Imagine a salesperson who comes to a forecast meeting and puts down a huge forecast.  The savvy sales manager naturally starts asking a few questions of the salesperson regarding each forecasted account.

• What is driving them to look for a new solution?
• What is their decision process?
• When do they want to have a solution in place?
• Who else are they looking at for this project?

Now imagine the salesperson’s responses involve statements like this:

• I know we are the best solution for them.
• I have a good feeling about this one.
• They will make a decision shortly, they have to think it over.

If you have been in sales more than one day, you know this salesperson doesn’t have much of a forecast.  Sure, some of the deals may close, but I wouldn’t count on many.  Most sales managers would nuke this forecast fairly quickly and tell the salesperson to get back into the accounts and get them properly qualified.

Yet that basic tenet of management is often ignored when it comes to hiring salespeople.  The very sales manager who busted the salesperson for a “gut-level forecast” now turns around and trusts his or her gut on a hire.

We encounter many sales managers who prefer to make a sales hire based on propaganda that populates a resume and their own gut feeling after interviewing the candidate in person.

This approach is as effective as the salesperson’s gut-level forecast.

I think Lou Adler wrote a book titled Hire With  Your Head.  That is sound advice.  Your gut is subjective which means it is influenced by biases and blind spots we all possess.  The better approach is to keep objectivity in your hiring process as much as possible.

This can be accomplished by incorporating a hiring process that respects, but limits, the amount of hiring by gut that appears in the process.

Think of this approach the next time you sit in that weekly forecast meeting.

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I propose that it is hiring new employees without performing a thorough background verification.  Think of the implications if you are wrong.  The outcomes can be the ultimate dealbreaker in that they can end a company’s existence.  With the stakes that high, it never ceases to amaze me that companies take this risk when hiring.

Clayton at Salesopedia links to an excellent article concerning this topic in the context of sales hiring.  Take this point from the article in Clayton’s post:

Some of you may be reading this and thinking that you already have a defined scope for all applicants so there is no need to be concerned. However, the scope of the background investigation for your sales people should be different than others in your company. Sales people cover a large geography by nature of the job, deal directly with the public, represent your brand and have access to sensitive and proprietary information.

Follow the link and read the article - it is well worth your time.  Again, this is a topic for which there is no margin for error.  You simply have to be correct every time.  If you are looking for a company that performs thorough background checks, I would suggest Verified Credentials.

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It’s playoff time for the NFL and I love to watch quarterbacks (and coaches) who can execute in the red zone, run an effective two-minute drill and get the job done. That may be why I get so nervous when I hear salespeople say - ” It’s in the client’s hands now, all we can do is wait.”

We’re waiting on such an opportunity right now, and we’ve been waiting since before Christmas 2007. I’m nervous because there is no two-minute drill in progress to help the customer make the right decision and there appears to be a lack of urgency in our salesperson’s approach, now that the proposal is in the client’s hands.

In a former life, we took a different approach, and always held a post-presentation strategy session. Yes, post, or AFTER, we had pitched our best solutions to the customer. That’s when the real sales work began.

We analyzed the reaction to our pitch, called our client coaches and advisors to catch the buzz, and scheduled a specific follow-up meeting with our key contact to get specific feedback. We asked ourselves (and our contacts) the really hard questions:

What has changed in the buying situation?
Did our value proposition resonate? How do we stack up against the competition’s pitch?
And the big Q - What can we do (right now) to ensure that we are selected?

Then we crafted a specific action plan with tasks, responsibilities and due dates. We treated closing the deal with as much focus and energy as we did in gaining the opportunity, creating the solution or making the pitch.

The time period after an RFP is received, after the dog-and-pony show and after all that hard estimating and proposal work is critical. Marching 99 yards in seven plays to get to the one yard line with 30 seconds left in the half is great, but it means nothing if the team can’t punch it in for the score. Lot’s of things can happen after the proposal is given to the client - the decision committee may change criteria based on what they’ve seen and learned, a re-design effort might be started if none of the designs (or costs) meet the client company’s criteria, the guy you’ve thought all along is the lynch pin for the decision (and your advocate) may lose the power to get the decision made, much less made in your favor.

What if your price is only 2% higher than the next guy’s and you’ve still got margin room with which to work? How bad are you going to feel when you fumble that snap?

If Sales is passive during this time, and the opportunity is lost, expect to hear excuses that try to pin the reason on external forces - the competition, the client, the product, the economy…anything the AE isn’t responsible for.

If the approach is active, strategic and self-directed, and the opportunity is awarded to someone else, expect to hear the AE make a more personal responsibility statement - “I should have developed more coaches. I should have dug deeper into economic needs. I probably didn’t fully understand their pain.”

Don’t assume. Hope is not a strategy. The job’s not done until the deal is signed. The plane of the goal line must be crossed. Close the deal.

In selecting sales professionals for your organization, how can you tell if candidates have this ability? Objective assessment tools help, mining and qualifying the resume might shed some light, and checking with references could help. But direct questioning during the face-to-face interview will reveal, at a minimum, the candidate’s orientation to this key sales situation.

