If you think you are experiencing hiring difficulties, be happy you are not on Wall Street:

Fresh off some of the richest bonuses ever handed out, investment bankers and traders, especially those who deal with leveraged debt, are in high demand. In some cases, bidding has driven newly hired employees into the arms of a rival in mere weeks.

That statement seemed like hyperbole until later in the article:

Securities-industry employment rose to 804,000 at the end of 2006 after a third consecutive year of increases. The employment figure is just 4% shy of the all-time high set in 2000, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association.

The market is tight everywhere and especially in sales.  Old hiring strategies are being left in the dust.  If you are sticking to a newspaper ad, good luck.  If you are posting a job description as an employment ad, be prepared to wait.  The changing market requires a process for effective sourcing and selection.

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No surprise here:

Finding qualified people to work as sales representatives is the biggest hiring challenge for global employers for the second year in a row, an annual talent shortage survey reported Thursday.

Sales reps top the list of hard-to-fill jobs in the United States, Japan, Hong Kong and in five other countries…

The CNN/Money article goes into detail about CEO’s focus on growth and the lack of salespeople available to power that initiative.  We are experiencing it first hand as our sourcing times have been extended.  In fact, we are making adjustments today to pour more resources into our sourcing channels.

Strong sales candidates require extra work to locate in the present economy.  I continue to see all-too-familiar ads running on the job boards that indicate these employers are not finding the right sales candidates (if any viable ones at all).  But there is a solution – a process that finds the right salesperson for your position.

If your struggle to find the salespeople you need to drive your company’s growth, why not try a new approach?

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Sales can be an emotional roller coaster. Sales can be frustrating and anger-inducing.  Conversely, sales can be joyful and exciting. But what about salespeople who allow these emotions to rule their behavior? Successful selling requires poise in the midst of an emotionally-charged environment. This week we look at one of the top 10 traits for sales success.

Emotional Control
This is the ability of a salesperson to maintain rational and objective actions when experiencing strong internal emotions. This trait measures one€™s ability to control their own internal emotions and prevent them from affecting their actions, logic, objectivity, etc. Emotional Control deals with keeping internal emotions in instead of letting them get the better of the salesperson.

A salesperson with strength in this trait will be aware of their internal emotions, but compartmentalize them as such and make rational, objective decisions based on the facts at hand. They do not allow their internal stress, fear, excitement, etc. to influence their decisions.

A salesperson with weakness in this area may have difficulty keeping their feelings under check. Instead of recognizing their emotions and keeping them separate from their actions and maintaining composure, they may allow their own emotions to lead their actions. In doing so, they will no longer be managing a stressful situation. Instead, they will become emotionally caught up in the situation.

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Monster provides some great resources for employers including free webinars on timely topics when it comes to hiring. Click here to see a recent presentation or here to see what other scheduled (or completed) webinars on on their docket.

The top sources for finding new opportunites as used by candidates are:

1. Family & Friends
2. Job Boards (large)
3. Past Managers & Colleagues
4. Job Boards (niche/speciality)
5. Recruiting/Placement Firms

As you are probably aware, many people consistently keep an eye open for new opportunities. So why don’t more people apply to ads? Here is what the researchers discovered were the biggest frustrations for candidates is their search:

1. Vague Job Descriptions
2. Inflated Requirements – “Super Candidate Syndrome”
3. Lack of Response from Employers
4. Omission of Key Information in the Job Ad

We run into the second frustration for candidates quite often as we speak with companies looking to hire salespeople. Here is how candidates define the Super Candidate Syndrome:

• Raising candidates’ expectations by advertising for candidates with “God-like abilities” and then offer McDonalds-like wages.
• Turn candidates off by using impossibly long and complex skill demands of potential candidates. It communicates€¦that the company doesn’t respect the learning and preparation it takes to achieve high performance levels in each skill.
• Missing candidates with transferable skills, employers focus on direct experience, even if there are candidates with exceptional transferable skills.

It is far easier to teach some one your product and industry than it is to teach them how to sell, but yet many companies focus on finding salespeople with industry experience.

Why is that?

