Team-based selling has become a dominant trend in the sales world due in large part to the information flowing through the Internet.  Prospects expect knowledgeable salespeople to call upon them – the basic information they can (and probably have) learn from your website.  ManageSmarter.com offers this article – Cross-Selling Takes Teamwork – which discusses team-based cross-selling to your customer base.

Some might suggest that customers are irritated by cross-selling and perceive it as an aggressive sales approach. Interestingly enough, consumer research indicates that the reverse is actually true. Most customers prefer a full spectrum of products and services and appreciate the convenience that is provided through a comprehensive cross-selling approach.

You know, people are irritated by poor salespeople so it doesn’t matter if it is a cross-sell opportunity or not.  Nonetheless, I think this author is correct in his statement.

Cross-selling in today’s market requires consultants who bring value to the discussion.  This requirement is reshaping the modern salesperson and the abilities they bring to the process.  Many complex sales are complete team-selling events today (and rightly so).  One very important point on that approach:

When developing a cross-selling program, it is critically important that everyone in the organization buys into the philosophy and fully participates in the program. The foundation of every successful cross-selling program is rooted in a strong incentive system based on personal recognition and financial reward.

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Smoke screens are moves prospects use on salespeople that appear to be reasons for not moving forward with a deal. Many times these smoke screens sound something like this:

We’re going to take a look at all options.

We need 3 quotes before deciding.

We need to think it over.

Smoke, nothing more. If you have salespeople believing these statements are a precursor to a close, take them out to the wood shed on their qualifying. These “prospects” are not qualified and should not be on any forecast.

Justsell.com offers up a simple, yet powerful web page that addresses the real objection from the prospect. Their objection falls into 1 (or more) of these 8 areas:

1. lack of perceived value in the product or service

2. lack of perceived urgency in purchasing the offering

3. perception of inferiority to a competitor or in-house offering

4. internal political issue between parties/ departments

5. lack of funds to purchase the offering

6. personal issue with the decision maker(s)

7. initiative with an external party

8. “it’s safer to do nothing” perception

Ask your salesperson to answer each one of these 8 topics and you are guaranteed to discover where the smoke is coming from.

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I’ve never seen this statement in a cover email before:

I’m well kept, dress business casual on most days, and mind my own business in the office.

This statement comes from the cover letter of a salesperson.  If you realize that you only have a small window to make an impression, I think there are far better topics to address in the cover letter.  Maybe it’s just me.

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CareerJournal.com offers something new, at least to me, in the modern-day hiring process – Add One More to the Hiring Process: The Boss’s Coach.

Welcome to the latest development in job hunting. You impressed the recruiter, treated the receptionist politely and bonded with the hiring official. Now, you must also pass muster with the executive coach for your likely boss. The rising popularity of such additional screening reflects management’s increased use of coaches and its worries about the high turnover among new hires.

I’m not a fan of adding more cooks to the kitchen when it comes to making strong hiring decisions. Our process is geared around group input, but the more people at the table, the more difficult the decision. The reason is that people’s biases become intensified when there is little objectivity in the hiring process (read: assessments).

Here is spin:

And the extra hoop can have an added benefit for the job seeker “because an executive coach can describe what this new boss will really be like,” suggests Marilyn Machlowitz, a New York recruiter who handled Ms. Shapiro’s search.

Right. I doubt that the executive coach is going to describe what the boss is “really like” to a candidate. Maybe I am wrong, but what does the coach gain by sharing that information? The example from the article involves a nonprofit foundation – a far cry from the typical market-driven, B2B business world.

Use a process and objectively assess the candidates – that approach alone will drastically improve your hiring success.

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I came across a sales ad by a large customer we used to work with at our previous company. We no longer work with this company which is not a bad thing. The reason I say that is due to the fact that though this company is fairly large, they are overrun with bureaucracy.

One of the battles we took up was to change their atrocious sales ads since they were not attracting good candidates. We had no idea what a tar pit that topic was going to be. We were directed to the HR department. They accepted our suggestions in the meetings we attended, but they continued to place long, tedious job descriptions for ads. We took this topic up with the sales management team who simply deferred to HR.

The point here is that some companies are awash in bureaucracy which is a death knell in this new economy. This company had clearly defined political boundaries that no one dared cross even if their own department was taking a hit for it. My father often says companies like this have a “hardening of the categories.”

It is still possible to be a large company and still be nimble in the marketplace. This large company has survived on its long-established reputation, but their market share is circling the drain.

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This week’s focus is on the ability of a salesperson to connect with their prospect.  Building rapport is first step in starting an effective qualifying discussion with a prospect.  Of course, some salespeople can only build rapport – we call them schmoozers.  Nonetheless, an strong salesperson with this trait is incredibly effective with new prospects.

Relating to Others
This trait coordinates personal insights and knowledge of others into effective actions. It includes the ability to make use of accurate interpersonal skills in interacting with others.

A salesperson with strength in this trait is able to establish a good rapport with others including a feeling of comfort between both parties.

