Is that evaluation about them or about you?

On July 1st Inner Quest Yoga asked me;

“Hey Lynn, I noted your review. Thanks. What would make the difference that you would rate IQY 5 star, versus 4 star as you did? Hope to see you again sometime soon.”

It took me until July 30th to be able to articulate the answer!

That last star is all about me and not about Inner Quest Yoga at all.

Yoga isn’t my passion but something that is filling in part of the empty space left by not being able to take Northern Wu Taijiquan after moving. If the rating were a smile, neutral, or frown face vs. scale of 1-5 I would have chosen the happy smiling face.

Which got me thinking, how much of that inside salesperson evaluation is about them and how much is about you, their manager?

> Are you using the organization’s expectations OR your own belief system as the benchmark for your evaluation?
> Does your personal “like” of the salesperson put rose colored glasses on the review?
> Do any “dislikes” about the salesperson shine a harsh spotlight on anything that you would otherwise ignore?
> Has their past success made your current expectations unrealistic?

As you think about how you are evaluating the inside salespeople on your team make sure you are looking at their activity and results based on the organization’s expectations.