I give you CareerJournal.com’s Another Meeting? Good. Another Chance To Hear Myself Talk:

Mr. McKay’s confession helps answer the question of why, if everybody hates meetings so much, do we have so many of them?

Great question.  The gentleman referenced in the article misses meetings in his new company!  My word, I cannot relate to that sentiment.  Here is the stunning research results:

Steven Rogelberg, a professor of industrial organizational psychology at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, and a group of colleagues found that among people surveyed about their last meeting, 69% rated them at least “good,” while only 16% rated them “poor” or worse. And although 50% said they complained about meetings, more than 60% of these complainers admitted that they either “don’t mind them that much” or “enjoy them.”

Asked what their ideal work day would look like, two-thirds of respondents said it would include at least one or more meetings.

I just picked myself up from the floor.  I authentically dislike meetings so I am disappointed in these “fakers.”  Salespeople tend to operate outside of the 4 walls of the company so meetings are costly in terms of goal time and selling opportunities.  I suspect the majority of people who enjoy meetings are not in sales positions, but it is just a guess.

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I just caught up to this quote in a good quote from Peter Drucker in BusinessWeek.com’s Wide-Angle Thinking:

Surely, Drucker would have applauded. “Too many think they are wonderful because they talk well,” he once pointed out. “They don’t realize that being wonderful with people means listening well.”

Here is another aspect we subscribe to in our sourcing activities:

Handy goes even further, advising that companies should roam far beyond their traditional bounds to better understand not just technology but myriad practices and processes. Say, for instance, a manufacturer needs to tap a team of top talent for a project that will be disbanded after a relatively brief period. Handy’s suggestion: Arrange a visit to one of the Hollywood studios. They manage high-end, short-term work all the time.

Interesting approach in today’s market, don’t you think?  Salespeople who can listen well are valuable in almost all sales positions.  Finding these types of salespeople does not have to be limited to your own industry.  This approach is a trap into which many hiring managers fall.

The part of Handy’s suggestion above that leaps off the page is the idea of looking for similar, or transferable, skills.  Hollywood studios and manufacturing are not normally associated with each other, but their are commonalities that can be applied between them.  The same is true for hiring.

This truth will become more prevalent as candidates become more scarce in the upcoming years.

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Clayton Shold over at Saleopedia offers up some stunning survey results from a recent SalesDog.com survey.  Check this out (my emphasis):

Despite the job pressure, 70 percent of respondents reported being happy with their management, while 64 percent of those taking the survey said they felt adequately recognized for their achievements. A surprising 75 percent of respondents believe their management’s sales expectations or quotas are realistic.

I’m sitting here cruising at 70mph in Northern Minnesota as I write.  I should clarify that Lee is driving, I am geeking it up in the passenger seat.  We have been talking about these results for miles.

We often hear of how discontented workers are with their current roles and managers.  I suspect the fact that we are recruiters that we spend much of our time dealing with discontented salespeople looking for a new opportunity.  That fact skews our perspective.

These results are encouraging for the majority of sales managers who may have shared our perspective.

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Lee Salz offers an article on ManageSmarter.com about reference checks performed by prospects at the final stage of a sale.  We go back and forth on this topic often at Select Metrix.  Many times prospects want references, but often they do not follow up on them.

However, when they do contact references, this is what occurs:

Many buyers look at the reference step of the buying process as their opportunity to validate the potential supplier’s message. In essence, prospects are searching to ascertain whether a supplier can deliver on the promises made during the buying process. Can the supplier really handle this size account? Are they really that fast or that accurate? Is the service as good as they described?

Salz is exactly correct in that paragraph.  The prospects are confirming what they hope will happen if they enter into an agreement with your company.  He provides 4 points in approaching these reference checks and how to ensure a good reference call occurs.

You will have to read the article to see his points, but this one is most important:

3. Give more and you’ll get more.
To take it a step further, don’t just send your prospect contact names and phone numbers. Provide a brief narrative explaining to what purpose each client serves as a reference. How many sales people are doing that?

We always do this task when we send out our references and it is most effective.  References without context are difficult for the prospect to complete.  The danger here is that your prospect will not get to the questions that will help them finalize their decision.  A short narrative is the catalyst to an efficient call that puts your topics in play.

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Manpower’s quarterly survey is often considered a bellwether of the upcoming labor market.  The Wall Street Journal reports on this trend in Hiring Plans Soften Across Industries.

The title sounds a dire alarm, but there  is an interesting quote within the article:

Jonas Prising, president of Manpower North America, characterized employers’ hiring plans for the upcoming quarter as “softening.” He noted the decline is less sharp than the steep drops seen at the beginning of the decade. In some quarters of 2000, up to 25% of employers planned to hire, but then employers’ hiring plans declined sharply, and the portion planning to hire hit about 5% by early 2002.

