Sales, in its most basic form, is convincing others to change their behavior. One of the aptitudes we use to objectively assess this important trait is Influencing Others.

Influencing Others
This is the capacity to convince others – to present ones viewpoint in such a way that it is accepted by another person.

A salesperson with strength in this capacity can not only see but talk from another’s point of view. A salesperson who has the ability to understand other’s objections and concerns can then respond to them in an effective manner.

A weakness in this area can indicate a salesperson who is insensitive to others – not knowing what they want to hear. This weakness can also be generated by having excessive role confidence and in thinking that the other person needs to hear what they think is important.

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CareerJournal.com offers this article – Facing Down the Fear Factor When You’re in a Job Interview. We talk about the fear factor in face-to-face interviews often. Personally, I like to see a touch of fear, or maybe nervousness is a better way to put it, in a sales position interview.

Of course, there are limits at both ends of the spectrum. An overly-nervous candidate does not project confidence and is difficult to imagine them running a successful demonstration in front of a grade A prospect. If the candidate is too smooth and calm, the slippery sales schmoozer image is conjured up in my imagination. It is a fine line to walk in a pressure-filled interview.

This quote from the article defines the interviewer’s perception of an overly nervous candidate:

“Anxiety can be compounded when they perceive they can’t meet the threat that faces them,” says Dr. Binning. Thinking that you’re only average may be one source of your anxiety, he says.

One note I should make is that entry-level sales positions are usually filled by young, green salespeople. They often display a nervousness in the interview that we would not want to see in a more experienced salesperson. However, we do consider their experience when completing our post-interview debriefing.

Some good advice for job seekers:

Since you tend to panic during interviews, running through the basic questions a couple of times before turning on the television is not good enough. You need to be prepared to the point where you can list your best qualities in staggering detail while parallel parking a Cadillac in a tight spot.

Again, taken too far and the canned answers will be a detriment. Best to have a general outline in your head and be able to support your comments with actual examples. Another sound bit of advice is to have some specific questions prepared to ask the interviewer. When we are interviewing, we always note the questions and question patterns that are asked by the candidate.

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This may be a stretch, but I enjoyed the story too much to ignore it. Since we have had much to say about rewards and motivations today, check out this headline – Buy a House, Get a Glock: Real Estate Agent Offers Guns as Incentive. Now that is a unique incentive indeed. If you read the short article, you will find the Glock is only for police offers who buy a house through the realtor. Still, give her kudos for some creative thinking and marketing.

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In Segal Sibson’s 2006 survey of employee satisfaction, employees responded that their overall satisfaction with their benefit plans was droppiong.

Satisfaction with their pay level dropped from 66% in 2000 and 2003 to 55% in 2006. In terms of benefits, I was surprised to see that healthcare benefits didn’t have the largest drop, it did drop to 54% from 60% in 2003, but the largest drop came in retirement benefits, dropping to 42% all the way from 56% in 2003.

An interesting point that Segal Sibson made was that one company in particular had made a huge investment in retiree medical coverage, but very few of the employees (even those nearing retirement) knew about the benefit.

Here are their tips to improve employee perception of your compensation and benefits programs:

Step 1: Inventory rewards. Conduct a full, realistic inventory of your rewards and pay attention to how they compare to the market for talent.

Step 2: Measure investment. Calculate the current level of investment in each rewards element to determine their competitiveness and the return on changes in each investment.

Step 3: Increase information. Explain the full suite of rewards, and measure employees’ level of understanding, satisfaction, engagement and turnover intent.

Step 4: Implement improvements. Make the intended suite of rewards “real” by ensuring that they are implemented and executed with excellence.

Step 5: Measure impact. Assess desired outcomes, such as engagement retention and productivity, and examine the return on investment produced by changes in the rewards package.

If you read their report, you will find much written about what they call the “rewards of work” which are: Affiliation, Compensation, Benefits, Work Content and Career. They rightly mention that these elements and even certain aspects of the elements will be more important than others to an individual.

The one area they don’t address in much detail is how they measure what an employee wants when it comes to rewards of work and how this information could be used in helping reduce employee dissatisfaction. I would encourage the use of objective assessments to measure an employee’s reward structure along with their motivations.

Segal Sibson makes the statement that employees will, within limits, substitute one reward for another. I would agree with this statement in part, but when you look at rewards, how d you know if offering an individual higher pay will reward them? This reward would work if their material possessions reward was intense enough to engage them. But what if their top reward is the opportunity to do meaningful work? Hence the need to assess each employee so that you know the rewards that are most meaningful to them.

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Toby Dayton has an eye-opening post over at his Diggings blog regarding the shortage of talent in the marketplace today. From his post:

According to a recent poll in Human Resource Executive, when HR executives were asked whether or not the war for talent was under way today, 22% responded No while 17% were not sure.

I didn’t see that poll but it is amazing to me that these HR executives could be so clueless. This analysis from Toby cuts right to the heart of the issue:

The single most important function of HR is to make sure that their company has a constant supply of sufficient human capital to compete in the marketplace. That means retaining talent, developing talent, and attracting talent at all times. To do this successfully, one would absolutely have to be aware of what is happening on a macro level to help guide strategic thinking and weigh appropriate tactical decision-making.

