A perfect list from HR Chally Group via Recruiting.com: 

1. Relying on an Interview to Evaluate a Candidate
2. Using Successful People as a Model
3. Setting Too Many Criteria
4. Evaluating “Personality” instead of Job Skills
5. Using Yourself as an Example
6. Not Using Statistically Validated Testing
7. Not Researching the Reasons People Have Failed in a Job
8. Relying on General “Good Guy” Criteria
9. Not Doing A Careful Background Reference Check

They are all excellent points and ones that we have experienced first-hand with our customers.  Pay special attention to numbers 1, 2 and 5.  Those are the most common mistakes we see in our daily experience.

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JustSell.com’s latest newsletter has a quick-hit tidbit that caught my eye:

Be careful to avoid working to get the needs of your paying customers and highly qualified prospects “off your plate”. These are the people who deserve your attention and time.

Technology has allowed us to communicate by monologue – in one direction – sending or leaving a message in the written form (email) or oral form (voice mail) and then moving on until we receive a response. This can cause us to get lazy in our service efforts – creating gaps of needed care and attention and subsequently weakening relationships that might otherwise build stronger barriers to competitive entry.

“Communicate by monologue” is an apt phrase for email, voicemail and IM.  I have to admit to being guilty of this approach.  I sent the email, did my part, now it is up to them.  That isn’t the best approach to proactive customer service, is it?

I worked for a sales manager who liked to say that most customers leave because they feel under appreciated.  This tidbit shines some light on that truth.

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From the Herman Trend Alert (sorry, no link):

A global survey of 4,500 workers indicates that more people anticipate leaving their employers this year than last. In the 2006 BlessingWhite study, 65 percent said that they expected to “definitely” remain with their employers through the year. In the 2007 study, that number was down to 58 percent.

Also of interest, more respondents in 2007 said that there is “no way” they would stay (eight percent up from six percent—a 33 percent increase). European employers face the greatest threat: eleven percent said there is “no way” they will stay.

Moreover, employees in Europe and Asia appear less content with their current jobs than those in the United States or Canada. Only 49 percent of Europeans and 54 percent of employees in the Asia-Pacific region expect to stay with their employers, compared with 60 percent of North Americans. (We think that market volatility and the threat of recession was working here.)

“‘No way’ they would stay” is an interesting turn of phrase for a survey question.  I agree with their parenthetical comment that recession concerns are swaying North American employees.  Still, it is notable that so many people seem to have their mind set already.

I am curious to know how this data breaks out among the different ages.  My suspicion is that the Gen Y employees are far more eager to move on to the next opportunity than the older generations.  Career path is crucial to Gen Y, the majority of whom are at the beginning of their career.

If that suspicion is accurate then this graph becomes a significant concern for many companies:

We have been talking for years about employees’ lack of trust for their employers. This trust issue motivates them to feel like they must take control of their own careers. Our research indicates that workers are looking to their employers for training, education, and career pathing. This fact should concern the many organizations that eliminated their in-house training functions during the last economic slowdown and are still playing “catch up”.

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Ok, this is a bit dated, but still funny:

“COMPETITIVE SALARY”
(We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors.)

“JOIN OUR FAST-PACED TEAM”
(We have no time to train you.)

“CASUAL WORK ATMOSPHERE”
(We don’t pay enough to expect that you’ll dress up; well, a couple of the real daring guys wear earrings.)

“MUST BE DEADLINE ORIENTED”
(You’ll be six months behind schedule on your first day.)

“SOME OVERTIME REQUIRED”
(Some time each night and some time each weekend.)

“DUTIES WILL VARY”
(Anyone in the office can boss you around.)

“MUST HAVE AN EYE FOR DETAIL”
(We have no quality control.)

“CAREER-MINDED”
(Female applicants must be childless and remain that way.)

“APPLY IN PERSON”
(If you’re old, fat or ugly you’ll be told the position has been filled.)

“NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE”
(We’ve filled the job; our call for resumes is just a legal formality.)

“SEEKING CANDIDATES WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF EXPERIENCE”
(You’ll need it to replace three people who just left.)

“PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS A MUST”
(You’re walking into a company in perpetual chaos.)

“REQUIRES TEAM LEADERSHIP SKILLS”
(You’ll have the responsibilities of a manager, without the pay or respect.)

“GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS”
(Management communicates, you listen, figure out what they want, and do it.)

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Salesopedia.com offers an excellent article titled Top Salespeople Win at the Numbers Game.  The article is a bit of a promo for a specific selling system, but the author provides a list of questions that all sales managers should retain.

