In a recent phone screen for a sales position, I asked a candidate to tell me how they believed their background fit the requirements of the position. Now mind you, the position required the candidates to listen effectively, build rapport, ask insightful questions and have excellent verbal communication skills. The candidate’s response: Tell me what you’re looking for and I will tell you if I can do it. Really, I didn’t need to go much further, but I did ask him a couple of other questions and received similar answers. So I ended the phone screen by stating, “That’s all the questions I have for you at this time. What… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – More Rapport
I was watching Selling Power Daily Report and today’s video interview is with Dan Seidman of Sales Autopsy. Dan is a sales trainer who has written a book by the same title which is a collection of sales horror stories. In today’s video he recalled a horror story that happened to a salesperson who was trying to build rapport with a new prospect who was the President of a company. The salesperson took 6 months trying to set up this meeting with this prospect through phone calls, snail mail and messages with the gatekeeper. Finally, he landed a face-to-face meeting: He was led into the President’s office which was very… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – Cover Emails/Letters
You knew we had to do it. These anecdotes come from Killian Advertising and their Cover Letters From Hell page. Absolutely classic content for your reading pleasure. First, I think their reasons for these poorly written communications are spot on. I believe point 1 is the primary explanation: A writer uses pseudo-legalese because he lacks confidence in his authentic voice. From undergraduates trying to ace our Creativity Test, to MBAs immersed in BizSpeak, applicants feel they must inflate their prose by imitating Dickens, or combing the thesaurus to select – sigh – precisely the wrong word. That misguided approach leads to this: “Who’s better to spew out incite, than a… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Spiderman Interview
Ragan Jones writing about bizarre candidate interviews. Trust me, a great read to end the work week.
Continue ReadingAnecdote – The Bewildering Email (Round 2)
Just this week I received an all-too-familiar email response to a new ad we just posted. In fact, I originally posted on this strange email dialogue back in May. The hauntingly familiar, mangled syntax message arrived with little regard for my clear ad instructions – all applicants were asked to either email their resume or to call me directly. His one sentence email: is new business coming from advertising agencies also clients who use your services in the new york city marketplace important to you? Being a glutton for punishment, I decided to go down this path again. I responded with the exact same email that I sent him earlier… 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 ReadingAnecdote – What Motivates You?
I was talking with one of our clients earlier today and we were reviewing a sales candidate’s assessment results. The candidate is presently working for a small temp staffing agency for a salary only (no commission) and puts in an average of 50-60 hours per week. The candidate had a strong social motivation which is a big red flag in our world. As we were discussing how these motivations would show up on the job, our client remembered that she had asked the candidate what gave her the greatest sense of satisfaction? The candidate’s response: When a person comes up to me and thanks me for finding them a job… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – REALLY Out of the Office
We send out a quarterly electronic newsletter regarding hiring topics and new products here at Select Metrix (click here if you would like to subscribe). This past Tuesday (Sept. 26) we sent out our Q3 newsletter. As always, I received many out of the office notifications. I usually breeze them but I did read this one and I am glad I did (changed the names and numbers): I will be out of the office starting 09/22/2006 and will not return until 09/28/2007. Jane Doe is no longer with XYZ Corporation. Please contact our main HR number at 1-111-555-1234 Apparently Jane’s absence will be a bit longer than she originally expected.… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – Pipeline or Pipe Dream
In talking with one of our customers, we heard this humorous story from the acting sales manager. This executive has been filling in the past month because her Sales Manager quit without notice and she was voicing her frustration at the lack of urgency on the part of the existing salespeople. Her story goes like: She asked one of her new salespeople for an update on her forecast and where things stood with a few specific prospects. The salesperson answered that everything was good and that in a year the two of them would be laughing about this discussion about where these deals stood. The salesperson mentioned that they would… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – So What?
Let’s keep the “so what?” principle going before the weekend. Recently in a face-to-face interview for a business development role candidates were asked – “How have you developed territories in the past?” The question was purposely vague to see if they would ask for clarification to understand what we were specifically looking for before responding. Ideally, the candidates would not only explain how they went about developing a new territory, but the impact it had on their company (the so what? factor). One candidate stood out from the rest and not in a good way. He did not ask qualify the question nor did he give it much thought. In… Read More
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