For many companies, it is simply a better strategic option to outsource the hiring process.

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Sales & Marketing Management has an excellent article out titled Break the Bureaucracy. The gist of the article is the revenue differences between companies that micromanage their team vs. companies that empower their team (especially sales).

First, an intuitive point from the author:

The result of this micromanaging? Young hires felt they got no respect and so returned no loyalty, Swanson remembers. Within 18 months, he and 10 other entry-level analysts had quit.

This point cannot be overstated. The younger generations greatly prefer a more horizontal org chart with less hierarchy. The example in the article describes how this analyst working for a bank (well known for multiple layers of management) had to deal with 3 layers of management monitoring his work. Is it any wonder he left for a new opportunity?

Companies that reported direct monitoring and close supervision, and that did not create a trusting atmosphere, were more likely to have lower average revenue growth, lower profit and higher turnover than companies that facilitated self-management and created an emotionally connected workforce.

“Emotionally connected” is not clearly defined within the article, but I think you get the idea. Empowering managers are going to be in great demand over the next couple of decades. One critical facet of these managers will be their ability to manage a remote team. Telecommuting is rapidly expanding and someday will become a standard practice in most companies. A manager’s ability to coach, motivate and hold people accountable using remote techniques is becoming a needed skill in today’s business world.

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I never put much stock in these types of surveys, but the local Pioneer Press reports on the recent Manpower survey:

Twin Cities employers expect to hire at a sluggish pace during the first quarter of 2007, a Manpower employment survey found. Of the companies interviewed about their hiring plans, 28 percent expect to reduce their payrolls. Another 48 percent expect to maintain their current staff levels. Just 18 percent plan to hire more employees.

This survey is a Q1 outlook only and one very important piece of data is our current unemployment. Minnesota is almost at full employment. Our unemployment rate is well under the national average so I am not surprised most local companies are planning to maintain current levels.

Turnover, an increasing trend amongst younger workers, will continue and those positions will need to be filled. Even though a small percentage of companies plan to expand, there will still be turnover-driven demand in this market.

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Allow me to indulge myself for this is a pet peeve of mine. Inc.com offers up this article – Majority of Small-Business Owners Do Not Offer Retirement Benefits.

Only 14 percent of the nation’s small-business owners offer a 401(k) plan to their employees, and 63 percent do not offer any retirement benefits at all, according to a new survey.

I’m not surprised by this number. I’ve worked for both small and relatively large companies and there is a distinct difference between the benefits. Obviously the larger companies have the capital to offer more comprehensive plans. Here is the pull quote that struck a nerve (emphasis mine):

“Small businesses employ half of all private-sector employees in America and serve as our economy’s growth engine,” ShareBuilder CEO Jeff Seely said in a statement. “Given the rising cost of health care, uncertainty about Social Security, and longer life expectancy, it’s imperative that America’s small business owners understand their crucial role in addressing the looming retirement crisis.”

At what point does it become the responsibility of the worker to plan accordingly for their retirement? Ideally, all companies would offer some pre-tax retirement plan. But benefits are not a requirement by law and they never should be. The market will drive companies to compete for talent and that battle is only going to intensify over the next few decades. The demand will drive the need for companies to offer more benefits. In the meantime, workers need to plan for their own retirement needs.

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It is next to impossible to determine 1 specific set of descriptors for the perfect salesperson. The reason is simple – no 2 sales go down the same way. Each sale is almost a mini-drama in itself. On top of that, no two competitors approach the market the same way. This difference is the reason why we always start our hiring process by defining the typical and ideal sale for that company. That information provides a blueprint for the salesperson with the abilities to succeed in that particular position.

Now that I have written all that, we’ll take a stab at 10 sales traits that are needed in any sales position. These 10 traits are aptitudes we objectively measure using our online assessments.

Click here to read our Top 10 Sales Traits page.

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Telecommuting is the Norm is a quick article from Sales & Marketing Management’s website. I don’t think this trend is surprising to most people. We have seen a tremendous shift towards this approach in outside sales positions over the past 2 years especially. Most candidates now expect some form of telecommuting capability including wireless-connected laptops, VPN connections and PDA cell phones.

If your company does not offer these telecommuting basics, consider this excerpt from the article:

“The war for talent, combined with commuting times and costs, and an increasing need for work-life balance are all factors that promote telecommuting,” says Jim Lanzalotto, vice president of strategy and marketing for Yoh. “All things being equal, a well-articulated telecommuting policy can make the difference between winning and losing a bid for a high-impact professional, especially when more than twenty-seven million people in the United States work from home.”

Among the telecommuting trends:

* 25 percent of managers allow working from home, 13 percent allow working from a satellite office and 44 percent have other arrangements that support telecommuting. Only 19 percent say they have no telecommuting procedure.

Most managers say they expect telecommuting to grow over the next two years. Only 35 percent said it was unlikely that telecommuting would increase.

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