We do not recommend hiring solely on communication style, but if you are in a industry that deals with SOX, HIPPA or some other draconian paperwork, you would be wise to hire a High C style with a strong Attention to Detail aptitude. These areas can all be accurately and objectively measured before hiring them. I bring this up since one person at our company is meeting with his insurance agent for a 3rd time in a year (this time to straighten out the insurance on his sons’ automobile). The troubles have started since the agent hired an assistant who has an innate ability to jumble paperwork in the worst… Read More
Continue ReadingGetting Rid of the Dead Weight
We see many sales teams that have a handful of under performing salespeople on the team. Often, the sales manager rationalizes something to the effect of a warm body is better than no body. I don’t subscribe to that thinking and neither does Jack Welch as you can see in this CareerBuilder article – Terminate 10% of Your Employees Each Year. I haven’t worked in a company as large as GE, but I think this approach works well in that environment. Obviously, GE has been on a tremendous tear for quite some time. Under performing salespeople drag a team down. I think many sales managers are reluctant to train in… Read More
Continue ReadingAllowing “Pockets of Chaos”
The abcnews.com Working Wounded Blog is always reliable for a different take on things. The post from last night, Chaos 1, Order 0, weaves together airplane boarding procedures, elementary school and 3M in one short post. Impressive. Bob Rosner’s point – sometimes a little bit of chaos can increase productivity and creativity. In regards to Northwest Airlines scrapping its “by row” boarding procedure and opening it up: This announcement reminds us that sometimes a little chaos can get us all where we need to go faster. Significantly faster. He then provides this statement: Ironically, I’m going to accuse you the corporate people reading this blog of doing the very same… Read More
Continue ReadingSalary Value Index
Salary.com provides a list for our reading consumption – the Salary Value Index. The explanation: The compensation experts at Salary.com uncovered the top (and bottom) US metros for building personal net worth, taking into account local salaries, cost of living, and unemployment relative to the national average. The results are in and the number 1 city is…Huntsville, AL. Now I have been to Huntsville many times and it is a great little city. Number 1 is surprising, but still a nice town. You’ll have to read the rest of the article for the overall rankings. FYI – New York City was last.
Continue ReadingHow Not to Write a Sales Ad
I just read an ad for a sales-related position – it is in the sales category but it is so vaguely written that I cannot decipher what the position entails. The ad discusses what the person will be responsible for managing and some of what they will be doing. It then flows into a bulleted list of requirements that include: Bachelor’s degree Minimum of 12-15 years of business experience Minimum of 5-7 years specific experience Previous management experience A specific certification I edited out the specific experience in the bullets above. The next piece of the ad is the closing information in great detail. Nothing in the ad describes the… Read More
Continue ReadingSpeaking Visually with PowerPoint
Strangely, I have come across a couple different articles on PowerPoint etiquette this afternoon. I’m an auditory person so I prefer talking, listening and reading for communication. However, I realize that the majority of people are visual so PowerPoint is an important tool for selling (and training). Selling Power chimes in with How to Speak Visually which caught my attention because, first off, I can’t speak well to visuals and second, it is a bit of an oxymoron. The article is a tactical advice column with this interesting tidbit: Open your palms. Open palms represent truth. Practice saying phrases like, Whats in it for you? and What does all this… Read More
Continue ReadingUsing Your Value Proposition in Hiring
Why Should I Work For Your Company? provides a blending of a company’s value proposition in to their hiring process. The article is written towards recruiters, but the principles are excellent and timely. Sourcing strong candidates is becoming more difficult every day so companies will not want to lose a strong candidate to a better prepared competitor. Here is an excerpt that caught my eye: Growth and Career Runway: What opportunities for growth exist, both vertically and horizontally? By horizontally we mean this: Can a strong individual contributor become more influential in a company without becoming a manager? How clear is it to employees what they can do to move… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Not to Stand Out – Part Deux
More from the online resume board. Check out this excerpt from a resume cover letter: I will say this though – I have a master’s degree so DO NOT WASTE MY TIME WITH SALES POSITIONS (I’M NOT A USED CAR SALESMAN) AND POSITIONS THAT ARE BENEATH ME. Please also bare in mind that I live on the east coast so please take heed that it might be later for me if you call at a certain time depending on where you are from. I have the experience and the education to work in an actual position. ALL CAPS = Trouble. Let’s parse out one sentence in this masterpiece – I… Read More
Continue Reading2006 Salary Report
From S&MM Magazine (sorry, no link): The benefits of an improving economy trickled down to a lot of paychecks in 2006. The 2006 Survey of Exempt Compensation by Business and Legal Reports found 43 out of the 44 benchmarked-exempt positions saw salary increases averaging 3.9 percent. “Respondents indicated that they were somewhat more optimistic in their pay budgeting for the coming year,” the report stated. “Exempt employees were scheduled to receive merit increases of four percent closely matching the average actual salary increase.” Among the trends: * Top gainers for the year: purchasing managers, occupational health and safety specialists, and advertising and promotions managers. All saw average salary gains of… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling the Failures
For the past 5 years, we have helped companies hire people who have started their own companies, worked as 1099 contractors or were freelance workers. Some companies shy away from these people since the natural inclination is to assume they have failed in some way. We strongly encourage companies to refrain from filtering these candidates out of their process simply for their recent experience. Their experiences and skills are often broader and richer than a career corporate employee. How to turn failures into selling points provides tips to candidates for explaining their recent career failures. The author provides coaching to candidates regarding their failures – I like this advice: Rather… Read More
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