Just saw this title to a sales position ad (emphasis mine): Regional Sales Manager Job “Job”…seriously? Don’t do this in your ads. Salespeople, especially young salespeople, are looking for opportunities, careers, even a path. If you promote the position as a job, you will instantly limit the perspective, or upside, of the position.
Continue ReadingDo Great Salespeople Make Great Managers?
That is an age-old question, isn’t it? You can insert your favorite sports example here which typically involves a superstar/Hall of Fame-caliber athlete who fails as a coach because the game came too easy to him. But does this analogy work in the sales arena also? This Sales & Marketing Management article approaches the topic with aplomb. The pull quote (emphasis mine): Sometimes great salespeople aren’t as good at coaching and managing other people – they’re excellent at being individual contributors, they’re great at building relationships with customers and working deals from start to finish, but they lack the patience or coaching ability or intangible interpersonal savvy to be responsible… Read More
Continue ReadingDon’t Write Ads Like This
I’m browsing through job postings in a specific sales category and I read this sentence in a fairly high-level position: The tols are here for you to make a diference in our busines and your carer. The modern day tools available to writers for proofing your text are abundant. The entire ad has a similar “minimalist” use of double letters. It is rather odd, isn’t it?
Continue Reading2 Habits That Undermine Salespeople
Supposition – something that is supposed; assumption; hypothesis Think of supposition, in sales parlance, as being synonymous with stereotyping. This is a dangerous approach to sale in that once you start making assumptions, you start derailing your qualifying skills. In most prospect situations, once you stop truly qualifying you are headed towards prospects that are welded on your forecast 90 days out. Eternally. Proposition – the act of offering or suggesting something to be considered, accepted, adopted, or done I suspect you are thinking of value proposition which makes sense. I read an interesting post that turned that term upside down. The author suggested selling to the customer’s value expectations… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Singular Difference Between Introverts and Extroverts
Stereotypes abound around introverts and extroverts-most of them are simply untrue. The stereotypes go too far in categorizing behaviors. Part of the issue flows from the Myers-Briggs and its binary assignment of introversion/extroversion. You are simply one or the other…completely, according to that tool (of which I am not a big fan). This article provides a succinct, accurate definition based on Jung’s work: Shyness and being outgoing don’t have anything to do with it; it’s more about where we get our energy from. In fact, the differences are pretty simple: Introverts get exhausted by social interaction and need solitude to recharge. Extroverts get anxious when left alone and get energy… Read More
Continue ReadingCultural Qualifying
I ran into an old coworker, whom I consider a good friend, at a coffee shop this Friday morning. He is the VP of Sales with 75 or so direct reports. His company is international with a majority of their revenue occurring in Asia. He was telling me about sales training he held for the entire sales team. The focus was on negotiating and, more specifically, how to ask the right questions to qualify the opportunity. The Asian sales reps balked at some of the questions based solely on their approach to qualifying. Let’s just say they prefer to take a more passive, unquestioning approach which leads to prayer rug… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Lost Art of Decorum
Maybe I am aging faster than I will admit, but I have seen a trend in the professional workplace that is unsettling. Decorum. As defined by Webster, it is “correct or proper behavior that shows respect and good manners.” One of the things I tell hiring managers is that the initial candidate interview is as good as it will get. The candidates’ behavior, manners, etiquette, communication, etc. will never exceed their level as observed in that first interview. Therefore, the candidate’s decorum should be exemplary in that interview to the point where it is memorable. Sadly, I simply am not seeing this exemplary decorum nearly as much as I used… Read More
Continue ReadingObjectivity Trumps Bias
We are all biased, it is simply how we are wired no matter what people believe. Our brains have the innate ability to categorize – a distinct survival mechanism for sure. This ability becomes problematic in the hiring process as hiring managers can often be influenced by their own biases when making hiring decisions. To be blunt, hiring managers are prewired to clone themselves in their hires. So what of this? Does it matter? If your hiring manager is strong, especially a sales manager, wouldn’t it be best to clone them? No. End of post…ok, I won’t be so short. The key to successful hiring, especially as it pertains to… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Lost Art Of Writing
No doubt we live in a technology-based world driven by expedited activities, from instant text messages to YouTube videos on demand. Communication moves fast. One area I believe it hurts is applying for sales positions. I realize an ever-increasing amount of opportunities are found, shared and contacted through LinkedIn, but what of finding opportunities for which you do not have a direct connection. I think this activity is similar to cold calling/contacting. When I am sourcing for sales candidates, I receive many resumes forwarded to me through the job boards and LinkedIn. Resumes. It is rare that I receive a cover letter anymore. For me, receiving a resume is similar… Read More
Continue ReadingDo Not Trust Myers-Briggs
Well, that is my paraphrasing of this author’s post. The Myers-Briggs test is common throughout many business-world assessments and it serves a purpose. The difficulty I have always had with it is the binary aspect of the assessment. You are either Extroverted or Introverted…there is no grey area. I think the author explains it well: More problematic, though, is that it classifies personalities by a binary preference for a particular trait. In reality, however, most people exist on a spectrum between the two and can vary between them from week to week… Agreed. People are the ultimate variable and far from binary. I think the best use of the Myers-Briggs… Read More
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