I’m working through another week consisting of one phone screen after another. There are few things that are more revealing than spending time on the phone with sales candidates. One topic I enjoy hearing is a candidate who clearly has experience building a territory from nothing to a significant revenue level. This ability is highly valuable and it doesn’t take long to discover if the candidate has truly done it or not. The candidates who have done it have detailed accounts of successes and failures in growing the revenue. Drill down a level or two on their responses and you will hear either past-tense experiences or theoretical strategies. Listen for… Read More
Continue ReadingAwful Interview Questions
I have a weakness for this topic so I was pleased to read today’s ERE.net article titled Results-Focused Interviews. Remember, these are all questions that people submitted to the website as their best questions to use in an interview. I am not making these up: “If a spaceship were to land outside this office and you were asked to get in, would you? Why?” (Is an acceptable answer, “Because they had a ray gun?”) “Am I a good interviewer? Why or why not?” (Well, if you have to ask me, maybe we ought to switch chairs.) “If you were a part of a car, which part would you be and… Read More
Continue ReadingCommunication Blindness
Anyone who has managed salespeople knows how difficult a task that can be. We see it often in companies where clouded communication occurs daily. I think most of you could name numerous situations throughout your career where management communication simply broke down or worse, did not even occur. SellingPower.com’s article – There€™s No Communication Around Here! – dives right into this topic. Clear communication covers many transgressions. We’ve posted about this topic numerous times since it is so important. In case you had doubts: The latest Watson Wyatt Communication ROI Study found that companies with effective communication practices have a 19 percent higher market premium and a 57 percent higher… Read More
Continue Reading