A weakness in this area often indicates a person who feels the necessity to present an image of a person that is different from what they think they are. Not being comfortable with who we are can lead to others not feeling comfortable around us. It is very difficult to relate effectively with others if you are not comfortable with yourself as a person.

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Has your sales department stalled? Is your team awash in mediocrity? If so, you are not alone. According to ManageSmarter.com’s Different Year, Same Objectives for Sales Teams:

57 percent of reps are making quota, but 43 percent are still under quota.

Not good. Obviously it is next to impossible to ascertain why 43% are not selling at their quota. My first guess is misaligned hiring for the position, but that’s only a guess.

Here is a stat we are attempting to influence greatly:

27.8 percent of companies say it takes more than a year to get new sales reps ramped up.

Sounds about right…and that’s not good. That extended ramp time is the reason behind our new on-ramping program. The program includes a 6 month warranty for that salesperson. There are techniques and milestones for ramping a new salesperson faster than 1 or more years and our new program guides the sales manager through the on-ramping period.

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Ok, earlier today I posted on mistakes made by candidates in the interview.  Now it is time to look at mistakes made by hiring managers in the interview.  From CareerBuilder.com’s article Five Common Hiring Blunders and How to Avoid Them:

Experience is important, but life experience is sometimes better

Yes, you want to make sure your candidate has relevant experience in the field, but don’t place all your eggs in that one basket. Some candidates lack the desired amount of relevant experience, but they make up for it with their life experience. Military experience, studying or working overseas, volunteering a year of their life to saving the whales, or taking a year off of work to write a novel; these all offer valuable learning experiences and experiences other candidates can’t duplicate. In tough times candidates can draw upon their life experience to develop a solution, or use it to look at problems from different view points. Anyone can work long enough in your industry, but not anyone can boast about blistering cold while living in a thermal tent somewhere in the Antarctic.

We preach this truth often since it is the number 1 hiring mistake we encounter.  My guess is that a hiring or sales manager who does not understand how to properly assess a sales candidate will simply revert to hiring experience.  If the new employee is a bust, the manager can simply state, “I’m not sure what happened – they had extensive experience selling in our industry.”

I wouldn’t necessarily promote life experiences as an alternative.  Instead, I would encourage you to assess the candidates and see what the iceberg looks like below the waterline (a strange metaphor that makes sense if you visit our assessing page).  It is far more insightful to assess a candidate and interview them with that information at your disposal than attempting to divine abilities from an embellished resume.

Another common mistake we see in interviews:

Too much talking, not enough listening

During the interview process, slow down and make sure you are letting the candidate speak. Spend more time listening to them and less time talking about your company or the position interviewing for. You need to make sure that you fully understand their background, experience, and qualifications and if you’re the one doing all the talking. It is important for you to find out if the candidate does in fact have an opinion of their own, and if so, does it correlate with the opinions already in place at your company?

Don’t spill your candy in the lobby.  What I mean is that even bad salespeople can be good communicators.  If you are talking extensively about the position, company or culture, you are tipping your hand in a way that can be used by schmoozers to adjust their answers.  Remember, the person asking the questions is in control of the conversation.  Ask questions, drill down on their responses and allow the candidate to do the vast majority of the talking.

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In an effort to stay on top of the hippest trends, I give you this:

The top 10 most annoying buzzwords or phrases in the creative industry today:

* Outside the box
* Synergy
* The big idea
* ROI
* Paradigm shift
* Strategy
* Integrated solution
* CRM
* Customer-centric
* Voice of the consumer

From ManageSmarter.com’s Office Lingo: Buzzwords That Are Losing Their Buzz.  The bolded entries are ones I have used in the past 7 days.  I will make the proper adjustments to my lexicon, but “ROI” is too important to abandon.

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We attempt to keep track of the interview tips that are offered all over the web to candidates to assist them in their job search.  Some tips seem clever, others seem robotic.  This StarTribune.com article – Ten Things Not To Do In An Interview – provides a general, helpful list of interview faux pas.

For instance:

3. Don’t speak badly about previous employers or co-workers. Make sure you’ve practiced an honest answer but one that doesn’t show that you’re angry with the previous employer or circumstance.

Very true and yet I have encountered many candidates who cannot resist the urge to denigrate previous managers.  I worked for my share of bad managers, but I have not brought them up in an interview since I knew it was a big red flag for an employer.  Again, I still encounter candidates who seem to take enjoyment from discussing the lameness of their previous boss.

Good tip here for sales candidates:

9. Don’t tell the interviewer you have no questions. This shows a lack of interest, curiosity and depth. Have 5- 10 questions prepared, and it’s OK to pull out the list if you need to.

Salespeople should be asking questions to qualify the opportunity.  This is simply good sales behavior.  We not only want to hear their questions, we pay attention to what questions they ask.  Questions regarding vacation, work hours, etc. are less desirable than questions about sales cycle, targeted markets and average-sized deals.

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