How to Read Your Prospect Like a Book! by John Boe is a quick read article from Sales Vault with some great tips on understanding the nonverbal cues a prospect/client is sending you. He states:

…that one of the easiest and most effective ways to close sales is to be aware of the prospect’s “buy signals.”

The article gives clues to look for in reading body language, mainly head and facial gestures. For an example:

Head Gestures

• Tilted back = Superior attitude
• Tilted down = Negative and judgmental attitude
• Tilted to one side = Interest

For those of you that know this information already, it is a nice 5 minute refresher. If this topic is new to you, it is well worth the time to read it, print it off and provide a copy to your salespeople. This information can also be used when interviewing candidates.

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Here’s one for the long holiday weekend.

We were interviewing an internal candidate for a sales manager position and were sitting across from a pegged out High I. He spoke at a frenetic pace and at great length. To top it off, he rarely offered a cogent thought.

So you can imagine there were many moments of silence as we sat there stunned at his performance. During one of those moments, out of the blue the candidate states, “I may talk fast, but it’s slow in my head.”

He didn’t get the position.

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Here is a recent one for your reading pleasure. Over the past couple weeks I have been sourcing for a territory sales position and had the following email exchange with an applicant. Apparently he felt unencumbered by the specific instructions provided in the online employment ad. Simple instructions – all applicants were asked to either email their resume or to call.

From the applicant:

is new business coming from advertising agencies also clients who use your services in the new york city marketplace important to you?

(Unsigned, no number provided.)

My response:

I apologize, I am unclear as to your inquiry. If you are interested in learning more about the position, call me at 123-456-7890 or if you are interested in applying for it, please email your resume to me.

Thanks,

Lee

Applicant’s reply:

Hi Lee, Please read my message again regarding new business and call me to discuss

Regards Applicant 123-456-7890 office nyc

(He erased all of the previous email exchanges in his reply which required me to open his previous email to be able to read his message.)

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As an employer, how much prep time do you put in before interviewing a candidate? Candidates have thousands of resources available to them through articles, books, coaches and websites (as we have pointed out in numerous posts).

Monster.com offers multiple resources to the job searcher, from industry specific advice for job searches/career pathing to basic tips on resume writing to answer strategies for interview questions . In monster’s Self-Assessment Center they have a Random Interview Question Generator that not only generates questions but provides specific advice on how to respond to the questions. The site also provides advice on how to handle illegal questions like, “Do you have children, and if so, how will you handle daycare?”

Needless to say I was intrigued so I decided to try it. Wow. It is a powerful tool to prep a candidate but it also contained some amusing questions. My favorite one – “Why is there fuzz on a tennis ball?” Now maybe this question is important for someone interviewing with Penn or Prince, but I don’t know why anyone would ask a question like that in a typical interview.

My point is simple – if the candidates are taking the time to thoroughly prepare for an interview, so should you. Think about the key success indicators for the position, why the position exists and then structure the majority of your questions around these areas. Please, please, do not attempt to “wing it” through an interview or you won’t see the real candidate sitting across from you.

And no, I do not know the answer to the fuzz on a tennis ball question.

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Here is a different link for a post – a good audio segment on SalesRepRadio. The featured segment this week is a broadcast (is that the right word?) named Outcome Focused Selling. The speaker, Anne Warfield, discusses a different approach to selling. Instead of being focused on solving problems, salespeople need to be focused on finding solutions.

When I first heard this phrasing I wondered what is the difference? Warfield went on to say that trying to “solve problems” unintentionally focuses the salesperson on features and benefits selling. I’ve seen this type of selling first-hand and it mostly leads to a data dump of marketing information on an disinterested prospect. Instead, salespeople need to focus on “finding solutions” to prospect problems. This inclusive approach will get the salesperson talking about a overall solution specifically in relationship to the prospect’s problems. It is a fine point that she does a good job positioning.

Warfield goes on to say:

“Most salespeople I find generally are lively, easy-going people. They feel the first way they are going to connect with someone is to have personal communication. So they try to chit-chat about their family or about their house or notice something in their office. Really, what you have to be able to do in 30 to 60 seconds is understand what that person’s communication style is.”

She makes a valid point about the importance of discovering the other person’s communication style. Unfortunately, she does not explain how a salesperson is supposed to go about discovering it in only 30 to 60 seconds.

