This is literally the title for a sales position ad:
Job_30080825204027
Honest to Pete, what a colossal waste of money.
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As my wife will gladly attest, I am NO slave to fashion. In fact, if they made Garanimals for adults, I would buy them. So my interest was mildly piqued in CareerJournal.com’s What to Wear to the Office Where Suits Aren’t the Norm. Some fashion advice for us guys:
Casual wardrobe essentials for men include casual and dress pants in khaki, navy, black, and perhaps a pair of relaxed-fit — but not too baggy — dark navy pressed jeans. Men should think creatively with shirts, with colors beyond white and blue, an assortment of styles in solids and stripes, and some turtlenecks. A couple of blazers in navy or tan allow guys to be spiffier for important meetings. Go with dark loafers, with or without socks.
The last line caught my eye and I have to share a story from yesterday. I was out at a couple appointments yesterday and stopped by a coffee shop. As I was getting my coffee, I noticed a well-dressed gentleman in a sharp suit - 2 piece with complementary shirt and a coordinated tie.
The strange part of his ensemble . . . he was wearing Teva sandals. Honestly, there were his barefeet exposed in a pair of hiking sandals.
Trust me on this one, it was passing strange.
I have read many posts about the scourge of PowerPoint and how it derails presentations. Being a PowerPoint fan, I have resisted these barbs. That is, until this morning.
I sat through a presentation in which the speaker used PowerPoint during his 60 minute talk. Here’s what I experienced in the audience:
-His laptop was turned perpendicular to the screen so he spoke mainly to his laptop with his shoulder facing the room. I was on the “backside” so I spent the majority of the time looking at his back.
-He used animated bullets that would fly in, sweep in, float in, etc. On one slide, a bullet point slowly floated up from the bottom to the top and off the screen. It never stopped - just disappeared. Everyone got a laugh out of it, but I am certain that was not his goal.
-There were, on average, 6-7 small font bullet points on each slide which led the speaker to read many of them (at 90 degrees to the audience). You could hear the multiple sighs in the audience as they attempted to crunch the voluminous data on each slide.
I was sitting there aghast as I observed this presentation. I’ve personally used PowerPoint for many of my talks and I now find myself those talks in my mind.
PowerPoint is an effective tool as long as it is used properly - maybe more like a prompt and less like a book. If you use PowerPoint in your sales presentation, make sure you do not allow it to suck the spontaneity out of you.
And double check all of your animated bullets.
Earlier this week, myself and the President of one of our customers interviewed a sales candidate. We purposely put the candidate through an extensive interview to observe his ability to handle a lengthy discussion (similar to our customer’s typical call).
After putting him through the paces, we gave him the chance to ask questions of us. This time is most valuable in an interview in that it gives you insight into the candidate’s thought process during the qualifying stage in a sales process. He did quite well in his questions - he learned who the competition is, what markets he would call on, the company’s value proposition and culture (including training & support).
But one of his questions of the President I especially liked:
In all my past sales positions I have surprised my managers and ramped up much quicker than they expected. In a relatively short time, I have been able to not only reach but exceed my quotas. If I came in a repeated what I have done in all my previous positions, what would you expect that to look like?
What a great question. The candidate came across as confident in his ability to be successful in this role, but he was also able to discover how the President defined success in this role.
As you are interviewing sales candidates, don’t race to answer their questions without noting their questions. Remember, a strong salesperson always has a remarkable ability -ASKING QUESTIONS. Many times I watch clients ask question after question and then never really allow the candidate to ask their questions. They then want to judge the sales candidate solely on how well they answered the questions. This approach is risky since you may end up hiring the best interviewer, not necessarily the best salesperson.
The candidate’s answers to your questions are obviously important, but make sure you properly value their questioning (i.e. qualifying) ability.
The Independence Day week must of got the best of me since I forgot to mention an article we released. The Foundation of Expectations is the first article in a 3 part series regarding proactive sales management.
The hiring tension that is building within our economy means that retaining strong salespeople, always a corporate priority, will become the focal point for most companies. This article series will lay out the building blocks for creating a strong sales department that keeps the sales team engaged.
The strongest houses are built on the strongest foundations. No matter how well-constructed and reinforced the walls and roof are, none of it will stand under stress if the foundation is weak. Conversely, a strong foundation will help strengthen an imperfect structure.
The success of individuals on your sales team and the direction of your sales efforts are directly linked to the strength of the foundation of expectations the sales manager establishes for his or her team.
