A couple of weeks ago we posted about a monster.com random interview question generator. One of the strange questions posed to candidates was “Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?” I kid you not, we are getting hit on that topic. So, being the broad-ranging resource that we are, I had some fun with the search engines and found a simple answer:

The fuzz increases the wind resistance, which slows down the ball and helps the players to volley (hit the ball back and forth without stopping) longer. Without it, the ball would fly off the court after every serve! The fuzz also helps players control the ball, by keeping it stuck to their racquet strings for just a little longer when they hit it.

Nothing like a government website and a page dedicated to child activities to bring meaning to the business world. I still am not certain why this question would be asked in an interview. If there is a philosophical answer, it escapes my simplistic brain.

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One topic for which we write extensively is the upcoming worker shortage (see here). Obviously the economy will not stop, but there will be a real battle for talented employees. The Working Wounded Blog from abcnews.com makes an interesting statement that companies will have to go beyond salaries and stock options to secure the best talent. They will need to focus on the corporate environment to make it pleasing to the employees. Based on the facts listed below, I think he is hitting a topic that will be at the forefront shortly (emphasis mine):

The key numbers for the U.S. work force for the next 10 years are 76 and 44. There are 76 million baby boomers and only 44 million Gen-Xers €” obviously not enough new blood to fill the void left by those who are retiring or at least thinking of retiring. That means we’re going to have to run an economy with 32 million boomers who are starting to think more about weekends and Winnebagos than work.

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Monster.com has an amusing, quick-read article about sales demonstrations gone horribly wrong. The example is predictable, but funny nonetheless. Hidden inside this article is a reference to a tremendous Abraham Lincoln quote:

Abe Lincoln once said that if he had eight hours to chop down a tree, he would spend the first six hours sharpening the saw.

That euphimism is applicable to prospecting for new customers in today’s world. Today, cold calling requires a salesperson to have, at a minimum, a cursory knowledge of the company and their basic business model. Salespeople who cold call without that basic knowledge have sales careers that are already circling the drain.

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Strangely the economic news seems to have a hard time making it in to the mainstream media. In case you missed it, unemployment is down to 4.6% which is the lowest it has been since July 2001. We have entered our 34th straight month of manufacturing expansion – the longest stretch in almost 20 years. The labor market has tightened dramatically and finding strong candidates is becoming more challenging.

We endorse the approach of looking for talent that will transfer into the needs of your position. When we define a sale, we build a blueprint of the skills, aptitudes, motivations and style that will be the best fit for successfully closing a sale in the position. This approach means that talent supercedes experience.

I will suggest that it is far easier to teach a new salesperson about your “stuff” (product or service) than it is to teach them how to effectively sell. Too often, we see companies looking only towards direct industry experience in their hiring process. With a labor market tightening back up to pre-9/11 levels, companies will be forced to look outside their standard industries for viable sales candidates. Keep this approach in mind next time you wade into the market to hire a salesperson.

If your process is not netting the right salespeople or if you are not sure how strong your present sales candidates are, contact us to see if we can be of assistance.

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CareerJournal posted an article titled Finding the Right Keywords to Get Your Resume Noticed. As you have probably noticed, we are on a crusade to stop companies from making initial candidate decisions based on resumes only. We go to great lengths to parse a resume for key information. We have our own keywords and, more importantly, key data that supports their claims. Notice this section of the article:

Although many keywords are industry specific, Mr. Block says, certain phrases are important to almost all companies. They include “communication skills,” “problem-solving,” “team work,” “leadership,” “resource optimization,” and “image and reputation management.”

“Business development” might be one of the most important of all, he says.

It is one thing to have popular keywords, it is another to provide tangible support of the claim. It is still a further item to exhibit the sales skills that support the business development claim.

Here is an excerpt I have to parse (my emphasis added):

“You need to communicate the things that you do in a positive, active way,” he says. Using strong phrases like “led a team” or “built a team” instead of “worked with a team” can make a subtle but important distinction to a recruiter.