I would agree with her statement above in that there are 2 styles of communication, or Selling Styles, that would not appreciate personal chit-chat that lasted more than 60 seconds. However, those 2 styles make up only 32% of the general population. The other 2 styles (68% of the population) prefer some form of sincere personal discussion before diving into business speak.

Building rapport early in the selling process begins a bonding relationship with the prospect and helps to expose their preferred communication style. Remember, 68% of the population prefers some small talk before discussing business. If a salesperson does not know the communication style of the prospect, their best move is to start with some small talk (that may take more than 30-60 seconds), observe the prospect’s style and then adjust accordingly. As part of our development plan, we provide a cheat sheet for salespeole to assist them in adapting to their prospects.

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Our sourcing, screening and interviewing activities for our customers leads us into some comical discussions. Sales candidates are entertaining, coy and often cocky. Some times their responses are downright baffling. This news is not groundbreaking to anyone who has hired salespeople in the past.

We’ve added a category for “Anecdotes” that will encompass some of the funnier moments from our experiences. Hopefully these posts will add a little levity to The Hire Sense.

My question: Why are you looking for a new position at this time?

Candidate’s response: My driver’s license is suspended at this time which was required of my previous position. Do I need to drive for this position?

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In this article from the Minneapolis StarTribune.com, the author discusses the growing demand for salespeople in the medical industry. One quote in particular jumps out:

Medical salespeople often tell me it is rewarding to sell things that help people.

I bring this topic up because it is of interest in that we have measured this reward in the medical and health insurance industries. There is a statistical significance among these salespeople to be rewarded by a higher Sense of Mission (purpose).

The article continues:

Medical salespeople are experienced, persistent and smart, do their homework and have an understanding of the audience they are selling to.

I would agree with all these statements, depending on the position, except the experience statement. Hiring based solely on experience is a slippery slope. If experience was the single most common trait of a successful salesperson, companies would adjust their hiring approach to land the oldest, most experienced salespeople from their industry.

So why isn’t this the most common approach? Because the chances of this approach being reliably predictable for hiring sales superstars is only slightly better than winning the PowerBall. Hyperbole perhaps, but you get my point.

We always state hire first on sales ability (skills, aptitudes, motivations, rewards, style) before experience. If you properly profile your sale, you can find salespeople who have been successful selling in a similar sales cycle/process. At that point, you can teach them your “STUFF.” The technical information about your product or service can be learned. Remember, at some point every member of the team had to learn about your stuff. A good salesperson can do the same. It is far more difficult to teach a person how to sell your wares than it is to teach them the technical aspects of it.

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From a recent SHRM survey and article titled “Businesses slow to help employees at the gas pump” (membership required): of 380 companies surveyed from April 25th to May 1st of this year, few companies are actively moving to assist their employees with rising gas prices. In fact, 86% indicated that they were doing nothing. Here is a break down of the top initiatives for those companies reaching out:

• 20% are increasing the mileage limit
• 8% are offering public transportation discounts, up from 7% in 2005
• 8.4% organize carpools, up from 5.3% in 2005
• 7.1% offer telecommuting, up from 4.4% in 2005

As you can see, only a small percentage of companies today are actually taking advantage of the technology available to offer telecommuting to their employees. However, the trend is clearly increasing and I expect will accelerate even more this year. More and more candidates are inquirying about positions they are applying for and if telecommuting is an option – even on a part-time basis. Is your company offering a telecommuting option and, if so, are you promoting that option in your hiring activities?

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Part of a salesperson’s role is building rapport with a prospect – it is a vital skill. A salesperson needs to match a prospect’s communication style since people naturally tend to relate to those they perceive to be similar to themselves. This older article from eyesonsales.com from Patricia Fripp, entitled Fat and Skinny Words: Levels of Abstraction throws an important concept into the rapport-building mix.

Not only do salespeople need to adjust their communication style to match the prospect, but also their level of abstraction to match the organization level with whom they are communicating. The author explains her point by using the simple analogy of an automobile. If a salesperson is talking to a high level in the organization, for instance a Vice President, the salesperson could refer to an automobile as a wheeled passenger vehicle or as surface transportation. Generally speaking, Vice Presidents tend to look at big picture concepts and not minute details.

As salespeople move down into the organization, they need to the have their words become “skinnier” (her description). At the end-user level, the automobile would then be described as a red, four door sedan with a V6 engine. The author’s summation of this level of abstraction – “Eventually, you would be talking about a specific car. Those are “skinny” words. They are essential for conveying instructions and solving technical problems.”

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