The Sales Development Survey (SDS) is a 360° feedback instrument that focuses upon sales skills. In addition to self-ratings, a panel of colleagues rates the participant on several aspects of his or her sales-related behavior. The instrument takes about 30 minutes to complete. It is comprised of 70 behavioral items rated on a five-point scale in terms of both current and expected behavior in addition to 11 items describing the importance of various components of the participant’s work role. Observer ratings can be tabulated by respondent group.

The SDS is a unique 360° multi-rater instrument for the development of sales professionals. Repeated administrations can be used as a professional benchmarking tool.

The SDS also comes with a copy of the CCI Self Instructional Participant’s Workbook that includes a guide to interpreting SDS feedback as well as developing a self-directed action plan.

What the SDS Measures

The SDS measures an individual's skills on 11 competency sets related to sales:

	Verbal/written communication listening skills presentation skills		Timeliness
	Handling concerns integrity/image personal initiative		Developing Partnerships
	Product/market knowledge timeliness customer service		Presentation Skills
	Problem solving/creativity developing partnerships		Personal Initiative
	Listening Skills		Customer Service
	Integrity/Image

The SDS Report

The SDS report provides extensive feedback to the participant and is comprised of the following components:

	Overall Results Summarizes the number of respondents who provided feedback and reviews strengths and areas for development.
	Overall Importance Ratings Identifies the skills rated as most important by each respondent group.
	Strengths and Developmental Needs by Respondent Group
	Strengths and Developmental Needs by Frequency of Occurrence
	Analysis by Importance Ratings Illustrates the importance ratings for each skill competency according to each respondent group. Priority skills also are identified.
	Analysis by Behavior Describes in anonymous fashion how each colleague responded to each question. A gap analysis is provided measuring the difference between the participant’s current and expected work behavior.