Case Studies: JK Harris
Summary
JK Harris, the nation’s largest tax resolution firm, was able to use The Brooks Group’s TriMetrix Assessments to gradually weed out underperforming salespeople and replace them with sales reps who were better suited for the job.
Results
Close rate increased 58%
Sales price increased 28%
CEO John Harris also notes that the company now has a much happier sales force –
“We were putting pressure on people who just couldn’t perform…” According to Harris, the company would have been out of business by 2002 if they hadn’t used TriMetrix to systematically restructure their sales team.
About JK Harris
Since its founding in 1997, JK Harris has grown from one office in Charleston, SC, to over 475 in 46 states. More than 100,000 taxpayers have chosen JK Harris’ tax resolution specialists to represent them before the IRS.
The Situation
In 1998, JK Harris had a stagnating sales force of about 80 representatives. John Harris, the company’s President and CEO, thought the team’s sagging momentum reflected a lack of training. Acting on a friend’s referral, he hired The Brooks Group to train JK Harris’ sales team.
The Real Problem
Before starting the training, Bill Brooks of The Brooks Group asked John Harris one critical question: “Do you have people who can even BE trained?” JK Harris decided to go ahead with a training event and measure the results… but not much changed. The performers still performed, and the underperformers still didn’t.
So, JK Harris engaged The Brooks Group to assess the entire sales team using the TriMetrix Assessment System. TriMetrix starts with an objective evaluation of the job to determine what skills, talents and preferences are required to do the job well. The results showed that only 20% of JK Harris’ sales force was capable of performing – and willing to perform – to the requirements of the sales job.
The Solution - Treating The Root Cause Of Underperformance
At this point, John Harris said, “I realized I could spend all the money in the world on training, but I wouldn’t get a thing out of it if I was training the wrong people.”
Even though The Brooks Group’s assessments have been extensively validated and proven scientifically, John Harris knew a lot rested on what he did next. So to validate The Brooks Group’s assessments for themselves, JK Harris hired a statistician to create their own “benchmark” based on the existing top 10% of their sales force. The 10% they assessed were the best in terms of closing percentage, average case size, and average sales amount.
More than 70% of the top 10% of performers that JK Harris ’statistician identified ALSO had strong Brooks Group assessments. From that point on, JK Harris has used TriMetrix assessments consistently as a way to measure against their own benchmark.
The Bottom Line For JK Harris
Once John Harris realized he had a sales staff of underperformers, he began a logical, systematic process of replacing 3-4 sales consultants per month. It took two years, but at the end, JK Harris had built a greatly improved sales force. The numbers show just how much better:
Close rate increased 58%
(Average Close rate before = 33% -- Average Close rate after = 52%)
Sales price increased 28%
(Average sale before = $1875 -- Average sale after = $2400+)
John Harris also notes that the company now has a much happier sales force – “we were putting pressure on people who just couldn’t perform…”
According to Harris, the company would have been out of business by 2002 if they hadn’t undertaken this massive assessment and restructuring process.
Meanwhile, The Brooks Group designed a customized IMPACT Selling program for JK Harris’ ongoing sales training. This is still the model that JK Harris uses for training. However, according to John Harris, “IMPACT is the theoretical framework we use, but by only having the right people on board, the training is much less critical.”
Need More Info?
