We preach to our clients that simply placing an onlie ad is not a sound sourcing strategy.  Managesmarter.com has an article that gives 3 good, quick tips for leveraging the Internet to fill open positions.

The only way to effectively recruit is to use multiple channels. You’re trying to find that one person who is exactly right, and that means exploring multiple avenues. This includes your offline efforts, by the way—don’t stop networking just because you’ve posted a job online. Work multiple sources (both online and real world) to get the word out about your opening.
Make sure you’ve got an accurate, well-written, exciting job description. You need a posting that sells the job and your company. A good job description should be the first message a potential candidate sees about your company. It should provide a good story, but also a realistic picture of the level of responsibility and some sense of career potential. In the online world there’s no character limit, so you can go into detail and include links to strong Web pages. Never view writing a job ad as a chore; don’t just delegate it to HR or someone who reports to you.
Pick several places to post your ad online. Here’s where it gets tricky: There are several online sourcing options, all of which come with trade-offs. Let’s start with blogs, e-mail listservs and interest groups such as Yahoo! Groups. These options are probably stronger in building long-term recognition than in immediately producing large numbers of applicants.

One thing I would add is if you’re not using LinkedIn, Facebook or MySpace in your sourcing, you’re missing the boat.  Start by getting your profile on these sites and connecting, then push your open positions out to your new network.  It’s not about knowing the right people and being directly connected to them, it’s about being connected and allowing your network to push your opportunity out to people they know that may be a good fit.

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The frequency of layoffs has started to rise as the economy continues it’s slow progression (no, it hasn’t recessed).  Up here in Minnesota we have experienced some large layoffs recently.  But there is an interesting point in all of these layoffs when it comes to salespeople.

Many times the underperformers are released first as a method for upgrading the sales force.

One of the large corporations up here announced a sizeable layoff that reduced their employee count by 5%.  Yet, the following week they had multiple employment ads on multiple sites looking for different levels of salespeople.  This approach is not surprising as you will see it often during slow economic times.  The major companies use the cover of a slow economy to jettison salespeople who have had targets on them for some time.

This fact means that all sales hiring today needs to be careful.  There are strong salespeople who get cut loose, but you have to have a process to find them.  The pretenders, the salespeople who can do enough to mostly hide on your payroll, are also out there.  These salespeople are more difficult to identify and screen out of the candidate pool.

It is imperative that you have a process that goes far beyond resume, interview, gut-level decision.  If you need assistance, we can help.

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Ok, the title is a bit of a minomer.  The reference is to a Kelley Robertson post on the S&MM SoundOff blog.  He provides 3 sales tips based on a fiction writer’s boot camp he recently attended.

Here is an abridged version of those tips (my bold):

Start with a hook. The best novels usually start with a great hook. The more compelling your opening statement or question, the greater the likelihood your prospect will listen to the rest of your message.

Show, don’t tell. Showing characters in action instead of telling the reader what the characters are doing creates a more interesting story. Show the results your prospects can achieve instead of telling about your product, service or solution.

Use colourful dialogue. Too many sales presentations are dull and boring. The sales person either talks in a monotone voice, or reads from his/her brochure, or expects the prospect to sit through slide after slide of technical information.

That third one hits home as I have seen many a salesperson kill a presentation with a lackluster delivery.  I try to stress language in blog posts too.  You don’t have to use George Will’s vocabulary, but crafting sentences with unique words makes for a colorful read.

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A headline from the Wall Street Journal – Employer Alliance Aims To Streamline Recruiting.  “Streamline” is one of those overused business terms that I find annoying.  Yet, the article is rather interesting:

Seven of the nation’s largest employers have teamed up to help one another with recruiting. They’ve formed a consortium called AllianceQ, which allows them and future members to share information about job applicants they don’t hire.

Which leads to this:

Since QuietAgent.com doesn’t feature job ads, professionals will only learn about career opportunities if employers contact them.

By giving out referrals to QuietAgent.com, AllianceQ members are helping job hunters they don’t hire find employment elsewhere, says Jason Kerr, chief executive officer of Chicago-based QuietAgent Inc., which publishes both QuietAgent.com and AllianceQ.com.

