From Selling Power’s How Much to Present to Your Customer:

Experience shows that to the human mind there is something peculiarly satisfying about seven pieces of information. Seven questions, seven benefits, seven anything define the optimal attention span for most people, regardless of education or intelligence. Is it coincidental that we talk of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the seven fat years and the seven lean years in the Bible, the seven days of the week, the seven primary notes on the musical scale, and the seven subordinates who represent the ideal span of control for their manager?

Did you know that?  I didn’t.  Further into the article:

Some customers are practiced at setting you up to overwhelm them and to bore them. They ask you quickly for all sorts of information they don’t want or need or even understand. When you play their game and flash everything on their interest screen at once–boom!–you’ve blown it. They are overwhelmed or bored, and you’ve lost them. What went wrong? You failed to qualify them. You failed to present your answers slowly and in detail and to confirm that each point is truly significant to them. You failed to ask opinion questions.

Listen to what he or she asks you for. Recognize that other salespeople responded to the requests and probably spent a lot of time doing so. Briefly present the information the customer needs as a matter of courtesy; then move on to fill his or her interest screen with other items that may really make a difference.

You notice how so much of selling requires empathizing, listening and adjusting?  This is one of the subtle, critical points about good sales hires.  The stereotypical fast-talking sales rep is not a lock for a successful sales hire.  Show up and throw up is not a selling strategy.  Integrating a strong listening ability with 7 selling points, pain probes, value propositions or the like is the better strategy.

The article is an interesting read if you have the time.

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This post from Steven Rothberg over at CollegeRecruiter.com had me laughing.  Isn’t it amazing how out-of-touch some candidates can be during a phone screen or interview?

From Steven’s post:

• Candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home after the interview.
• Candidate smelled his armpits on the way to the interview room.
• Candidate said she could not provide a writing sample because all of her writing had been for the CIA and it was “classified.”

You have to read the other 7 mistakes in the list.  Unbelievable…and entertaining.

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Here’s a fun way to start your Monday – this sounds like the premise to a Steven Wright joke:

“It costs almost 1.7 cents to make a penny,” said U.S. Mint director Ed Moy.

Each year, the U.S. Mint makes 8 billion pennies, at a cost of $130 million. American taxpayers lose nearly $50 million in the process.

The penny’s not alone. It costs nearly 10 cents to make a nickel.

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We are in the midst of a snowstorm so Easter and Spring seem oddly out of place against the backdrop of 6″ of snow.  It is amazing how stunningly beautiful snow can look before Christmas and how utterly awful it looks before Easter.  However, the JustSell.com guys provided me with some context to this Easter in their daily email (sorry, no link):

Unless you’re 95 years old, you’ve never celebrated Easter this early.

This year Easter falls on March 23, the earliest the holiday has been celebrated since 1913. Nearly 80% of consumers plan to celebrate this year and will spend $14.44 billion (about $135 each) on food, apparel, gifts, decorations and candy, according to the National Retail Federation.

Easter is the No. 2 top-selling candy holiday, behind only Halloween, according to the National Confectioner’s Association. Candy makers produce 90 million chocolate bunnies each year, and five million marshmallow chicks and bunnies each day during the year to fill Easter baskets.

Early Easter = snow in Minnesota.  Have a joyful Easter from all of us at Select Metrix!

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ABCnews.com offers a completely tempting story to those of us stuck up here in the frozen tundra.  With a snowstorm heading our way this evening, I am stuck on this thought:

“We also have a ‘chief of village,’ which is sort of a cross between a cruise director and general manager,” Moeller said. “This is the most aspired-to position for many of our [employees]. It is like being queen or king of the roost.”

There is a recruiting opportunity here:

Most of these companies that cater to an international clientè have structured recruitment programs to draw worldwide talent. Bases are set up on multiple continents to sell the idea of say, careers in the Caribbean, and anywhere else people go to escape.

People don’t really go to Minnesota “to escape” so I doubt there is much future here for us.  Back to waiting on the snowstorm.

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I have been searching through online resumes and came across this commentary in a cover letter:

I am a 63 year old male just recently let go from my job because I’m too old. Don’t worry, I’m fighting it but in the meantime, I need a job.

You know, some things are better left unsaid.

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I haven’t heard that description used for Gen Y until I read this BusinessWeek.com article – Netting the Net Generation.  The article is a good read for managers who have Gen Y employees.  Some of the information is fairly common, but I thought this point was well stated:

However, don’t assume this technologically sophisticated generation is made up of solitary video game players. Generation Y is highly relationship-oriented and uses a wide range of media and technology to connect with others. They expect to experience this in the workplace as well. Give them opportunities to engage and share ideas and to work on new things. Traditional behaviors that define power as possession of knowledge to be doled out sparingly are anathema, and failing to encourage openness and the sharing of information will turn this generation off.

We often assume technology equals isolation, but that is not necessarily true today.  In fact, it is probably the polar opposite.  This younger generation uses technology in ways that are new to those of us in the older generations.  That is a subtle, but important point when managing Gen Y.

