I’ve been reading through some sales ads and am seeing a trend regarding the introduction. Many ads are now describing their company in, for lack of a better word, philosophical terms. For instance, this excerpt is from a cell phone company’s ad: Are you ready to join _______ and Live Life in the Now?” “At ______, “NOW” is not a mantra, it’s not a demand and it’s not a time in space. NOW is a fact. It’s a lifestyle. It’s the way we conduct business with each other. And it’s the very essence of the experience we deliver to our customers every single day. We believe in the now. We… Read More
Continue ReadingRequired Skills-Sales Ability
From an ad for a National Sales Manager: Required Skills: 1. Product knowledge. The ad lists 3 other “non-sales” skills. Sales is that strange position where many hiring managers focus on skills other than selling. Is it any wonder there are so many sales hiring horror stories?
Continue ReadingYou Won’t Last Long
I just read a sales ad with this position title: Disposable Sales Representative The context of the position makes sense when you read the entire ad (food service industry), but I would think the title could some serious tweaking. Can you imagine handing a business card to a prospect that listed that title? They may decide to “dispose” of you right there.
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 ReadingRun The Spell Check
This job summary is from a sales ad for a FORTUNE 500 company: Job Summary Responsible for developing and maintaining customer relationships within the transportatin industry. Is that unbelievable? The irony here is that this company probably holds candidate resumes to a higher standard than their own ad. One other thing – a one line job summary is probably too short. I like quick-read ads, but there should be some specificity to the summary. And no spelling errors.
Continue ReadingBe Conservative On The Compensation
I read this line in a sales employment ad this past weekend: Actual Year 1 average earnings – $100,000 – $200,000 ++ REALISTIC A $100K spread? You know, this type of line is an immediate red flag for a jobseeker. It may be true, but most salespeople will be skeptical. They will put a multiplier of <1.0 on the number. The sad part of this ad is that it was posted by a sales recruiting company. The best bet in these ads is to be somewhat conservative on the compensation and keep a tight range on the potential.
Continue ReadingEven Big Companies Make Mistakes
This is from a sales ad for a large U.S. company: Qualifications To be considered for this role, candidates must meet the following criteria: Bachelor Perhaps that is a truncating problem, but I am feeling left out as a married man.
Continue ReadingA Common Sales Ad Spec
Here is a bullet point from a sales employment ad: Home based office experience a major plus! Can you imagine reading that point just 5 years ago?
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 ReadingAvoidable Sales Ads
Hiring strong salespeople is just about the most difficult hire any company can attempt to make. One of the reasons it is difficult is due to the types of ads that companies use when sourcing. Here is a prime example: Detailed Description Prospect region to identify new Referral vendors Provide regional support for National Referral relationships Re-engage Referral Endorsers not assigned to current reps Introduce (Company) to Referral vendors Manage paperwork for registering Referral vendors Educate Referral vendors on (Company) products and services Manage leads received through Referral vendors Develop (Company) solutions for referred leads Complete profit assistants and proposals for referred prospects Submit orders and process paperwork for provisioning… Read More
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