Which inevitably leads to this:

In the second quarter of 2009, QuietAgent.com plans to launch a new marketing campaign aimed at getting more small and midsize employers to use it. The campaign will focus on the site’s new relationship with AllianceQ. “We’re going to use the brand power of big businesses to offer small businesses a way to recruit,” says Mr. Kerr.

The idea seems like a strong leverage point if small businesses can benefit from the large corporations’ vast recruiting efforts.  Keep an eye on this one.

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This has been a topic of discussion here at Select Metrix several times.  So how do you refer to the companies with whom you do business?  Kendra Lee, guest author for Jonathan Farrington has this to say.

From my perspective a client is a person whose business you have a vested interest in, and for whom you perform as a partner within their business. Not everything you provide is billable. And not every opportunity you are awarded was shopped with the competition for the best price.

In contrast, customers are people who you help meet a need. They have a problem. You address the problem. You may invest long hours in determining the right solution. They may invest a great deal in purchasing the solution, but they don’t recognize the value of your recommendations. You don’t take time to present new ideas, perform quarterly review meetings, or call them spontaneously.

An interesting thought.  Whether you agree or not, I think we would all agree that having more clients according to the description above would make our businesses more profitable.  So how do we get to this point where we are viewed as partners?

I think Kendra is right on the money with her thoughts on the subject - we need to start treating them as our partners.  We can do that by forging new ideas, identifying strategic business objectives, holding review meetings and taking responsibility for our errors are just a few.  Realistically, I don’t think that everyone we do business with will see us as a partner which is is ok.  However, we need to do our part to make sure that we don’t give them an easy reason to do so.

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Funny article here from BusinessWeek.com titled Office Wear: A Tale of Two Generations.  There is a definite clash of generations when it comes to business attire, especially among women.  This article provides a discussion from both the Baby Boomer perspective and the Millennial perspective.

Some pull quotes:

It’s no wonder then that she is unnerved by women who drift into work wearing bright tops or fitted dress pants. Or that she is downright shocked when they wear even less, baring bellies, toes, or tattoos. “We banned flip-flops here two years ago,” says Gaines. “I still can’t believe we had to tell people not to wear them.”

Apparently I am dating myself by agreeing here – flip flops in the office?  Come on.

Gaines says Mahoney’s generation never has had to worry about sexism in the workplace, so the women think nothing of wearing clothes that highlight their bodies. Mahoney’s response? “I watch old Murphy Brown shows and see the big shoulder pads and the women dressing more masculine, and it is so off-putting. I don’t think that kind of fashion proves anything today. It doesn’t mean you are more serious. People feel more comfortable dressing in tune with their personalities.”

Murphy Brown and big shoulder pads.  Excellent reference.  I’m no slave to fashion, but I did enjoy the article.

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I’ve been reading through many sales employment ads recently and am seeing a trend – the ads are written tighter.  A couple of examples:

-Minimum of 5 years of related public accounting and/or corporate sales

-A minimum of two years’ business development experience in a pharmaceutical and/or CRO biotechnology, or drug development company.

Nothing wrong with this approach since the candidate pool is still relatively large due to the slow economy.  One thing to be sure of – the labor pool will tighten up again soon.  At that point, it is wiser to move these requirements into preferences and look outside of your industry for transferable skills.

One interesting point – the aforementioned examples are from companies that recently laid off numerous employees.  This is a common approach for large companies.  They tend to purge a certain number of employees during slow times.  Wall Street is more accepting of this news and it is a good time to upgrade certain positions.

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When you look at your employee turnover are you content or confounded?  If confounded, what have you done to improve it?  You may want to start by reviewing your onramping program.  Managesmarter.com had an interesting article on this subject and provided the following findings:

• 22 percent of staff turnover occurs in the first 45 days of employment. (The Wynhurst Group)
• 46 percent of rookies wash out in their first 18 months. (Leadership IQ)
• Companies that leave onboarding (ed. what we call onramping) to chance experience failure rates in excess of 50 percent when it comes to retaining new talent. (Egon Zehnder International, 2007)

More than a 50% failure rate?  Ouch!  I have seen firsthand the problems that arise from not having a defined onramping program.  The article makes a couple of great points; first, an employee will decide in the initial 3 weeks if they feel at home or not.  Second, 3 parties – HR professionals, hiring manager and the new employee - need to own up to making sure that an onramping program is in place and followed.  The author gives 3 specific areas that need to be addressed and how each party needs to handle these areas.

