I understand the younger generations are voracious consumers of text messaging. This fact became clear to me when I tagged along to pick up a new Treo phone. The phone has an Internet connection almost everywhere so you can receive email at any time. The sales rep was pushing an add-on package for unlimited text messaging. Our question back to him – Why do we need text messaging when we have email? We must of looked like dinosaurs to the young sales rep. At any rate, here is an article about text messaging that is out of control. I think you will see what I mean: She turned on her… Read More
Continue Reading$100K Jobs
Forbes.com has an article out on Surprising Six Figure Jobs. Surprising indeed. I’ll pull some professions from the article: Typist/Court Reporter (not kidding) Mine Manager Printing Plant Operator Professional Coach The things you learn here at The Hire Sense. I particularly enjoyed professional life coach. The butt of many jokes, but apparently a well-paid gig if you can get it.
Continue ReadingSales Development Plan FAQ Page
We have added a new page in regards to our recently released Sales Development Plan. Some specific questions have arisen so we put together a FAQ page to address the most common questions. We’ll expand the page as we encounter more questions. Please click here to go to the FAQ page now
Continue Reading5 Habits of Millionaires
Who wouldn’t read this monster.com article – 5 Habits of Millionaires? I suppose millionaires. Yesterday, I posted on the cars CEOs drive. I suspected that they drive “common” cars but may live in nicer homes. From today’s article: Many wealthy people live quite simply, he points out, choosing less pretentious homes than they could theoretically afford and opting for financial independence over material showmanship. There you go – their Utilitarianism is stronger than even I expected. I was pleased to see that I shared this aspect with millionaires: One interesting study found a majority of male millionaire entrepreneurs had been in trouble with school authorities or the police during their… Read More
Continue ReadingInterview Etiquette
Interview Etiquette Begins The Minute You Walk in the Door from CareerJournal is a must-read piece for Gen Y workers. I’ve seen some of these traits first hand in initial interviews or even email communications. I had a candidate this past week email me his resume and cover letter. Strangely, he wasn’t even close to fitting the clearly specified requirements of the position. He then followed up with the same email to me for the next 2 days. Except these times he had 5MB of attachments to his email. Finally, on the 3rd time, he sent the 5MB email to me 3 times in the middle of the night and… Read More
Continue ReadingReviews and Development Plans
CareerBuilder.com approaches an important topic that is often placed on the back burner – Why Do Quarterly Employee Reviews? I suspect most companies perform an annual employee review that is primarily tied to a salary review. Many companies may not even do that much. A scheduled, quarterly review is insulation against bad habits taking root in the employee’s performance. From the article, a real truth: Almost everyone performs better when held accountable. Employees who are not given performance benchmarks, goals and a vision will often fail. This fact is our first topic when coaching sales managers. Sales managers simply need to hold their team accountable. They don’t need to be… Read More
Continue ReadingCEOs are Utilitarians
CareerBuilder along with Cars.com performed a survey to find out what cars CEO’s drive. I don’t know if this data has any real application, but I found it interesting: The truth is more CEOs surveyed drive ordinary passenger cars and SUVs than luxury cars; in fact, those who drive Chevys outnumber those in Mercedes. And while most respondents think CEOs spend more than $70,000 on their cars, the average price CEOs in this study payed for their primary vehicle is under $25,000. One-in-four (26%) CEOs surveyed reported they spent less than $20,000 on their primary vehicle. Are you surprised? I’m not for 1 reason – the majority of CEO’s we… Read More
Continue ReadingThe End of Trade Shows
As someone who has attended many trade shows in my career, I was most intrigued by this short note in a recent Sales & Marketing Management email (sorry, no link): How bad are trade shows? A new survey by transportation-services provider BostonCoach reveals 70 percent of attendees harbor some negative feelings about their experiences. From boring presentations to the hassle of travel, trade shows are getting low marks.”The results of this survey have important implications for organizations staging events,” says BostonCoach president and CEO Jonathan P. Danforth. “Producing a truly successful event requires focusing on activities and logistics that extend well beyond the show floor or a meeting room.” Here’s… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Development Plan
Finally – our new Sales Development Plan is now available. This tool will take the volumes of assessment data we gather on a salesperson and transform it into a tactical game plan to develop their sales skills. And now for our shameless plug – No sales manager should be without one for each member of their sales team. Please click here to learn more about this product.
Continue ReadingCover Emails with Attitude
It’s Monday and I’m calling this an anecdote. More fun from the general resume email. This gentleman’s cover email (seems archaic to say cover “letter”) ends with this paragraph: I am a proven closer of large ticket, high margin services. I am a rare-rare breed. If you have a real opportunity, lets talk. If your a recruiter, I will not talk to you unless you can be specific about a REAL opportunity. I laugh every time I read it. The guy is also asking for a minimum base salary of $120K with a commission plan that will match the salary. Is there any greater turn off than unbridled arrogance?
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