If you are an business owner or a sales manager who is responsible for the success of your sales team, you know that it is necessary to constantly evaluate the team's performance. Your ongoing business success is determined by continuous training so that the team has the best tools and strategies available. When you evaluate your team's statistics, it's also a good idea to apply this simple ten question test to measure whether your team is undertrained and perhaps requires a little extra help. Every day you do your best, but is it enough?

1. Do members of your sales staff often lose more sales opportunities than they close?

2. Do you have a high turnover of your sales staff? (significant changes in under 2 years)

3. Is your repeat business lower than you would like it to be?

4- Could your customer satisfaction levels be higher?

5. Are your salespeople giving away profit margin too easily when trying to close a sale?

6. Do you wish your salespeople prospected and followed up more?

7. Do you wish your salespeople were more self reliant and required less supervision?

8. Have you noticed that many former selling techniques no longer work?

9. Do you notice high stress or even anger displayed by customers or salespeople?

10. Do you feel customers 'trust' your business less now than they did in the past?

Answering yes to even one of those questions suggests that some extra expertise might be required, but a significant number of yes answers might indicate a potential serious condition that is costing vital profit margins and precious customers. If there is an area in your sales team's performance that needs extra tools to get the job done for you, it's significantly more affordable to obtain those tools through additional training and professional development rather than replacing members of your team.