.  Satisfaction has to be determined through the current samplings levels.  There has to be an ability to determine the gaps that exist in current knowledge.  There must be an understanding of how the customers are responding to the message that the company is getting out.  It is important to understand what particular messages are getting across to customers in a positive way.  You need to know what elements of the message are challenged by customers.  You need to be able to determine the value of supporting materials, and you must find ways that have been proven to handle the objections of the customers as well as other stories of success.