Their willingness to change jobs is a trend we see every day in our sourcing activities.  Their approach to work has placed a new pressure on managers when it comes to retention.  This pressure will only increase as Gen Y expands in the workforce.

The managers who figure out how to manage them will be in the highest demand.  One place to start is here:

Their loyalty is strengthened by timely, open, and honest course correction that occurs on a continuing basis, not just once a year. This may require some updating of the counseling and performance management skills of your line management, and perhaps the performance management processes themselves. Young people have less patience, and job-hopping is prevalent; help prevent it by giving them the chance to soar inside your own organization.

That is sound advice for managing any generation, but it is paramount for increasing retention among your Gen Y employees.

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BusinessWeek.com offers up a provocative article about the slowing economy – The Upside of Recession.   Interesting opening:

Pop quiz, hot shot: What do MTV, Trader Joe’s, and the iPod have in common? Yes, of course, they’re all now ubiquitous and make our lives much more agreeable.

But to us, the most interesting thing about all three is that these great brands were born during recessions. (Trader Joe’s: 1958; MTV: 1981; iPod: 2001, if you are scoring at home.)

The authors are just warming up:

Cutting (ed.- lay offs) across the board is the coward’s way of dealing with a downturn. It assures that no one is going to yell—how could anyone possibly object to sharing the pain equally—and it gives the timid a built-in excuse to fail. (“Gee, I know no one liked our new product, but they slashed our budget 22.73% right before launch, so, it wasn’t my fault.”)

But suppose you use the recession not as an excuse or a reason for hiding under your desk but rather as a catalyst for innovation? Instead of cutting everything by 22.73%, why not see the downturn as a chance to whack 90% (or the whole darn thing) out of stuff that isn’t working well?

Cutting off funding to your laggards would free up a lot of money to back the one, or possibly two, big ideas you have been working on, ideas that have a chance to become breakthrough brands. If you want to be less aggressive, you could place more resources behind the existing ideas/programs/products that are already working well.

These are my people – “a coward’s way” is about as direct a shot as you can take. They close their article with this graph:

Recessions by definition are temporary. Great companies and great executives don’t abandon their growth strategies in light of temporary setbacks. They attack aggressively, while everyone else is pulling back.

Read the entire thing.

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There has been much discussed about the use of social networking sites in doing background checks of candidates.  I’m still on the fence, but I am leaning towards using them.  Here is an actual example I heard on Friday.

An owner of a medium-sized company had a problem with a previous executive assistant – let’s just say it was far too personal.  She was dismissed from the role and the company looked to hire a new assistant.

The hiring process for her replacement involved the owner’s wife who was going to spend 1 hour interviewing each candidate.  Also, the new executive assistant would not be allowed on the company plane – she would have to fly commercial.  You get the picture.

One of the final candidates being considered turns out was a former topless dancer.  The candidate shared this information with the recruiter who could have found this information on a social network site (she looked later).  Now, this candidate may have had the right skills, but would it be wise to place her in this position?  Clearly if she was willing to share this private information in an interview and on a social network site, how long would she have been in the role before sharing her past with others?

The owner’s wife would dismiss her as soon as she heard about her past.

So who benefits from silence or a lack of a social network search in this situation?  The strong candidate would have to explain a short tenure at this company.  The owner would still be in need of an executive assistant.

The example is wrought with legal complexities, but in a real-world sense I think the best scenario is to use the social networks in the background check, discover the information and pursue a different candidate.

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We’ve been on this topic a bit lately, but it is mission-critical to successful selling.  Asking questions…asking the right questions is tantamount to qualifying prospects.  Most sales managers know this, yet we often see them displaying selective amnesia when it comes to interviewing sales candidates.

Case in point:  Lee often observes sales managers who are underwhelmed with a candidate because the candidate didn’t “wow” them.  That’s understandable, but many times the manager isn’t wowed because the candidate is qualifying the opportunity instead of spewing feature/benefits.  It is at this point that Lee has to mention the different questions that the candidate asked in their responses and the information that candidate gathered in the interview.  What ends up happening is that the sales manager is answering questions and doesn’t pay as much attention to the question pattern of the candidate.

After the manager recounts the questions, they tend to be impressed with the candidate’s subtle ability.  Clearly there is more to it than just asking questions. Candidates need to be able to use the information they gather in an effective manner otherwise it is all for naught.  Yet, success starts with their questioning ability.

ManageSmarter.com offers a strong article titled Three Mistakes Every Sales Rep Makes Every Day.  From Mistake #2:

Prospects and clients share one commonality across all industries: they have a problem (or they wouldn’t be talking to you) and they are looking for help (a solution to that problem). The key to identifying a prospect’s “pain” is questions, questions and more questions. Going into a sales call/presentation, a customer/prospect expects the “pitch”—they expect that you will try and sell them on your product/service. What most don’t expect—and what separates the No.1 rep from the No. 10—is that you have a vested interest in not only their company’s success, but also their personal success. Prospects and clients love to talk about their company and its successes/struggles; you just have to open the door.

Perfect.  The personal success point is an important distinction within the paragraph.

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