It could be that they don’t have the time to train, or manage, a new salesperson. Or it could be that it took a long time for them to learn the industry and they assume it will take everyone an equally long time. I don’t have the answer, but the one thing I do know is that it is the extremely rare expert/engineer who can be turned into a strong salesperson.

It really boils down to this Super Candidate Syndrome. You will have more success hiring if you look for candidates who have transferable skills that will make him or her successful in your sale.

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Over the past week there have been more articles than I care to count on how to write an effective job ad – none of which are written with sales positions in mind. When it comes to sales, you need to think a bit differently.

Let me give you an example – all the articles recommend, in some fashion or another, to collect resumes from candidates via email. Some even suggest that you respond with a thank you even if they are not qualified for the position. Fair enough, but not one mentions to put your phone number in the ad. You’re probably saying, I’m not doing that and having hundreds of people calling me about a position. Let me ask you, why not? If you are hiring a salesperson, aren’t you expecting them to call your prospects and customers as part of your process?

will touch on this subject again, but let me give you some tips in writing an effective sales ad.

1. What are the main requirements of the job? I am not talking about the job description. Instead, think about a wish list, so to speak, of what you need this person to be good at to close business for you. If that is too wide a topic, focus on what it takes to close one deal. Do they need to be good on the phone? Do they need to be solutions-based or product-based in their approach? Is this a business development role or an account management position?
2. Write the ad to attract your ideal salesperson. We want the ideal candidate to see a description of themselves in the ad. This approach is more far more important than a internal job description.
3. Ad Format –
   • Title €“ keep it interesting and use more than just the position title
   • Introduction €“ describe your company€™s history, environment and market position
   • Requirements €“ define the skills & aptitudes that lead to success in the position
   • Responsibilities €“ highlight critical functions of the position
   • Rewards – the benefit you will provide them for success in the role
   • Qualifications €“ desired experience and/or certifications
   • Response €“ channels by which candidates can respond (phone, email, fax)
4. Funnel responses to a phone call. Again, you are going to expect them to have the ability to pick up the phone and call your customers and prospects. Look for that ability as early as possible in the process. If you do offer candidates the ability to submit their resumes via email or fax, give those that choose to call first extra credit.

At some point in your recruiting process you will need to measure their phone skills. Do this before you ever meet them in person. In a previous post – The Phone Screening Essentials – I provided some tips on running a successful phone screen. These approaches provide a glimpse into the candidates’ skills. Please see our recruiting section for more tips and to view the entire process order.

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This week we look at a trait that is important when assessing sales candidates for complex, long sales cycle positions.  Proactive or reactive is the difference in this highly valued sales trait.

Proactive Thinking
The ability of a salesperson to evaluate future implications of current decisions and actions. This would include examining the long-range effects of a decision. The ability to mentally create the scenarios and outcomes of situations that could develop from decisions or plans of action.

A salesperson with strength in this capacity will tend to evaluate current situations, needs and actions based on how they will change in the future.

A salesperson with weakness in this area will tend to react to events as they present themselves.  The focus is solely on the present.

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I came across an article on Monster this morning that identifies fives mistakes you want to avoid for reference checks. The article is a quick read, but here are the five mistakes to avoid:

1. Not Checking at All
2. Lack of Consistency
3. Making the Job Offer Contingent on a Reference Check
4. Not Requiring References Who Have Worked Directly with the Candidate
5. Asking Leading questions and Failing to Ask Follow-Up Questions

In point 3 the author has this to say:

References should be checked much earlier in the process than many employers actually perform them. Once the top two or three candidates have been identified through resume screenings and initial interviews, references should be checked before any consideration is given to making a job offer. If the references confirm a candidate’s skills, experience and ability, then conduct a follow-up interview armed with that knowledge. More importantly, making an offer contingent on a positive reference check creates a legal relationship between the employer and candidate. Why would you want to do that?

I would like to add – use the follow-up interview to drill down into those skills, experiences and abilities to help you determine if they can apply them into this position and strengthen your company. Give them sample scenarios to react to, handle and resolve so you can see how they think in the heat of the battle.

