The Herman Trend Alert newsletter (sorry, no link) provides some interesting statistics from a Cisco survey:

Now the international technology giant Cisco Systems has just released a study of its own organization demonstrating these benefits and more. Using telecommuting, Cisco estimates annual savings of USD $277 Million. In its in-depth “Teleworker Survey” of almost 2,000 company employees, the company evaluated the social, economic, and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting.

The study found that telecommuting significantly increased employee productivity, work-life flexibility, and job satisfaction. In addition, the report cited that “a majority of respondents experienced a significant increase in work-life flexibility, productivity, and overall satisfaction as a result of their ability to work remotely”.

The productivity gains were impressive. Approximately 69 percent of the employees surveyed cited higher productivity when working remotely, and 75 percent said the timeliness of their work improved. Sixty-seven percent reported work quality improvement. Telecommuting can also lead to better employee retention; more than 91 percent of participants said telecommuting was somewhat or very important to their overall satisfaction and 80 percent believed they enjoyed an improved quality of life.

Couple things here – the study does appear to be self-reporting - “…of the employees surveyed cited….”  This type of reporting is always a bit of a concern.  It would be more helpful if there was a technique for putting an objective metric to their productivity.

Second, the value of telecommuting in a candidate’s eyes is noteworthy.  91% said it is very important to their overall satisfaction.  When it comes to hiring salespeople, this is a crucial fact to keep at the top of your mind when designing a compensation plan.

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The thought of retiring is going to be a novel idea in the near future, at least according to a new abcnews.com poll.  In a recent survey of Americans (my bold):

Half the population in this new ABC News poll thinks both job security and retirement prospects in the years ahead will remain worse than their pre-recession levels. Four in 10 also see worsened prospects for the availability of jobs and advancement, and, consequently, their own spending power.

No surprise there.  The second aspect regarding worsened prospects for the availability of jobs is phrased in a negative manner.  However, it is only 40%.  This effect occurs in these difficult economic times – times will never be as good as they once were.

I have seen this effect in some candidates recently which is never a good approach to landing a new job.  As a recruiter, I am not looking for a naive optimist – the times are difficult and sales cycles are extended.  Yet there are still deals to be closed and almost every opportunity will be highly competitive.  This economy separates salespeople from pretenders in a fast mode.

My recent sourcing activities have involved finding sales candidates who acknowledge the economy while expanding on the modifications they have made to their sales process.  Increased prospecting, budgetary qualifying, time-frame discussions, etc. are all important adjustments that should be forthcoming from strong candidates in this economy.

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This Selling Power article title made me laugh – Are You Using a Funnel or a Sieve?  I laughed because my son is a hockey goalie so the word “sieve” carries a special horror.  That horror is compounded by the fact that we just returned from a hockey tournament in Winnipeg where I expected to hear some rowdy crowds and perhaps a sieve chant towards my son.

My fears were unfounded as the Canadians were extremely pleasant.

Hockey colloquialisms aside, this article makes many excellent points before turning into an advertisement.  This entire graph is valuable:

It’s an issue that makes sense from a cost standpoint as well. Karam says it costs about one-sixth the amount of money to nurture a lead that has fallen out of the funnel than it does to find a brand new one. Most sales managers know this but are so quarter-driven that funnel leakage tends to hold a low priority on their to-do lists. And until recently, that’s worked just fine. Prior to the recession, sales teams could “focus on the hot stuff and they’d make their numbers. Well, now there’s not enough hot stuff,” says Karam. In light of all this, he adds, “there’s been a lot of attention recently on recovering leakage and re-mining or re-farming leads.”

Finding qualified leads is an expensive process which is why I focus extensively on qualifying ability.  When you are hiring salespeople, there is no greater urgency then to discover the candidate’s qualifying ability.  It is the backbone of successful selling.

I couldn’t agree more with the statement that most sales managers are aware of “funnel leakage” due to their quarterly revenue responsibilities.  I would go further and say a percentage of the forecast error is funnel leakage and the other is blue-sky forecasting.  Many a rep has been known to submit an inflated forecast in the hope of keeping their job for another quarter.  I suspect the salesperson is simply buying time with the hope that they will close a large deal during that bonus time.  It rarely happens.

Re-farming leads is a valuable exercise for any sales department in any economy.  Again, the costs associated with new lead development are far greater than re-farming leads.  One question I often ask sales candidates is for them to provide me with an example of when they went back to close a “dead” lead.  This question provides some insight into the candidate’s tenacity, strategy and ability…and it is easy to spot a fabricated story.

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I’ve written about this phenomenon in the past and I continually encounter it in many sales areas – the allure of experience.  In fact, I just talked to a recruiter from a different part of the country who focuses on sales hiring.  We talked a bit of strategy and I was just dumbfounded.

This gentleman focuses solely on finding someone with as much industry experience as possible.  His primary motivation – find candidates who can bring accounts with them.  No discussion about skills, no behavioral-based questions, no attempt at learning their style and motivation…just simple experience.

