After posting this article two weeks ago, showing the percentage of salespeople who are not trainable, who shouldn't be in sales, and who are elite, it was inevitable that I would be asked to post similar statistics for sales managers.

While the number of salespeople we have assessed is greater than 400,000, the number for sales managers is closer to 50,000 - still a more than adequate sample size. 

(Speaking of sample sizes, I saw a promotion yesterday from a new sales assessment company and all of their claims are based on a sample size of 150 salespeople.  And of course, despite their "rigorous", "comprehensive" build, the actual assessment, despite strong marketing claims to the contrary, is based on a non-sales context.) But hey, it's 5 tests in one - that should make up for it's lack of context...

Sales Managers who should not be in sales management.....18%
Sales Managers who are not trainable................................34%
Sales Managers who are elite............................................. 7%

So there are twice as many sales managers in need of redeployment as salespeople, and 10% more sales managers than salespeople who are untrainable (they know it all?).  That means 52% of all sales managers, more than half, should consider doing something else - like selling! About the same percentage who qualify as elite.  It's such a shame that the percentage of elite is so small, but then again, if it was much bigger, they wouldn't be elite, would they?

(c) Copyright 2009 Dave Kurlan