COMMENT
Benson Smith
CEO, Teleflex
Mr. Smith was named chairman,
president and chief executive officer
of Teleflex Incorporated in January
2011, after serving on the Teleflex
Board since 2005. Prior to 2011, he
was the founding partner of Sales Research
Group Inc. (SRG), a talent assessment and
behavioral science research and consulting
firm where he originally developed
TalentProfiler™. From January 2000 to
December 2005, Mr. Smith was a speaker
and an author at The Gallup Organization. He
also served as the leader of Gallup’s Global
Sales Force Effectiveness Practice. Prior to
that, Mr. Smith worked for C.R. Bard, Inc., a
company specializing in medical devices, for
approximately 25 years. At C.R. Bard, he held
various executive and senior level positions
culminating as president and chief operating
officer until 1998. He also served as a member
of its board of directors. He was previously on
the board of Rochester Medical Corporation
and chairman of the board of Zoll Medical
Corporation until its sale to Asahi Kasei Group
in April 2012. Today, he serves on a variety of
academic and health-related organizations.
Teleflex is a global provider of medical
technologies designed to improve the health
and quality of people’s lives. They apply
purpose driven innovation—a relentless
pursuit of identifying unmet clinical needs—
to benefit patients and healthcare providers.
Their portfolio is diverse, with solutions in the
fields of vascular and interventional access,
surgical, anesthesia, cardiac care, urology,
emergency medicine and respiratory care.
Teleflex employees worldwide are united in
the understanding that what we do every day
makes a difference.
can be productively applied,” and
they describe 34 theme names
that describe different traits salespeople can embody (Achiever,
Command, Empathy, Fairness,
Self-Assurance, Strategic, etc.),
including a salesperson’s top five
dominant, or Signature Themes.
By defining a clear vocabulary of
sales strengths, leaders, managers
and salespeople can talk knowingly about their strengths.
Benson has an analogy that
sums up his approach to the best
management style. “The next
time you’re in your seat waiting
for a plane to take off, consider
how many things have to come
together to ensure that the time is
right. The pilot and crew have to
be in place; the mechanics have
to sign off on the craft’s readiness; the passengers have to be
properly seated; the weather has
to cooperate; the runway has to
be clear. It’s incredibly complex,”
he says. “Well, a business isn’t
much different. Product, service,
management, sales and other
elements all have to be tuned up
and working at their optimum to
ensure success. It’s that confluence of competence that predicts
where your company is going.” •
To learn more about how SRG’s
behavioral assessments can drive
breakthrough results for your sales
organization, visit
salesresearchgroup.com
and request a demo.
1SRI was Don Clifton’s company at the time.
It eventually bought Gallup. SRG is a spin-off company founded by ex-Gallup employees
2This is similar to the effect major symphony
orchestras experienced when they started
auditioning musicians behind a screen. The
inherent prejudice that women couldn’t play
certain instruments as well as men disappeared, and the gender balance changed
significantly.
