First things first – I’m not a Trekkie. But there is a good lesson from Mr. Spock in regards to qualifying. Basically, emotions kill good qualifying. What I mean is that salespeople who become emotionally shackled to a prospect or opportunity lose objectivity. Once objectivity is gone, the salesperson tends to abandon their selling system and rationalize reasons without pursing facts from the prospect directly. The best salespeople we have encountered and assessed are the ones who are able to use their empathy to connect with the prospect and nothing more. They are able to build rapport yet stay emotionally detached so that stress, rejection, joy, anger and desperation do… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – Biggest Sales Contribution
It’s Friday so let’s go with another anecdote. During a phone screen, I asked a candidate a fairly innocuous sales interview question, “What is the biggest contribution you made in your last job?” He took several moments to gather his thoughts and then offered this: Good question. I would have to say hands down that the greatest contribution thus far with my current company is the fact that I have increased RFQ’s (request for quote) by over 200%. RFQ’s? Obviously, I was hoping to hear something about increasing sales, improving the closing ratio or turning around an underperforming territory. Nope, it was far worse. Generating a quote with his employer… Read More
Continue ReadingExpiring Ads
A quick note about expiring ads that we have experienced. Expect a small bump in responses as your ad posting is about to expire. We consistently see a handful of responses that come in within the last 3 days of an ad expiring. Although risky (the position may be filled by then), it is still an interesting and some times effective approach by candidates.
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