Positive, active words are important in a resume. Inaccurate words are not. Led, built and worked are all 3 very different verbs. General questions that I would pursue in a phone screen or interview for each statement:

“Led a team” – How big was the team? What were your day-to-day responsiblities? Overall, how well did the team perform against its target/quota/objective? What was one of the largest obstacles you had to lead your team through? How would you describe you leadership style?

“Built a team” – How many team members did you inherit and how many did you personally add? Tell us about your process for adding to the team. Besides building the team, what other responsiblities did you have?

“Worked with a team” – What were your specific responsibilities on the team? Walk us through how the team functioned. What team objectives were you working towards and how did you do in attaining them? What contributions did you make to the success of the team?

My rather lengthy point here is that words do matter on a resume. Worked, built and led are 3 very different verbs that lead to completely different lines of questioning. Wantonly interchanging these 3 verbs speaks more to embellishment than to accuracy. As an interviewer, it is your responsiblity to drill down on the candidate’s responsiblities within the context of the team.

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We are sourcing for a handful of different positions right now (more than just sales positions) and are seeing an interesting trend. The major job boards (CareerBuilder and Monster) are most active on Tuesday. We post our ads on Tuesday and receive most of our responses on that day and the next day (Wed.). The smaller, niche sites seem to be more active on the weekends – mainly Friday afternoon and Saturday.

Keep that trend in mind next time you post an ad.

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I am not familiar with Mark Giganti but I am enjoying his interview at Landing the Deal. Giganti comments on common sales management mistakes:

“Most managers I begin training are just at the point where they begin managing people with the “golden rule” philosophy: “Manage people as you would want to be managed. But I try and get them to see that gold isn’t good enough anymore…they need to get to the “platinum rule” philosophy: “Manage people as they need to be managed.” There’s a big difference.

“Also, I see a lot of professionals who like to ‘manage from the hip’. No plan, no real reason for doing what they do. I liken it to going into battle with a bow and arrow. They manage poorly because they don’t like change, which is where I come in.”

These mistakes are the same ones we see in the market also. As I commented in a post yesterday, most sales managers manage to their own style instead of the salesperson’s style. This self-focused management approach leads to “winging it” since they stick to their own style and do not adapt away from it.

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It is Friday therefore it is time for another hiring anecdote. I was phone screening sales candidates for a high-tech company and I asked a candidate to give me a quick 30-second commercial of the products and services he had sold. I asked him to frame his experience in the context of how it fit the requirements of the position.

At least he was quick. His 10-second response was:

“Well, I have sold everything from cow manure to satellite TV.”

He never did answer the second part of the question about tying in his experience to the requirements of the position. I know – if he could have effectively tied cow manure to high-tech product sales, he would have been offered a marketing position on the spot.

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Keys to Managing a Sales Team is a quick read from the abcnews.com career center. The article has hands-on advice (which we like) that cut to quick of effective sales management – at least in a limited scope. One item I want to pull from the article:

Do you adapt to their style? I had a boss who never wanted to visit my work space; we always met in his office. Are you like that? It’s important to make your coaching more about the workers. Find out how they learn the best and what topics they think are the most important to discuss. The more you make it about your people, the higher the odds that they’ll start improving their performance.

Yes. The author is right on target with this point. Part of being an effective sales manager is being a good coach to your team. The most effective manner for coaching is to adapt to the style of the individual. This adaptation presents the coaching in a style that the salesperson is open to receiving and, more importantly, retaining. Many managers simply coach to their own style which leads to lackluster results.

We will be releasing a development plan/coaching sheet later this month. This document will be based on our assessment of the salesperson and customized to their preferred communication style, strongest sales skills and areas for development. Look for it soon.

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The economy is roaring after 5.3% growth in GDP last quarter. We have recently started tracking this monster.com index and it appears to be quite accurate. The takeaway stat:

The index, which Monster said is a strong predictor of overall U.S. demand for workers, is up 25 percent over the past year.

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