You might ask the candidate - “Tell me about one of your biggest losses. After you gave the pitch, what happened?”

If they just sat and waited, perhaps you should wait, too. If they manufactured a successful two-minute drill, but still lost the business due to factors beyond their control, you’ll at least know that the candidate has the mojo to try strategies based on action, not just hope.

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I got to start my first Monday of the new year without my laptop.  It died over the weekend so I come to you via a desktop system that is not my “home.”  It is a strange feeling being on another system.  It seems like there should be a resolution in here somewhere.

In that light, BusinessWeek.com went to the streets looking for input from managers.  The survey was literally conducted walking the streets of Boston so keep that in mind.  Two items were the winner:

Managers want to find a better work/life balance. As you saw in the video, one person is working 16 hour days. So much for exercising, seeing friends, or even having a family. There’s no time for balance—it’s all work all the time.

Managers see talent management as a pressing need for 2008. Companies need to pay greater attention to recruitment, employee development, and retention. One individual echoed this is a priority for his firm, and jokingly quipped, “If you have any answers, please email me.”

We have the answers.

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I kid you not, this approach comes from a manager of a small company that recently hired a new salesperson.  The salesperson traveled to the company for a couple days of training before his official start date.  He did this on his own dime so he could accelerate his ramp-up time.

The manager of the company was involved in the training since this salesperson would report directly to him (remember-small company).  During the training days, there was some confusion about when the salesperson should arrive in the morning.  No specific time was set, but a general schedule starting around 9am was the target.  The salesperson arrived around 9:20am.

A stack of forms was given to the salesperson to fill out before his start date, but no more specific time requirement was given.  The salesperson did not fill out all of the paperwork during the training.

A meeting was held in which the price of an integral part (that they manufacture) was going to increase substantially.  The new salesperson did not ask specific questions about the price change.

These are 3 occurrences that upset the manager.  Don’t ask.  But we asked the manager, “What was the salesperson’s response when you discussed these items with him?”

The manager’s response, “I didn’t talk to him about any of them.  I was observing him.”

Now I’ll admit there is an aspect of management that involves observation.  But a new sales hire?  My goodness, this is like the Twilight Zone.  Managers must be engaged with their salespeople including the need to guide the new salesperson through expectations.

This seems obvious to me, but I never cease to be amazed.

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That is a rather apt description, don’t you think?  I believe instant messaging will eventually displace email.  I’ve heard many arguments against my position, but I really think it will happen.  Of course, I liked New Coke when it came out so consider that point in my prediction.

ManageSmarter.com offers this piece - Rethinking Instant Messaging -as a discussion on the use of IM.  The article contains 2 points that I think will drive the expansion of IM:

He says IM is more effective than e-mail for critical-action items like getting approval on a press release.

and

IM also pushes out to the customer at Web sites with live-support chats, increasing customer response.

So many aspects of our world are built upon speed and productivity that IM will become the faster answer to email.  To the first quote above, IM is effective in that you know if the person is live on the other end.  You can then get straight to your discussion.  Second, there is no waiting for them to sift through all of the emails in their inbox.

To the second quote; in my personal experience I have found customer support via IM to be the quickest answer to my problem.  Phone support has turned into a black hole in which you emerge on the other side in India.  At times it works and at other times it is a time sink.

I’m still bullish on IM and the way it will change business in the very near future.

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It’s not really when you know how to do it.  Unfortunately, many salespeople have a distinct weakness when it comes to even broaching this topic with a prospect.  This weakness leads to compounded expenses in that the salesperson will typically invest time and resources on a prospect who will disappear at the first discussion of price.  Many salespeople are aware of this fact so they deem it best to avoid the money topic all together with the hope they can persuade the prospect with an extended dog-and-pony show.

The entire sordid affair feeds upon itself.

The costs here can be enormous.  I’m of the belief that a salesperson’s greatest asset is his or her time.  In sales, time cuts two ways.  First, investing inordinate amounts of time with unqualified prospects is a backbreaker.  Yet, the larger loss here comes from Econ 101 - opportunity cost.  That wasted time could have been spent with a qualified prospect; a prospect who could have become a customer.  Worse yet, that prospect may have selected your competitor during that time.

How can you put a number on that situation?

I bring this topic up because you must be attuned to it during the hiring process.  Unfortunately, many hiring managers harbor a similar money weakness.  These managers are “put-off” by candidate who actually attempt to qualify compensation during the hiring process.

I admit, there are some candidates who are clumsy with this topic.  There are others whom approach it in a poor manner (i.e. before qualifying the position fully).  However, I always prefer a sales candidate who qualify this topic early in the hiring process.  This willingness to engage in the money topic is the first sign that they will qualify money with prospects.

We have one customer who, despite our pleading, put a somewhat vague offer together for one of our sales candidates.  The candidate accepted the offer after generally qualifying it with our customer.  In the time leading up to his hire, he pursued the topic with our customer in more specific terms.

