This Selling Power article is a quick, solid read. The 5 tips are all on point with this one being my favorite: 2) Metrics without context. Your candidate noted that his or her team closed $2 million in sales last year. That’s great. But what was the quota? What were the expectations? Was this half of what your potential new hire and the team were expected to do? Or did they not only exceed quota, but also outperform every other sales team at the company? Don’t rely on metrics alone; your candidate should provide context that tells the whole story. So much of resume information is devoid of context yet… Read More
Continue ReadingBad Habits Are Good?
I am struggling with this Salary.com article – 12 Bad Habits That Can Actually Help Your Career. Here is one example: Procrastinating Today’s work culture expects us to multitask, run from one project to the next, and constantly be on the go. The urge to procrastinate indicates your brain is overtired, overstressed, and needs to slow down. Indulge and take a time out. You’ll come back refreshed, and better able to focus on the tasks at hand. What? Indulge and take a time out? As a manager, procrastination from my direct reports was…discouraged. I never recall telling them to indulge and take a time out. To me it seems like… Read More
Continue ReadingFailure
Here is a great Nike commercial via the JustSell.com website: http://www.justsell.com/michael-jordan-on-failure/ The point of the commercial walks right over to the sales world. Michael Jordan’s closing statement from the commercial: I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. Here is what sales managers need to understand, some times you need to let a salesperson fail. Now, I’m not talking about a large, important prospect, but rather a prospect that you may know is not going to close or is misaligned in some other way. I’ve come across many sales managers who want to consistently step in and help a struggling salesperson. … Read More
Continue ReadingConventional Wisdom About Sales Managers
Here is an article from Eye on Sales that addresses a common sales management topic – should you promote your top salesperson into the sales manager role? I would argue that the conventional wisdom is to avoid making this mistake. From the article: Sales management mistake #1: Promoting top performers to sales managers Top-performing salespeople are not necessarily top managers. Leaders often fail to evaluate their best sales professionals for their ability and aptitude to manage before placing them in a leadership position. It seems like an easy decision to promote the best, but in reality you might be taking one of your most potent weapons out of the game… Read More
Continue ReadingThe President’s Club
This is a funny story from Yahoo: The company that makes Hot Tamales candy offered its sales team an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii if it met its annual goals, and a trip to the nation’s arctic tundra if it didn’t. The Just Born team did not meet its target and, on Tuesday, about two dozen salespeople gathered inside the 19-story Radisson hotel — the tallest building in frozen Fargo. Outside, the temperature was 7 degrees. The ground had 2 feet of snow. It gets better: They are trying to make the best of it, with a little humor. They planned tours of two North Dakota wineries and a winter extravaganza… Read More
Continue ReadingIntroverted Leaders
Great article here from the Harvard Business Review titled The Hidden Advantages of Quiet Bosses. Oh, where to begin on this one? I have seen this thought process play out firsthand with many customers and even in my own career. In the sales world, extroverts are generally held in higher regard than introverts – that has been my experience. This same value structure typically plays out in promoting salespeople into sale management roles. The extroverts often get the position. However, here is a differing position put forward in the article: To be sure, extroverted leaders have important strengths. However, they also tend to command the center of attention and take… Read More
Continue ReadingCreative Resume Writing
I have a friend who is a Director of Sales for a medium-sized company. A few months ago, he had a major issue with one of his salespeople in another Midwestern state. The salesperson cursed out a customer on the phone (the customer was “pestering” him by calling his cell phone more than 1 time in the same day). He was let go by my friend. Now it turns out that this salesperson is pushing his resume out to prospective employers. One of them called to verify his employment and had some interesting facts. Salesperson claimed to be a Sales Manager (he wasn’t) Salesperson claimed to win the President’s Award… Read More
Continue ReadingManagement Mental Short Cuts
I’m back in my psych book this morning looking for a specific answer to how managers get stuck on “bad” instances from otherwise strong performing salespeople. I’ve seen this effect with some sales managers who have a generally sour impression of a salesperson who seems to be doing well in the role. When I pursue the topic with the manager, I typically hear of anecdotal stories with what seems to be innocuous outcomes. However, the sales manager is still upset by situation. Here is what I discovered in the test book – availability heuristic. Availability heuristic is basically this – making judgments based on how easily instances come to mind. … Read More
Continue ReadingROE Over ROI
Here is a somewhat ethereal concept I have been encountering in this present economy. It starts with this – return on investment (ROI). ROI has been the backbone of sales since time immortal. This is the basis of sales in that customers pay the money to receive the solution. As long as the customer views the return on their investment as greater than the investment, they will make the purchase (generally speaking). The top-performing salespeople possess this motivation pattern (called Utilitarian). They view prospects in terms of ROI – how much return ($) will I receive if I invest time to close them. This principle has changed in the present… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Employees Want
I am usually a bit cynical regarding these types of articles. My reasoning is this – each individual is unique in their motivations and rewards. Attempting to place employees into set categories regarding global characterizations is a stretch. Nonetheless, this article from Inc.com presents some excellent points and advice for employee engagement. I do not believe you can overstate this one: 5. Employees want flexibility. In addition to deciding how they work, the experts say employees also appreciate having a say over when they work. Gunther has, of course, set up a radically flexible schedule for his employees that might not work for every office. But, he says, it has… Read More
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