I recently read this line in an approach email/ad for a sales position: Do you have open availability that includes holidays, days, nights and weekends? To be honest, it appears to be a retail position, but my word, I would not lead with that fact in an ad. Think of that sentence…what times are not covered by that statement? I would not recommend ever making a job appear to be a 24/7 proposition.
Continue ReadingA Steakhouse Ad
From a sales employment ad I read this morning: Proven, world-class technology with plenty of sizzle I can’t decide if I like that last turn of phrase in an ad or not. For software sales, it sounds positive. For slick-talking salespeople, it sounds like a negative stereotype. I would recommend leaving the “sizzle” for steak.
Continue ReadingBad Ad Writing
From a sales ad I read this morning: Blackberry device is needed, but optional. Apparently coherent writing is needed, but optional.
Continue ReadingHumble Ad Writing
Honestly, I came across this title to a sales ad: I make more money in a month than you make all year Fantastic! That is one humble title. As you can imagine, the ad is written in a casual, confrontational style to challenge the most aggressive sales candidates. I wouldn’t write an ad this way, but true confession – I got a kick out of it.
Continue ReadingWrite It Don’t Hide It
There seems to be some ethereal ad writing of late that I am not certain I understand. I read a sales manager ad this morning that was written by a recruiting company for their client. Here is the “Job Requirements” section: All sales will be direct at this time. What? I have no idea what that means in context of the requirements. The simple, best approach to writing sales ads is to use descriptive language that allows the reader to see themselves in the position. Our goal is always to write ads that make the right candidate know that we are describing their abilities. This ad falls far short of… Read More
Continue ReadingObvious Red Flags In Employment Ads
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… Read More
Continue ReadingTightening The Ad
I’ve been reading through many sales employment ads recently and am seeing a trend – the ads are written tighter. A couple of examples: -Minimum of 5 years of related public accounting and/or corporate sales -A minimum of two years’ business development experience in a pharmaceutical and/or CRO biotechnology, or drug development company. Nothing wrong with this approach since the candidate pool is still relatively large due to the slow economy. One thing to be sure of – the labor pool will tighten up again soon. At that point, it is wiser to move these requirements into preferences and look outside of your industry for transferable skills. One interesting point… Read More
Continue ReadingA Line For Every Sales Ad
A bullet point from a Business Development Sales Position ad: Demonstrated ability to persevere and remain positively motivated when faced with negative response or rebuff from the customer What they are describing is the ability to handle rejection. I think there is no more important differentiation between average salespeople and sales superstars. That quoted line could, or maybe should, be in every sales ad.
Continue ReadingAssonance Alert: Archive Annual Awards
Well, I should qualify that; I suppose an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, etc. is a timeless award. However, I just read an employment ad from a large recruiting firm that had this bolded statement at the top: #1 Ranked Executive Search Firm – January 2006 January 2006? My first thought was who beat them out for the past 2 years. Maybe they have drastically declined in some way? Call me a minimalist, but I prefer to get right to the meat in an employment ad. In fairness to this firm, this was an internal hire. Still, I would think they would have a bit more sense to remove that statement since… Read More
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