Our customer was somewhat disappointed with this approach.  We have explained to him that this is good sales behavior.  Our customer left some money-related items purposely vague and our strong salesperson is qualifying him to get to absolute clarity.  This behavior is exactly what our customer will expect from the new salesperson as he qualifies prospects in his new role.  Irony at it’s finest.

And yes, our customer has a well-developed money weakness.

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This BusinessWeek.com article - How to Avoid the Commodity Trap - caught my fancy but I have to admit, it is a bit short on the “How to” part.  The main thrust of the article is to treat your customers with respect.  That is solid advice, but I was looking for more.

But what the article lacks in tactical description, it makes up for with anecdotal stories.  The article is a fun read.  It closes with the author retelling a personal experience:

My last example is personal. Two years ago, I dented my car and took it to a body shop for an estimate. A large tattoo-covered man stood behind the counter. And behind him, on the wall, hung a sign that did not inspire confidence in the respect that this establishment had for its customers. The sign read: “We screw the other guy and pass the savings on to you.” I inquired meekly: “I hope I’m not ‘the other guy’?”

Can you imagine that sign hanging in the lobby of some corporation?  Actually, there are a few companies that I can imagine using that slogan.

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Here is an interesting prediction for 2008 from The Economist (my editing):

PEERING into Tech.view’s crystal ball, the one thing we can predict with at least some certainty is that 2008 will be the year we stop taking access to the internet for granted. The internet is not about to grind to a halt, but as more and more users clamber aboard to download music, video clips and games while communicating incessantly by e-mail, chat and instant messaging, the information superhighway sometimes crawls with bumper-to-bumper traffic.

The biggest road-hog remains spam (unsolicited e-mail), which accounts for 90% of traffic on the internet. Phone companies and other large ISPs (internet service providers) have tolerated it for years because it would cost too much to fix. Besides, eliminating spam would only benefit their customers, not themselves.

How so? Because the big fat pipes used by ISPs operate symmetrically, with equal bandwidth for upstream and downstream traffic. But end-users have traditionally downloaded megabytes of information from the web, while uploading only kilobytes of key strokes and mouse clicks. So, when spammers dump billions of pieces of e-mail onto the internet, it travels over the phone companies’ relatively empty upstream segments.

Meanwhile, users are changing the way they use the internet: they are now uploading, as well as downloading, gigabytes galore—thanks to the popularity of social networks like Facebook, YouTube and MySpace.

While major internet service providers like AT&T, Verizon and Comcast all plan to upgrade their backbones, it will be a year or two before improvements begin to show. By then, internet television will be in full bloom, spammers will have multiplied ten-fold, WiFi will be embedded in every moving object, and users will be screaming for yet more capacity.

(h/t Online Media Daily)

I certainly hope this prediction does not come true, but the entire article makes a compelling argument.

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I’m willing to guess that a majority of New Year Resolutions involve weight loss and career/job changes.  If so, then January is the apex of retention within a company.  In sales recruiting, we typically see January as one of the premium months for finding sales talent.  Salespeople have completed the previous year’s commission plan and are staring at an empty commission plan.

In other words, this is an excellent time to upgrade your sales team.

The time to hire is still extended right now in spite of the dire economic predictions of the media.  This week’s Herman Trend Alert email speaks to this point:

The activity of job boards is a predictor of the future of the economy. The number of jobs posted is a forward leading indicator of near-term economic growth. “Our level of job postings is at an all-time high,” said Ted Daywalt President and CEO of VetJobs.com, the leading job board for veterans and their families in the United States.

Job boards are involved with organizations just after the decision to add employees. They are the main medium by which employers now advertise for new and replacement workers.

Daywalt details that in 2002, VetJobs barely had 2,000 jobs posted per day. Now the average is 24,000 active jobs per day and he sees his numbers rising. He expects the number of daily active postings to grow to 30,000 later in 2008.

VetJobs’ increase mirrors the marketplace as a whole; recently, the Conference Board reported that the number of jobs advertised online in 2007 grew by 9.7 percent over 2006.

Though there are no statistics to separate new from replacement postings, VetJobs’ level of increase indicates expansion. Since the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that voluntary employee turnover has remained constant over the last quarter, we can safely assume that most of the increases are attributable to new job creation.

The increase in job postings reflects the level of corporate confidence. That’s why we at The Herman Group feel comfortable in forecasting a slowdown, rather than a recession in the U.S. economy for 2008.

For the last five years, the time between Christmas and New Years for job boards was “totally dead”. This year, VetJobs signed on a number of major corporations and their mid-size clients called because they need to hire people “right away”.

A few of the hottest job categories: information technology, engineering, water management, computer numerically controlled (CNC) machining, healthcare, and service industries.

“Many companies would like to expand, but are holding off because they can’t find the skilled people they need”, reports Daywalt.

If you are looking to hire, now is the time to start the process.  And we can help.

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