“Let’s be clear, I’m not going to take the assessments.” That was part of a conversation I had with a sales manager recently. It is surprising how often I have this discussion – either overtly or indirectly. Sales managers are not fans of taking our assessments even though the assessments provide strategic insight into growing themselves and their team. One cannot successfully look at a team – any team – without the context of the team’s leader. In order to understand the sales team, we must understand the sales manager. This disdain for our sales management assessment begs the question, why do they dislike the assessments? My thought is simply… Read More
Continue ReadingSoft Skills Make The Business Person
Interesting article from the Ottawa Business Journal titled The hard facts about soft skills. The premise: “The things that students are missing out on when the certificates are handed out are lessons in soft skills that actually make a business person who they are. The technological skills are relatively easy to learn, but the soft skills are what make you a business leader,” said Barry Gander, vice president of CATA and author of Success. Gander makes an excellent point especially in regards to recent business school grads. Technical skills are difficult to differentiate since they appear to be a commodity. Soft skills are certainly the more elusive traits to locate… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Integrative Ability
This week’s trait is one we bandy about here at Select Metrix often regarding salespeople. This trait is important in all sales but especially in complex selling environments. Pay special attention to the weakness description – it is a common issue we encounter amongst salespeople struggling in a complex sale. Integrative Ability The ability to evaluate what to do is also the ability to identify the elements of a problem situation and understand which components are critical. Being able to clearly see the component dimensions of a situation gives a person the ability to see different types of situation structures. Thereby, they are able to see different types of problem… Read More
Continue Reading“They Are Not Motivated”
I had lunch yesterday with a friend of mine who is a sales manager for a technology company. As is often the case, we started talking about some of the issues he is seeing with his team. We also discussed another one of our friends who is a sales VP and the problems he is having with his large sales team. Two managers, same problem – the salespeople are not motivated. That is it in a nutshell. The salespeople are capable and know their product, but they do not appear to be highly motivated nor successful. Their sales are average at best, but not remarkable. Mediocrity is a sales neutralizer.… Read More
Continue ReadingCold-Calling Numbers Game
Is it me or is the saying “it’s a numbers game” an overly-simplistic statement regarding a grossly inefficient tactic? Weight lifting is a numbers game. Sales and marketing is not. Some instances where this statement is applied: cold-calling networking job searching mailers invitations I’m sure there are other examples but those stand out in my mind. There is a modicum of truth to the statement. Yet, it lacks the strategic aspect needed in today’s market. This throw away line is often the dismissive final comment from a person whom lacks a formal strategy and/or has reached the end of his or her tactical moves. What about adjusting the approach, shifting tactics… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Pursuit Of Excellence
Successful selling requires excellence – in talent, ability, communication amongst other factors. Successful sales management requires pursuing excellence in each team member. Unfortunately, many sales managers are able to define failure in the position but they find defining success to be far more elusive. When running our hiring process, we see this play out time and again. Sales managers are adept at describing past failures in exquisite detail. There is value in this knowledge so we gladly record it. However, the conversation almost always slows down when we turn our focus to success. The obvious answers are provided – revenue goals, customer acquisition, etc. But what about the traits, behaviors and skills… Read More
Continue ReadingAnnoying Co-Workers
From abcnews.com’s How to Cope With Annoying Co-Workers: When someone makes a mess of the microwave, don’t say, “You’re such a pig.” Instead, try saying, “To keep the microwave clean for everyone, all of us must pay attention to wiping it down after each use. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case, so I’d appreciate it if you’d try to be more diligent about this.” Honestly, who talks like that? I would tell them they trashed the microwave and the paper towels are over there. The premise of the article is still entertaining. Here is an annoying example from early in the article: At one company I visited, WallSt.net, the employee… Read More
Continue ReadingProfit Over Market Share
Selling Power offers up Forget Market Share; Go for the Profits in their sales management newsletter and it is a compelling read. The problem with going after market share as a primary goal is that companies wind up sacrificing profitability in the process. When your whole marketing strategy is about preserving or increasing market share, it€™s easy to get wrapped up in aggressive bidding wars. And it€™s a downward spiral: customers learn to take advantage of that aggressiveness, demanding lower prices, which further erodes profits. It is a slippery slope because in essence a discount in price immediately discounts your value distinction. Businesses that not only articulate their value differentiation… Read More
Continue ReadingMe Time Is Vital
Gen Y or Millennial candidates take a different approach to their job search. If you weren’t sure of this or have yet to experience it, I give you the Pioneer Press’ The choosy generation: They want to work for companies that offer nice salaries and clear career paths for advancement. But many are pushing for more. Work isn’t their life, they’re saying before they even begin working, and they’re searching for employers who offer flexible work schedules that allow them to maintain their personal pursuits. “Me time” is vital. So is volunteering in the community €” on company time. We can attest to this trend as we have seen it first-hand. … Read More
Continue ReadingA Creative Employment Ad
From Poynteronline blog (hat tip to Michael Benidt): The Roanoke (VA) Times is looking for a new executive editor — and it looks like they’re serious about recruiting someone fun, creative, and online savvy. They’ve published an extensive and impressive multimedia recruitment ad. This ad is quite creative and obviously an attempt at creating a viral ad campaign and one that I suspect will be successful. I was commenting on this ad with Michael in regards to one of our previous posts and I think this viral approach is a strong play by a newspaper. The newspaper industry, as a whole, has been behind the curve when it comes to… Read More
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