I am not even sure if he asks if it was successful experience.

My attempt to move the discussion to skills, talent and motivations was summarily dismissed by him and we ended up having a rather short phone conversation.

This conventional wisdom for sales hiring is persistent today.  My thought is this – what happens when the candidate pool decreases dramatically?  Highly-specific industry experience will not be prevalent.  What then?

Perhaps that is the day I am waiting for.

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Don’t do this:

If you have the contacts in these areas with such customers, let us know!

That line is from a sales employment ad I read this morning and it is a tremendous red flag to savvy salespeople.  The ad is also from a recruiter and not the hiring company which makes it worse.

It is this approach that makes sales recruiting so difficult.  Clearly this recruiter is less interested in ability and more interested in an existing network.  Fair enough, but having a network is one thing, getting customers to walk over to a new company is another.  It rarely works in spite of what the salesperson thinks or says.

The better approach here is to identify what skills, talents and experiences will lead to success in the position.

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If you (hiring manager) are talking, you’re not interviewing.  I know, simple in concept, but for some it is difficult in practice.  I sat through an interview recently that involved a sales manager who spoke for 75-85% of the time!  The candidate was simply caught in his wake for the entire interview.

My take on the interview was that we learned next to nothing about the candidate and his fit to the position.  He may have been strong – we’ll never know.  What we did learn is the frantic, scattered approach of the sales manager makes for an interview that did not go deep on any topic.

The fault here lies with me in that the sales manager should have been better prepped.  He would do well with a set list of questions and a note reminding him to listen first.  I made the assumption that he knew this and I paid for it in a strong candidate being passed.

It is a good reminder to do the simple things well before moving to the advanced topics.

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I about fell out of my chair reading this SellingPower.com article – Interviews Get Comfortable.  A quick excerpt to set the tone:

“It’s your job as an interviewer to make the candidate feel comfortable and it starts from the moment you see that person,” says Barbara Pachter, a speaker, trainer, coach, and author of numerous business books, including The Power of Positive Confrontation (Marlowe & Co., 2006). Pachter does acknowledge that there are times when interviewers put candidates in awkward positions to view reactions, but for the most part they should work to put candidates at ease.

Her suggestions for putting candidates at ease include:

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  • Be a gracious host.
  • Ask easy questions
  • Set up the room for comfort.
  • Handle awkward moments properly.
  • Change the environment.

In all fairness, you have to read the article to get an understanding of her approach since there is some nuance to it.  However, in sales successful interview techniques are much different.

My experience has consistently been this:  I learn more about the candidate during the awkward, uncomfortable moments than the smooth, relaxed interactions.  Here’s why – salespeople (even bad ones) tend to have highly refined social interaction skills.

Simply put, they can make themselves appear to be stronger than they actually are.

The key in a successful sales interview is to ask the difficult questions and then use the awkward silence afterwards to compel the candidate to respond.  Silence produces tension and tension removes the candidate’s veneer.  It is at these precise moments that you learn about a candidate’s true sales ability.

I can understand Ms. Pachter’s approach in hiring other positions, but sales is the most difficult position for which to hire.  The better approach is to use an accurate, repeatable process.

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I read this line from an sales employment ad this morning:

Reps are NOT restricted by territory.

The unrestricted territory seems innocuous enough…maybe even valuable.  It usually isn’t.  As a salesperson, I would read this ad with some skepticism in that the company may be trying to add salespeople without a cogent management plan.

Back in my early years I took a job with a company that had no territories.  There were approximately 15 salespeople in there serving the local market.  What I learned is that the “old-timers” had effectively squatted on all of the accounts, whether they had an active relationship or not.  Since there were no defined territories (geographic, market, size, etc.) and weak sales management (completely hands-off), I was left to scavenging like a meerkat to find any lead.

The aforementioned line from the ad may seem like a benefit, but I would suggest that most savvy sales candidates will drill down on that topic for absolute clarity.

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I was shocked today when I read this sentence in a sales ad”:

Please note that at this time this posting is for purposes of building our talent pool only and there are no current available positions.

That was the 2nd sentence in the ad.  This is an interesting approach in this market – the company appears to be building their bench which is an important task.  What type of response they receive…well, that I wonder.  Nonetheless, I like the approach.

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Proofread your ads – a simple, simple task that seems to be ignored by some companies.  From an ad I read this morning (my editing):

A fast growing ______________ is seeking one great sales person to take the Minneapolis/St. Paul market to the next level.

Innocuous enough, but when you read through the ad you find this requirement:

Organization, computer proficiency, a valid Massachusetts driver’s license and proof of insurance required.

That is going to drastically reduce their candidate pool in the Twin Cities.  I wouldn’t recommend writing the entire ad in bold font either, but that seems minor compared to the Massachusetts license requirement.

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