From Dick Costolo’s Ask the Wizard blog: Briefly, the “No False Positives” school of hiring says that bad hires are worse than no hire because bad employees infect the company with all sorts of issues. Better to march on with nobody filling an important slot than to bring in a sub-par performer. The hire fast, fire fast approach basically can be boiled down to “it’s really almost impossible to understand whether a person is going to be a killer A+ match before they start working with you day to day, so best to find somebody that seems close enough, and then remove them quickly if they don’t work out.” This… Read More
Continue ReadingQualifying or Responding
Managesmarter.com offers a short article regarding Best Sales Practices of 2007 that contains a stellar piece of sales advice: “The dictum of ‘No RFP shall go unanswered’ is not a good idea,” says Sam Reese, CEO of sales training firm Miller Heiman. Because of the time, energy and money involved in responding to an RFP, “If you didn’t spec it,” says Reese, “don’t bid it.” Salespeople have a hard time walking away from any deal whether it be a good deal or not. RFP’s tend to be bad deals unless you helped author it. Main point – people can be qualified, RFP’s generally cannot. We’ve seen many sales managers struggle… Read More
Continue ReadingDon’t Wing It
Selling Power published How to Manage Customer Meetings Effectively which offers some sound advice for running an effective sales meeting. There are many salespeople who believe they can wing it through a sales call by simply talking loquaciously. Mistake. Here is some advice found within the article: Hoffman suggests that you begin by clearly defining a personal goal for the outcome of the meeting. Don’t define a weak goal such as, “I want to establish next steps or action items.” Instead he suggests identifying a specific goal €“ is it an order? A trial for your software? Expansion into new markets? Referrals? And yes, says Hoffman, you can have more… Read More
Continue ReadingNo Email Fridays – Part 2
We posted on this topic last November and here it is popping up again. Abcnews.com offers No E-Mail Fridays Transform Office. An interesting stat: The volume of e-mails has exploded in recent years with over 170 billion now being sent daily around the globe, according to technology market researcher Radacati Group. That’s two million every second. I’m not surprised by that stat. But here is the piece of data that spawned the idea: Two and a half years ago, Ellison was receiving an average of 200 e-mails a day, many of which went unopened. After getting cyber-indigestion, he sent out a memo to his 5,500 subordinates. “I’m announcing a ban… Read More
Continue ReadingCover Letter Confidence
It seems early this first Monday of daylight saving time so I thought we would start with some levity. From the email cover pile: I am THE sales SUPERMAN I am willing to relocate, I am your new Head Salesman. I put up big numbers… Really, what can I add to this cover letter?
Continue ReadingHow To Allay Sales Fears
A quick note from a well-constructed sales ad I just read. The company is a medical device manufacturer and contained a strong sentence for attracting salespeople: A strong work ethic is required to meet sales quotas. You will be supported by solid marketing programs, support staff, and innovative products that are designed to continue our growth in the medical device industry. Anyone who has been in sales more than a day has experienced selling for a company that does not fully support the sales team. I once worked for a large company where I had to pull my own product information, find the right envelope, address it and put the… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling With A Pierced Tongue
We’ve been on the tattoo and piercing topic for a while and it has generated many discussions at our shop. BusinessWeek.com offers A Pierced Tongue: Too Edgy for Sales? which is a Q&A article. Here is the set-up: There is a young woman in our office who has done a great job in sales support. We are considering her for an outside sales position, but some of the managers are concerned because the employee has a pierced tongue and a little silver barbell ornament in it. Good question – one we have never faced before. I would personally have reservations about the pierced tongue with an outside salesperson. The article mentions… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – What Not To Do When Prospecting
We are presently running multiple processes and I received an email in response to one of our ads. The respondent listed the job title in the subject line and this in the body: Good morning: If I could show you the following: How to generate more leads How to increase company revenue and referral business How to be one step up on your competition A marketing program that will separate you from your competition Would you be open to look at information? John Doe 123-456-7890 I admire him for trying to create interest in his services, but this approach is insulting. Who wouldn’t want to increase company revenue? The implication… Read More
Continue ReadingOur New Lens – Hiring and Retaining Sales Superstars
We have assembled a Squidoo Lens that you can visit by clicking here. The focus of the lens is sales hiring and retention. This version is our first pass at a lens so go easy on us. We plan on developing it further and adding more topic-specific lenses soon. We’ll keep you informed as we go. In case you were wondering what a lens is: SO, WHAT’S A LENS? A lens is one person’s view on a topic that matters to her. It’s an easy-to-build, single web page that can point to blogs, favorite links, RSS feeds, Flickr photos, Google maps, eBay auctions, CafePress designs, Amazon books or music, and… Read More
Continue ReadingFlexible Hours Expected
CareerJournal.com’s Bend Without Breaking: Women Execs Discuss Flex Schedules is an interesting take on a woman’s leadership challenges. This quote is what caught my attention: Michele Coleman Mayes, senior vice president and general counsel of Pitney Bowes, says one of the main rules she learned early in her career — to never leave the office at the end of the day before her boss — is considered outdated by her 20- and 30-something employees. “We baby boomers were driven by face time, but younger employees say ‘what’s the point of that when everyone is wired and always reachable?’” says Ms. Mayes, who is 57. Some women executives Ms. Mayes’s age… Read More
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