Qualitative Performance Criteria

Certain aspects of job performance, such as personal effectiveness in handling customer relations problems, do not lend themselves to precise measurement, so the use of some qualitative criteria is unavoidable. Qualitative criteria are used for appraising performance characteristics that affect sales results, especially over the long run, but whose degree of excellence can be evaluated only subjectively. Qualitative criteria defy exact definition. Many sales executives, perhaps most, do not define the desired qualitative characteristics; instead, they arrive at informal conclusions regarding the extent to which each salesperson possesses them. Other executives consider the qualitative factors formally, one method being to rate sales personnel against a detailed checklist of subjective factors such as that shown in Figure 17.1

Companies with merit-rating systems differ on the desirability of using numerical ratings. Most numerical scoring systems are in companies that rate sales personnel primarily for detecting needed adjustments in compensation. Companies that use merit rating primarily to improve and’ develop individual salespersons usually do not use numerical scoring systems.