Finally, I would like to add that the last step in your hiring process should be to run your top candidate through a background verification process. I hate to keep speaking to this, but you would be surprised how many companies still fail to use this step in their process.

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Here is an article from Selling Power that is spot on – Fishing for Recruits?

The first step, says Silverman, is to get creative with your titles. “You can write a great job description, but if it’s buried under a boring title such as ‘Account Manager,’ no one is going to click on it. A good title [like a good headline] is going to create a call to action.

He’s right. The days of counting words, employment ad shorthand and simple position titles are gone. I still see companies using this approach as I stated in a previous post. Stop now and make the adjustments. The only part of an ad the candidate will see is the title so it best be strong and distinctive.

Finally, some excellent questions from the article to help focus your ad towards the right candidate. Remember, the strongest candidates should see themselves in the ad.

“What is the job’s primary purpose or contribution to the department or organization?
What are the essential duties and responsibilities?
What are the all important aspects of the job?
Are they performed daily, weekly, monthly, or annually?
Think about what is necessary to the job €“ is it really a bachelor’s degree?
How will the candidate be challenged on the job?
What does the company want them to accomplish? Is it realistic? Has it been done?
Most important, what’s in it for the candidates?”

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There is something about industry experience that is seductive to many hiring managers. The allure of a salesperson who has been “in the industry” for some time is almost irresistible.

The same infatuation seems to exist with salespeople once they are on the payroll. The salesperson’s ability to understand the company’s product and service offering is important to the position. But why are many new salespeople judged by their level of product/service understanding? Is this really the best determinant of sales success?

In a word, no.

At the risk of being overly simplistic, salespeople are hired to . . . sell. Their sales skills trump all other skills. These skills and abilities should be the measure of their growth in starting a new position. It is remarkable how many hiring managers take the short-term view of a new salesperson’s product knowledge.

Invariably some managers will think of salespeople who were never able to learn the product/service in enough detail to sell it on their own. I am reminded of a salesperson who went to work for a customer of ours who sells wireless scanners. This salesperson did not know the first thing about computers and although she was strong at selling, she was not able to have a qualifying discussion with a technical prospect. In those misalignments, product/service knowledge can nuke strong sales skills.

In most instances, salespeople may not have the fine knowledge needed to devise a proper wiring scheme, write a specific program or read a complex blueprint. But if they have the skills to get the deal to quote/presentation stage and can then close it, how valuable is that? If technical expertise closed deals, the right approach would be to move the most technical people in your company into sales. If you have been in sales more than a day, you know this approach rarely works.

Here is the crux of the issue – your company is probably filled with product/service experts of some sort. I suspect that top-level sales abilities are far less common within the company. If you hired well, this new salesperson brings these scarce sales skills to your company. This is the area in which to focus.

In response to this need, we are expanding our sales development plan and offering a new sales manager track as a new service. This focus will provide sales managers with a specific path to grow new salespeople into revenue quickly while developing a stronger long-term salesperson.

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From CareerJournal.com’s Employers Try Plain English To Improve Quality of Job Ads:

Traditional job descriptions, some recruiters say, emphasize qualifications, but skimp on describing the work, the challenges and the company culture.

This topic has been a sore spot for me for many years. I read many sales ads during the week and find many of them lacking. Crafting an effective sales is difficult and takes a fair amount of work. Many ads read like 1980’s retreads.

Some solid advice:

The new ads can also help recruit a broader pool of promising candidates because they don’t set strict education and work-experience requirements.

HealthEast Care System, a Minnesota hospital group, began rewriting job descriptions for certain nurse and nurse-manager posts, among others, several years ago. The old descriptions emphasized requirements and tasks; the new ones describe a job’s goals and challenges. An ad for a management position, for instance, might mention dealing with high staff turnover.

Absolutely love that approach. Too often we see companies state in their ad that candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree. My first question is always why? How is that degree going to help in this position? For sales, I would be more concerned to find someone who is iron-clad strong when it comes to handling rejection. That trait is far more valuable than a degree.

My guess is that many of these poorly-constructed ads are hangovers from the newspaper ad days.

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