We’re working through some sales candidate sourcing activities this week for some new customers and uncovering some strong salespeople. There are many reasons why we incorporate a screening step in our recruiting process, but one of the most important reasons is the questions posed by the candidates.

A crucial component of selling is asking the right questions. I laugh as I write this because a saying my father uses came to my mind – “If you want a better answer, ask a better question.” The question content, the question pattern and the follow-up questions are all highly revealing of the quality of sales candidate.

A real-life example from one candidate this week:

What markets do they pursue and where are they positioned in those markets?

Why this company vs. the other competitors in their market?

What niches/verticals are they looking to expand into?

Why is this position open?

What abilities are needed to be successful in this position?

What are the benchmarks for success in this position (including timeframe)?

Some of these questions were offered up by him during an initial email dialogue and the rest on a subsequent phone screen. You can see that he is qualifying the position, the market and the company. Remember the context – we are questioning him on specific topics and his experience in a somewhat stressful situation (for him). There are few moments for him to ask his questions while we are controlling the discussion topics. This type of questioning ability is usually indicative of sales skills that will be every bit as strong.

(We assessed him later and indeed his sales skills were extremely strong)

Comments(0)

First, a Foxnews.com article – Tech Companies Top Survey of Most Influential Brands with this ranking:

1. Google
2. Apple
3. YouTube
4. Wikipedia
5. Starbucks

Now the lesson we have learned over time – salespeople whom sell for the market/brand leader often have difficulty moving to a company in the same market with less market share. This fact has played out time and again. The issue is simple, when you sell for a market leader, getting sales appointments is never as difficult as selling for a mom & pop competitor.

Hiring companies often think they have scored a coup by hiring a salesperson from the 800lbs. gorilla in their market. Most times, these salespeople are gone within a year once the difficulties of prospecting with a lesser-known company name becomes apparent.

Comments(0)

A timely article from CNNMoney.com – ‘Presenteeism’ infects businesses. Timely in that some super bug has made it’s way through Select Metrix which has knocked yours truly down this week. For some background on this phenomenon:

“presenteeism,” or going to work when sick, is a persistent problem at more than half of U.S. workplaces and costs U.S. business a whopping $180 billion a year, research shows.

Think of it as the opposite of absenteeism.

Let’s cut to the chase on the whole issue:

As often as two-thirds of the time, sick people go to work because they feel they have too much work to do, according to the CCH study.

And later:

“With corporate downsizings of the past creating a leaner workforce, employees often feel they have to show up for work, whether it’s out of guilt over staying home or concerns over job security,” Gorovsky said.

The incredible increase in productivity does have some downside (though presenteeism seems fairly minor).

Comments(0)

I just read a sales ad for an Account Executive that was 85 lines long. The font size was 8pt! The competencies section along covered 16 different topics.

Don’t do this with a sales ad. I realize there are many people who want to be thorough, but this level of detail is extreme overkill. A couple of years ago we wrote an article in our newsletter describing the basic layout for an effective sales ad. We have tweaked the format slightly by adding a “Job Rewards” section to better explain the rewards offered for success in the role. One thing we should have added was don’t write 85 line ads!

To paraphrase Mark Twain, “I’d write you a shorter ad, but I haven’t the time.” Take the time.

Comments(0)