If you (hiring manager) are talking, you’re not interviewing.  I know, simple in concept, but for some it is difficult in practice.  I sat through an interview recently that involved a sales manager who spoke for 75-85% of the time!  The candidate was simply caught in his wake for the entire interview.

My take on the interview was that we learned next to nothing about the candidate and his fit to the position.  He may have been strong – we’ll never know.  What we did learn is the frantic, scattered approach of the sales manager makes for an interview that did not go deep on any topic.

The fault here lies with me in that the sales manager should have been better prepped.  He would do well with a set list of questions and a note reminding him to listen first.  I made the assumption that he knew this and I paid for it in a strong candidate being passed.

It is a good reminder to do the simple things well before moving to the advanced topics.

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I have come across many articles recently that promote selling tips in this recession.  One common thread runs through all of them – chase smaller deals.  Here is an example from Inc.com – 5 Tips for Selling a Service Now:

“The big change for us in 2009 is that we are more flexible on minimum amount of an engagement that we’ll pursue,” says Gay Gaddis, the founder and CEO of T3, an Austin-based advertising and marketing agency that specializes in digital media. In years past, her firm only went after client engagements that were worth between $1.5 million and $2 million. Now, “some larger clients are breaking RFPs into smaller amounts,” Gaddis says, prompting T3 to pursue accounts in the $500,000-to-$1 million range. The company, which had $300 million in capitalized billings in 2008, is still selective, however: “We won’t take just any piece of business,” Gaddis says. “We really want to work with large and midsize companies that are making digital marketing really central to what they do.”

As a sales manager, this approach is counter-intuitive during booming economic times.  I could launch on RFP-based selling (really is quote writing), but I will refrain for the purpose of this post.

Right now we are seeing most companies pursue smaller deals as a means to survive the present economy.  It is a wise pursuit in that it will help keep people working, some cash flowing and new business developing.

However, the caveat in the pull quote is this – don’t pursue every piece of business.  Some deals, no matter how desperate, are not worth pursuing.  Many salespeople will chase a bad deal in a recession for the simple purpose of looking busy.  Forecasts are the means for monitoring effort and focus.  Each prospect should be discussed in detail to ensure that the salespeople are targeting the proper small deals.

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