Spell check. Seriously. There are few things worse than misspellings in an employment ad. The image an error creates is difficult to measure, but I am certain it has a sizeable impact. I came across the worst place for a misspelling…the title of the ad: Sales Carreer Opportunity I have squiggly red lines and windows popping open in my blog software trying to correct that word. Yet someone at the hiring company did not catch this obvious error. The reason this error is so egregious is because the title is often the only description of the position that the jobseekers will see. It has to be correct (and intriguing enough… Read More
Continue ReadingWisdom From Sports Illustrated
I read many things across the web including certain columnists from Sports Illustrated. Peter King writes an insider’s view to professional football that I find fascinating. Plus, the guy is a coffee (actually lattes) addict like myself so I always appreciate his weekly coffee tips. This quote from his article last week caught my attention: But I will say one thing about the firing: It’s always dangerous when you start polling players and people in the building about the job the head coach is doing. If you’ve got a conviction about the coach, act on your conviction, and the beliefs of your closest associates, like president Dick Cass and GM… Read More
Continue ReadingA Lack Of Praise
This sounds almost comical, but I have seen it first-hand. BusinessWeek.com’s article – Is Praising Employees Counterproductive? – discusses the topic of praising employees for their good work. The gist of the article: After the meeting, James asked Tom, “What were you going to say at the meeting, and why did you stop?” Tom answered: “I was going to praise Penny on her marketing plan, but I’ve already praised her twice this week. I don’t want to go overboard.” There is a fear—an irrational one, in my experience—among certain managers of praising employees too much. It’s as though they believe that one “attaboy” or “attagirl” too many can spoil a… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Subtle Requirements For Successful Sales Hiring
ManageSmarter.com offers up an interesting article titled Do You Have the Right Talent? First off, I love the fact that they advocating the pursuit of talent – that is the key to a successful sales hire (read: not experience). Second, the author strikes a chord that resonates with us: There is no one-size-fits-all salesperson. The right approach is to look at a salesperson’s abilities and see how well they fit into your sales model. This approach is talent/skill-based, not experience-based. Here is an excellent example of this principle in action (emphasis mine): A client of ours is a partner in a construction company specializing in commercial ventilation systems. They have a… Read More
Continue Reading3 Sales Time Wasters
A good reminder from the JustSell.com newsletter: Top 3 activities that can hobble a sales day… Talking with people who can’t move the sales process along Unnecessary research activities What’s too much? There’s really no definitive answer. It’s particular to your sales world. Many people start to get a gut feel for when they should move on. The key is to act on it and make the call (rather than making sure every little thing is known before the call – fine line, of course). You might be surprised what you can learn by asking a straightforward question of the person who answers the phone or responds to an email.… Read More
Continue ReadingSome People Play Checkers, Others Play Chess
BusinessWeek.com offers up the Best Corporate Practices 2008 which is a fascinating slide show if you have time to view it. This is from the opening of the article: In fact, much of the gap between the best and worst management practices can be described by that word: trust. At one point as a corporate human resources leader during the dot-com boom, our company switchboard was bombarded with calls from recruiters, seeking to pull away our sharpest technical talent. Our hardworking phone operators did their best to deter search consultants looking to make contact with talent by any means possible, but it wasn’t always easy. … We said to our… Read More
Continue ReadingPress Box Management
I mentioned a certain manager last week in a post and his desire to be an “observational manager” of a new sales hire instead of a hands-on manager. The problem is compounding itself this week as he contemplates firing the salesperson who started 1 week ago today. These are the headaches we have to deal with in the sales hiring arena. The new salesperson has already had one face-to-face meeting with a small prospect he located and is on the trail of 5 other companies…IN THE FIRST WEEK. He has even accomplished this using his own computer, cell phone and resources. He has also been afforded only 1 or 2… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring By Gut
Imagine a salesperson who comes to a forecast meeting and puts down a huge forecast. The savvy sales manager naturally starts asking a few questions of the salesperson regarding each forecasted account. What is driving them to look for a new solution? What is their decision process? When do they want to have a solution in place? Who else are they looking at for this project? Now imagine the salesperson’s responses involve statements like this: I know we are the best solution for them. I have a good feeling about this one. They will make a decision shortly, they have to think it over. If you have been in sales… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Greatest Risk When Hiring
I propose that it is hiring new employees without performing a thorough background verification. Think of the implications if you are wrong. The outcomes can be the ultimate dealbreaker in that they can end a company’s existence. With the stakes that high, it never ceases to amaze me that companies take this risk when hiring. Clayton at Salesopedia links to an excellent article concerning this topic in the context of sales hiring. Take this point from the article in Clayton’s post: Some of you may be reading this and thinking that you already have a defined scope for all applicants so there is no need to be concerned. However, the… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Two-Minute Warning
It’s playoff time for the NFL and I love to watch quarterbacks (and coaches) who can execute in the red zone, run an effective two-minute drill and get the job done. That may be why I get so nervous when I hear salespeople say – ” It’s in the client’s hands now, all we can do is wait.” We’re waiting on such an opportunity right now, and we’ve been waiting since before Christmas 2007. I’m nervous because there is no two-minute drill in progress to help the customer make the right decision and there appears to be a lack of urgency in our salesperson’s approach, now that the proposal is… Read More
Continue Reading