We are working through some offers for sales candidates with multiple clients this week and thought it would be helpful to discuss some general points. Salary – we’re big believers in a modest/decent salary. The best plans we see provide a salary to cover the basic needs of the salesperson. If they are worrying about basic bills, they are not as effective. I know there is an old school belief that commission-only plans are the best – purest form of selling, you eat what you kill. The largest drawback to this approach is that sales managers often leave the salesperson to their own devices. Their rationale – the salesperson will… Read More
Continue ReadingAnother Cover Email
First, a confession – I am a huge fan of Battelstar Galactica on the Sci-Fi Channel. I’m not talking about the old 1970’s version which is still entertaining. No, the modern version is quite gripping. Anyway, if you watch that show, you will chuckle at this email cover title: Do you need a frackin’ awesome worker? As much as I enjoy the show, I am not impressed by a candidate who uses the show’s f-bomb derivative in their cover email.
Continue ReadingMore From the Cover Email Stack
Opening sentence of a cover email: I need work.
Continue ReadingNational Boss’ Day – Oct. 16
Tory Johnson at abcnews.com provides all the background you will ever want on National Boss’ Day. In case you were wondering, here is the explanation the definitive authority on this holiday: The goal? To express “appreciation for the ways bosses manage people, respect for their handling tough workloads, and gratitude for the coaching they provide.” That “definitive authority” was Hallmark Greeting Cards. I haven’t received a card yet.
Continue ReadingThe Select Metrix Survey Says…
Ok, there isn’t a Select Metrix survey and Richard Dawson isn’t screaming “survey says” anymore. Nonetheless, most of the major job boards have a quarterly report that details the hiring landscape. Now this morning I see that some of the smaller boards are starting to release their own survey results. TheLadders.com released their Quarterly Executive Employment Outlook. We have minimal experience with TheLadders.com but I have read many good things about it. Their focus is on $100K+ jobs which puts a management-level focus on their results. From the press release: The survey also revealed a growing trend among senior level executives to search for new employment in order to accomplish… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – How Are You?
Ok, I thought I would offer an anecdote from earlier this week. One of our customers has an unrefined sales rep who works hard but lacks many skills. He had a customer make a design change to a part that was going to cause an 18% increase in the price of the salesperson’s service. His call to the customer to announce this news: “Hello customer, how are you today? Wait, I shouldn’t ask you that until I tell you that our price is going to increase 18%. I am sure our competitor will be able to be well under that price if you have them quote it. Now how are… Read More
Continue ReadingActivist Shareholders…
are two words you don’t want to hear if you are CEO of a publicly-traded company. From Inc.com: At public companies, this [turnover] is reflected in the rise of activist shareholders, Jacovitz said, seen most recently in the public ousting of top executives at Hewlett-Packard. I think there may be one other slightly significant item that had an impact on the HP ouster. The article focuses on C-level turnover, which is on the rise. But I found these graphs towards the end of the article to be more notable: Meanwhile at the lower rungs of the workforce, small employers are having trouble finding qualified workers, according to the National Federation… Read More
Continue ReadingCue Up
According to Inc.com, if you live in Baltimore, you spend more time in line than any other major metropolitan city. With an average wait time of 5 minutes, 13 seconds, Baltimore ranked last in the comparison of customer service speed in the 25 most-populous U.S. cities. I suppose what really matters is what you are waiting for. Personally, I would wait 10 times that long for crab cakes in that town. Now for the coup d’gras: Phoenix had the shortest average wait for service at 3 minutes, 5 seconds. Residents of Portland, Ore., finished second, with an average wait time of 3 minutes, 30 seconds, and Minneapolis came in at… Read More
Continue ReadingClergy Appreciation Month
The month of October is Clergy Appreciation Month and dates back to 1992. Hallmark has a page giving details of this celebration. Here is some background from their site: The mission of Clergy Appreciation Month is to uplift and encourage pastors, missionaries and religious workers by providing physical, emotional and spiritual support. There are more than 1 million full-time Christian ministry workers in the United States, including 350,000 senior pastors. So make sure to thank your pastor, reverand, preacher and priest for all they do.
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Self-Starting Ability
There may be no more popular buzzword in employment articles today than “self starter.” The majority of ads list this trait as required for the position. We can objectively measure it. Self-Starting Ability A measure of a person’s ability to initiate tasks in order to fulfill responsibilities and commitments along with the degree to which a person will maintain that ability in the face of adversity. A salesperson with strength in this capacity is adept at synchronizing their internal drivers (e.g., level of initiative, persistence, goal focus, etc.) and directing these combined abilities toward a common goal or task. They are also capable of marshalling these strengths on their own… Read More
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