{"id":700,"date":"2007-02-27T06:45:43","date_gmt":"2007-02-27T12:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/overwritten-sales-ads\/"},"modified":"2007-02-27T06:46:45","modified_gmt":"2007-02-27T12:46:45","slug":"overwritten-sales-ads","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/overwritten-sales-ads\/","title":{"rendered":"Overwritten Sales Ads"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You don&#8217;t have to read this, just look at it&#8217;s sheer girth:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Qualifications\/Necessary Skills:<br \/>\nAttention to Detail.<br \/>\nAble 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.<br \/>\nAble to clearly present information through the spoken or written word; read and interpret complex information; talk with customers or clients; listens well.<br \/>\nAble to use a win-win approach to resolve controversy; stay objective and fair when dealing with sensitive situations; maintain constructive working relationships despite disagreement.<br \/>\nAble to take action in solving problems while exhibiting judgment and a realistic understanding of issues; able to use reason, even when dealing with emotional topics; review facts and weigh options.<br \/>\nAble to convince others in both positive and negative circumstances; use tact when expressing ideas or options; present new ideas to authority figures; adapt presentations to suit a particular audience; respond to objections successfully.<br \/>\nAble to be tactful, maintain confidences, and foster an ethical work environment; prevent inappropriate behavior by coworkers; give proper credit to others; handle all situations honestly.<br \/>\nAble to share due credit with coworkers; display enthusiasm and promote a friendly group working environment; work closely with other departments as necessary&#8217; support group decisions and solicit options from coworkers; display team spirit.<br \/>\nAble to obtain agreement from multiple parties; earn trust while working out a deal; use good timing and carefully calculated strategies when bargaining; communicate high value of services; identify hidden agendas that might interfere with resolution of terms. Able to prepare for emerging customer needs; manage multiple projects; determine project urgency in a meaningful and practical way; use goals to guide actions and create detailed action plans; organize and schedule people and tasks.<br \/>\nAble to develop rapport with others and recognize their concerns and feelings; build and maintain long-term associations based on trust; help others.<br \/>\nHistory and track record of achievement of revenue objectives.<br \/>\nDemonstrated ability to identify and develop sales opportunities in new accounts. