A quick note from a well-constructed sales ad I just read. The company is a medical device manufacturer and contained a strong sentence for attracting salespeople: A strong work ethic is required to meet sales quotas. You will be supported by solid marketing programs, support staff, and innovative products that are designed to continue our growth in the medical device industry. Anyone who has been in sales more than a day has experienced selling for a company that does not fully support the sales team. I once worked for a large company where I had to pull my own product information, find the right envelope, address it and put the… Read More
Continue ReadingSoft Skills Make The Business Person
Interesting article from the Ottawa Business Journal titled The hard facts about soft skills. The premise: “The things that students are missing out on when the certificates are handed out are lessons in soft skills that actually make a business person who they are. The technological skills are relatively easy to learn, but the soft skills are what make you a business leader,” said Barry Gander, vice president of CATA and author of Success. Gander makes an excellent point especially in regards to recent business school grads. Technical skills are difficult to differentiate since they appear to be a commodity. Soft skills are certainly the more elusive traits to locate… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Integrative Ability
This week’s trait is one we bandy about here at Select Metrix often regarding salespeople. This trait is important in all sales but especially in complex selling environments. Pay special attention to the weakness description – it is a common issue we encounter amongst salespeople struggling in a complex sale. Integrative Ability The ability to evaluate what to do is also the ability to identify the elements of a problem situation and understand which components are critical. Being able to clearly see the component dimensions of a situation gives a person the ability to see different types of situation structures. Thereby, they are able to see different types of problem… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Pursuit Of Excellence
Successful selling requires excellence – in talent, ability, communication amongst other factors. Successful sales management requires pursuing excellence in each team member. Unfortunately, many sales managers are able to define failure in the position but they find defining success to be far more elusive. When running our hiring process, we see this play out time and again. Sales managers are adept at describing past failures in exquisite detail. There is value in this knowledge so we gladly record it. However, the conversation almost always slows down when we turn our focus to success. The obvious answers are provided – revenue goals, customer acquisition, etc. But what about the traits, behaviors and skills… Read More
Continue ReadingBetter Than I Expected
We’ve been working as or with sales for over 20 years and have to deal with many discussions involving candidate’s resumes. The bias that occurs is that hiring managers make broad, sweeping generalizations based on what they think they see in the resume. This anomaly occurs even after we have screened and assessed strong candidates. After discussing the possibilities of what may be wrong with the candidate, we usually get to a point where the hiring manager agrees to to the interview based on our recommendation. After the interview, we hear something to this effect: “He was much better than I expected.” Strangely, I suspect we will still be hearing… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Personal Accountability
This week we look at an age-old sales trait that, unfortunately, is common to many salespeople. Personal responsibility in sales involves being responsible for results. Holding salespeople accountable for their results is part of the sales manager’s job. If you are experiencing a problem in this area, as a sales manager, your first task is to stop the salesperson’s excuse making. That move is the first step to accountability for the salesperson. Personal AccountabilityThis is the ability to be responsible for the consequences of one€™s own decisions and actions. It involves taking responsibility for these decisions and not shifting the focus of blame or poor performance somewhere else (i.e. others). A salesperson… Read More
Continue ReadingMythical Top Performers
From Dave Kurlan’s Myths About Top Performing Salespeople: Most companies have “them”. Most managers brag about “them”. Most of “them” toot their own horns. Most are their company’s role models. Most companies would love to have more like “them”. They masquerade as the top salespeople in their companies, a claim supported by data, spreadsheets, commission statements, awards and accolades. But who are they really? Most of them are sales frauds. Most of them have everyone fooled. Most of them, if you took their cushy, big accounts away and asked them to go out and find some new business would fail. Most of them aren’t very strong salespeople. Most of them don’t possess… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Allure Of Someone Better
From Seth Godin’s Marketing your job post: This is part of a larger trend, which is realizing that an amazing hire is worth far more than a mediocre one, or even a very good one. My take? There’s a difference between being noticed and succeeding. Sometimes you need to be noticed far and wide in order to succeed. That’s why some TV ads for low-involvement products are noisy or funny or over the top. Often though, especially for something like a job, I think that sacrificing your message in order to get noticed is a mistake. Making a video that tries to be funny in order to spread doesn’t necessarily get… Read More
Continue ReadingOverwritten Sales Ads
You don’t have to read this, just look at it’s sheer girth: Qualifications/Necessary Skills: Attention to Detail. Able to be alert in a high-risk environment; follow detailed procedures and ensure accuracy in documentation and data; concentrate on routine work details and organize and maintain a system of records. Able to clearly present information through the spoken or written word; read and interpret complex information; talk with customers or clients; listens well. Able to use a win-win approach to resolve controversy; stay objective and fair when dealing with sensitive situations; maintain constructive working relationships despite disagreement. Able to take action in solving problems while exhibiting judgment and a realistic understanding of… Read More
Continue Reading10 Simple Hiring Rules
Monster.com offers Hire Great People: 10 Simple Rules which contains some straight-forward, sound advice for any hiring activity. The article starts out with one of the most important rules to hiring (and often least followed): Rule number one is clear, but very counterintuitive: Don’t ever, ever hire somebody just like yourself. Why not? Because from the beginning of time, executives have been unconsciously cloning themselves, stocking the shelves with vanilla young men from impressive schools. It takes an enlightened executive to abide by this rule. Many executives believe they embody the gold standard for the position (especially in sales). They may be, but the best teams we evaluate have a… Read More
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