In the last 6 months:

1. What is the average number of prospects that you attempted to call (dials per week?)

2. What percentage of those dials resulted in contact with a decision maker (not voice mail or a gatekeeper)?

3. Out of all the dialing you did in #1, what percentage resulted in talking to the person who could sign a contract, issue a purchase order, or cut a check? This number is crucial: This is the number of genuine prospects you contacted.

4. What percentage of those decision-maker contacts resulted in an appointment? This number is important for two reasons: 1) You need to know how many contacts it takes to secure an appointment, and 2) You need to gauge, measure, and refine your High Probability Prospecting offers.

5. What percentage of your appointments resulted in a sale?

6. What is the average number of sales appointments, per prospect, does it take for you to close a sale? Over the past 6 months, exactly how many appointments did you make, and keep?

7. What is your closing average per prospect? What is your closing average per appointment?

Much of successful selling is truly a numbers game.  Skill increases productivity, but motivation drives success.  Some days simply come down to connecting with prospects whether the salesperson feels like it or not.  As a manager, that is the point where you may have to provide some “external motivation” to ensure that your team is putting forth the effort to maintain the metrics defined in the aforementioned questions.

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BusinessWeek.com offers the top 50 most influential headhunters in the business world.  Lee didn’t make the list so there goes his top contractual performance incentive.

I’m not sure how one determines these lists based on influence, but it seems appropriate that a huge company like Korn/Ferry would put 7 recruiters on the list.

If you are interested, you can read the list in it’s entirety here.

Now on to devise a new unattainable incentive for Lee.

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Salespeople, with strong skills, are always in demand in any economy.  Certainly some sales opportunities have an ebb and flow tied to the current economic conditions, but those are mainly business-to-consumer positions.  From that understanding comes a 2008 sales hiring outlook from Monster.com.

First key graph:

In 2008 as always, salespeople in nearly any industry will find work, if they’ve got the contacts, the product knowledge and the street savvy. “Any successful salesperson in any industry is able to write their own ticket,” says Brandon Gutman, director of marketing and business development for recruiter Stephen-Bradford Search in New York.

Couldn’t agree more.  As companies make difficult decisions, some strong salespeople are let go due to financial considerations.  This fact is why we do not abhor a bit of a hiring slowdown.  The slowdown puts some strong salespeople on the street who may have been much harder to recruit out of their former position.

Some of the hot niches this year:

Salespeople in hot information technology sectors can remain optimistic, despite the slow economy.

“In online advertising sales, there are more positions open than bodies to fill them,” he says.

From biotech to carbon credits to the robots that have replaced factory workers, 2008 will see the continued proliferation of complex products, creating a need for salespeople with high-level skills and special subject-matter expertise.

High-level sales skills are in demand today.  The days of shake-and-howdy, round of golf sales calls are waning.  Salespeople with the skills to navigate long sales cycles with multiple decision layers are the ones who will be in the most demand.

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A statistic from the Career News newsletter (sorry, no link):

One in four U.S. workers is resolving to get a new job this year. The survey found that 26 percent of employed Americans said they will look for a new job in 2008.

I thought that number seemed somewhat low – I was expecting a number closer to 33%.  Retention will always be a top priority for sales managers, but it may be that the slowing economy will cause more workers to stay in their current positions this year.

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We’re big fans of Jeff Thull here at The Hire Sense and we always try to keep up with his articles.  This one from Inc.com – Three Keys to a Successful New Year – is well worth the read.  Ok, we might be a bit late getting to this one since it’s theme is for the new year.

I have always appreciated a doctor analogy for selling and I think Thull lays out a good example here:

Like an experienced doctor who continually diagnoses for problems and recognizes symptoms, you see the issues your solutions address far more frequently than your customers do. You know the business drivers that your solutions impact and the symptoms that verify that your customer’s performance is at risk. You know what to look for and how to help. To determine if those symptoms exist, develop a diagnostic approach to clarify the situation with your customer. Don’t let the customer self diagnose when they don’t clearly understand the problem to be solved. Leverage your experience and become an advisor who helps your customer optimize their performance.

Many salespeople get lost in this truth.  The customer will often attempt to “self-diagnose” and then perform surgery on themselves too.  The reason behind their avoidance of change is straight-forward:

A fundamental element of behavior is that people will change if the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change. As a result, customers tend to avoid change and the risks associated with it. They know that making changes to the organization’s operations, systems or processes will be difficult, lengthy, and resource consuming. Why would they personally take on that pressure?

Read the article an you will Thull’s 3 points for repositioning your company for more sales in 2008.

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