Interesting post on The Big Time blog regarding Spherion’s Emerging Workforce Study (emphasis mine):
Emerging workers (ed.-of which Gen Y makes up the largest percentage), as defined by Spherion’s research, are employees who possess certain qualities and traits that differ from past worker attitudes. For example, Emerging workers believe loyalty is defined by one’s contribution to their employer and not tenure, and they want employers to reward them based on their performance.
Amen to that. We see many sales departments, especially in large corporations, where tenure is the defining factor for retention. The old guard is almost untouchable and they actively defend their status. This culture is not conducive to retaining vibrant, young salespeople.
Typically in sales, rewards are handed out based on performance as it should be. The next evolution of this discussion is how do you know if you are providing the right reward for each individual?
This week we look at a trait that provides much insight into existing salespeople. There are other factors to consider in assessing a salesperson’s present state, but this trait provides a tangible red flag. Existing salespeople who score low in this trait are a definite flight risk for the employer.
Enjoyment Of The Job
The feeling that one€™s job is both fulfilling and rewarding and that it has a positive and useful benefit.
A salesperson with high scores in this capacity will tend to view their job as more than simply a means to earn an income. They view it as a valuable endeavor that proves beneficial to others as well as him or her self.
A salesperson with low scores in this area could have difficulty enjoying their job due to internal prejudices or other factors outside of their control. It is possible to €œlove€ the job yet still score low in this capacity. This is due to being deeply frustrated by some aspect of that job that keeps them from doing the job as they would prefer. The cause could be a lack of time or resources, inadequate skills, insufficient self-confidence, etc.
If this capacity is low, it is important to take a close look at the position and person to determine which scenario is involved (i.e., internal or external). Only then can movement be made towards correcting the problem.
I have a weakness for poorly-written cover letters and have enjoyed Cover Letters From Hell from Killian & Co. Their latest newsletter has a new twist - candidate responses to rejection letters. Ah, new territory to expand my enjoyment. This is the one that had me rolling:
Dear Madam,
Here in the body and mind of [Name], we express ourselves thoroughly and as accurately as possible. We highly regard integrity and honesty and as such, only pursue those actions that are aligned with those qualities. Thus, we have found some inconsistencies in your response and we feel compelled to respond…
You say that you only ‘are able to’ pursue professional, senior talent with a high level of skill and management experience…
Does that sound like someone who needs help finding a job? Are you insane?
Yeah, let me go work my way up and become a high-powered executive professional, then I’ll come to your no-name company and see if you can’t find me some work.
The Sprint decision to part ways with its overly demanding customers is making news all around the web and rightly so. I truly enjoyed the story - you can read it here if you missed it. The best line from the letter Sprint sent out to these customers (my emphasis):
“While we have worked to resolve your issues and questions to the best of our ability, the number of inquiries you have made to us during this time had led us to determine that we are unable to meet your current wireless needs,” the letters said.
The customers were told their service agreements were being terminated, they wouldn’t owe anything on their final bill, and the company would waive early termination fees. They also were told to switch to another wireless provider by July 30 if they want to keep their phone number.
Later on in the article, there is one very crucial piece of information regarding Sprint’s decision regarding these customers:
Singleton said the targeted subscribers each made an average of 40 to 50 calls a month to customer service.
Back to the letter - the technique used in Sprint’s letter is excellent and one we subscribe to also. Essentially, Sprint is falling on their sword. They are clearly stating they are not a good fit for these specific high-maintenance customers. The obvious issue is that there probably isn’t a single wireless phone company that is capable of meeting these extraordinary customer service needs.
They used a softened method of ending the customer relationship. It’s blunt, accurate and disarming. If ever you need to get clarity from a demanding prospect, this technique is extremely effective. The threat that you may go away usually gets a stalled discussion moving towards a conclusion - one way or another.
A common mistake in sales ad writing is the belief that you have to cover every single responsibility in the position. This is not true and leads to long-winded ads that can actually be a deterrent to candidates.
Case in point from an ad I read this morning:
15. Other duties as assigned.
That’s right - bullet #15 looks like they ran out of gas so the finished the overly long list with a catch-all waste of a line. People understand there are many aspects to a job beyond what is written in the job description. If they don’t, they should work for the government.
Don’t use the line listed above and focus on the top priorities of the position. The strong sales candidates will ferret out the rest of the information in the hiring process - watch the good ones in action and you’ll be impressed.
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