“This curve doesn’t look anything like the curves that we have seen when things have gone into recession,” Mr. Prising said. “Some [employers] have decided to stop hiring, but you’re not seeing a massive shift, you’re not seeing a huge jump. Some are more cautious and that’s why you get a softer declining trend and not such a dramatic fall-off.”

Interesting, don’t you think?  The economy has certainly slowed down, but the howls of recession seem to be more than premature.

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From Human Resource Executive Online’s Uncertain Economy, Uneven Hiring (emphasis mine):

Richard Fanelli, president of Fanelli McClain Design Studios, a commercial interior planning and design firm located in Fairfax, Va., says that his company is not hiring right now, but they’re scouting.

“We have to have the workload to support new hires,” he says. “But if I were to find the right person, I might hire them and then market harder to justify the hire.”

That is an interesting turn of phrase, isn’t it?  “Scouting” is an excellent verb to use in this context.  This is a practice we preach, but most companies don’t scout consistently.  This lack of consistency leads to a mad scramble after a salesperson walks in on a Friday afternoon and resigns.

Today’s high productivity, fast-paced market may make these scouting activities difficult for a sales manager to accomplish while growing revenue.  That is where a company like ours can stand in the gap and provide scouting reports on available candidates.

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This ManageSmarter.com article – On-Board Your Sales Hires Faster – hits me where I live.  We ran into a serious issue with one of our customers where a salesperson we placed was terminated after 60 days.  I won’t go into specifics, but this gentleman never had a chance.  One anecdotal point – he never received business cards.  You get the picture.

We are working with our customer this week to establish a formalized onramping program for the next salesperson in this role.  Much, or even all, of the problems that developed were due to this small company not understanding what needs to happen to successfully launch a new salesperson.  Some of these items are rudimentary like having business cards for them on day 1 while others involve the manager-critical setting of expectations.

The truth here is that the first few months are the most formative in establishing future success:

1. Time is Fleeting
There is an opportunity in the first three to six months of a salesperson’s career at the new company to set the tone. And during this timeframe, you need to get your new hires to fully comprehend your desire for their success and that you plan on using process, methodology, coaching and technology to help them.

Exactly.  The third and final point in the article is also most relevant:

3. Belly Up to the Benchmark
Take the time before a salesperson is on board to integrate traditionally independent activities from multiple departments, and agree on the collaboration process. Create a plan that has specific objectives and milestones that pinpoint productivity from day one. Measure and track productivity, but measure in terms of activity rather than financial results. This allows for better tracking, measurement, monitoring and coaching.

We always tell our customers that they need to set activity expectations and then monitor them closely during the first 3 to 6 months.  This is the time period for course correction that sets up a successful employment with clear expectations.  Failure to engage in these management topics leads to early terminations and revolving-door territories.

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Don’t you love that title, Sales Gravy?  This site is a sales resource that I was not aware of until I received a call from Jeb Blount who runs the site.

Sales Gravy is the fastest growing international networking community for Sales Professionals. Sales Gravy is your portal to All Things Sales.We believe that Sales Professionals are the Elite Athletes of the Business world and this site is designed and dedicated to helping our members gain the Winning Edge!

There are many resources on the site and I have to confess I have not had a chance to browse through all of them.  The Sales Tools and Resources is the area in which I have spent the most time.  There are numerous articles that I have read and can clearly see that we will be using them in our future posts.

Take the time to check out this valuable new resource.

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What the Boss’ Body Language Says is from Yahoo Hot Jobs and is well worth the read.  I’m a sucker for these tells, to use poker parlance.

A quick taste from the short article:

Eyes, Head, and Face

Positive:

• Looks you directly in the eye.
• Muscles around the eye are relaxed.
• Facial muscles are relaxed. Lips are their normal size.
• Pleasant face and friendly smile.

Negative:

• Rapid eye movement, does not look at you; has a cold, glaring, staring, or glazed-over look.
• Blinks more than normal.
• Raises one eyebrow as if in disbelief or doubt.
• Facial muscles are tight; lips thin out.
• Jaw muscles and clenched, and temple or neck veins throb.
• Smile is stiff and forced.

Blinking is a good giveaway especially in conjunction with darting eyes.  Of course, you do not need advanced empathetic aptitudes to understand the negative nature of throbbing neck veins.  Or bright red faces.  Or clenched jaws.

I have worked for managers who simply told me to my face, in loud words, their negative disposition towards me.  Body language interpretation was not needed for those individuals.

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This article is from ManageSmarter.com and it debunks 6 very common sales myths.  My absolute favorite from the short article:

Myth: If sales understood the product better, sales would increase.

Reality: Actually, if everyone in the company—e.g., marketing, product developers, IT, and fulfillment, to name a few—understood sales better, sales would increase.

That reality is perfectly stated and true.  Successful selling, or should I say unsuccessful selling, has more to do with sales technique than it does with product knowledge.

However, we have encountered many companies where the other departments felt they could direct the sales department.  The common theme in those companies is that these departments believe they know sales better than the sales department!

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