1. Tell the truth about the job from the beginning
2. Assure a Good “Fit”—Values and Interests
3. Foster a Sense of Belonging and Connectedness

I recommend that you go read the article as it gives some great advice.  One point it makes for managers in regards to fit:

Help new hires learn the “culture”—the informal rules of the organization. Talk with new hires about the organization’s values. What counts for success?

How important is this?  Most employees who have been with the company for 6 months or more know all of the unwritten rules and they probably operate without even thinking about them.  A new employee has no clue unless they informed of these rules.  Without the knowledge, they will break some of these rules accidentally (and hopefully not spectaularly).

Let me illustrate with a personal example.  Several years ago I recevied a job offer and accepted the position with a new company after working for years at my previous employer.  After completing a background screening and going through a half-day orientation session, I showed up for my first actual day of work.  Without knowing it, I broke one of the unwritten rules.  The first meeting I attended was uncomfortable as I was not greeted by most of my new teammates.  I noticed a strange vibe.

After the meeting, I met with my new manager and was told by him that the owner of the company did not like facial hair and I would need to shave my goatee in order to keep my job.  Not the best time to be told of this one unwritten rule, but it actually put me a little at ease, because it explained why I was treated the way I was by my co-workers.  This rule would have been nice to know before showing up for my first day.

As a manager, make sure you lay the groundwork with your new employees.  Do not expect them to intuitively know all the rules of the office.  If they break an informal rule treat it as a training event, not a disciplinary action.  Invest the time and you will improve your odds of retaining your new hires.

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I had a sales candidate ask an excellent, subtle question yesterday – “What other positions is this company currently hiring?”  Again, the subtlety of this question provides a view into a company’s needs, growth and possible turnover.  It is an excellent question to ask in any interview.

The second part of this equation is for the hiring manager to appreciate the question.  What I mean is this – listen carefully to the questions being asked by the candidate.  We often watch hiring managers trip over themselves to answer a good question without appreciating the question itself.  Some times the hiring manager cannot even recall the questions asked in the interview.  This is problematic for successful sales hiring.

Someday I am going to capture every question asked by a candidate in the interview and put them in a document, in order, and then present them to the hiring manager.  The questions themselves and the sequence of questions is important for successful selling (read: qualifying).  This ability is observable in the interview process…if you are looking for it.  Don’t miss it.

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The Herman Trend Alert (sorry, no link) today highlights areas of the economy that are growing, even thriving, during the slowdown.  Some you may not have considered:

Logistics alternatives to diesel-consuming trucks that are more efficient at moving goods, like railroads, are also doing well. Plus, fed up with increasing delays and cancellations of flights, passengers are choosing rail travel over air. Expect this trend to increase; the US rail lines will borrow experts from Canadian Pacific and Virgin to learn how to deliver extraordinary passenger experiences.

Domestic food producers, especially domestic cheese producers are reaping the benefits of the falling dollar. Rapidly rising prices for imported products are prompting customers to look for domestic substitutes. Farmers now find their products in increasingly higher demand.

But then there is a dandy little comment that I have seen from many of our friends and neighbors:

Local amusement parks will also do well in these challenging economic times. The parks are enjoying the benefits of people taking what are called “staycations”—vacation time off taken close-to or at home. Until the economy improves, expect to see increasing numbers of people choosing staycations.

“Staycations” – that is excellent.  I am writing this post from the airport as I wait to interview a candidate.  I can tell you there are many people complaining about their travel prices as they walk by me.  The delays are another sore point as I sit here waiting for the candidate’s delayed flight.

If you sell into any of these industries, it is time to pick up the phone or fire off an email.  Their industry is surging which makes qualifying money an easier task.

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