“Don’t Make These Top 10 Selling Mistakes!” Bet that got your attention. I found it on the Business Buyer Directory which provides a non-traditional means for business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide. The article is a couple of years old, but makes some excellent points, in fact ones that applicable to a hiring process.

4. NOT Looking the Part – Selling involves approaching strangers, people who have never met you before. People naturally base purchase decisions on first impressions. Look the part you are playing, or better yet, exceed the common image expectation in your industry. Always dress and groom one level above your targeted audience. It portrays success and gives you an opening edge over your competition. The least you can do is look like you know what you are doing!

In regards to the hiring process, does the candidate look the part you are expecting them to play? How will your clients and prospects perceive them? These are questions you probably ask yourself when you first meet your candidates. Don’t let your bias jump in here, really think about what your clients are looking for.

We once had a customer who wanted to base their decision entirely on a candidate’s looks and speech. The strongest candidate fit the stereotypical engineer look (I’m not going any further than that statement) What was astonishing to me was that is our client didn’t think he was “professional enough” to call on President’s and CEO’s. Fair statement and that task may have been a bit of a stretch for him. However, this position actually called on plant managers, engineering managers, manufacturing, etc. He was able to speak to these position’s needs.

6. Not Knowing Your Product or Service – Believe it or not, depending most on your product or service knowledge to get the order is one of the most common mistakes made in selling. Understanding the common application benefits and associated features of your offerings is critical, but constantly regurgitating nebulous product and services details to a customer will quickly send them to your competitor. Mastering knowledge of your competitors offerings is also critical to selling success.

How does the candidate apply his or her experiences, skills and talents to your position’s needs? Do they attempt to qualify the position and then focus their responses on how they will fit into the position? No two companies are the same, how you go to market, the culture and the team all vary greatly even between close competitors. What you need to look for is how they apply their product (their skills) to your needs (position’s requirements).

Again the article is well worth the time, if nothing else as reminders for pitfalls to avoid during the selling and hiring process.

Posted By Lee Fratzke | Hiring Salespeople,Sales Management,Sales Techniques | | Comments(1)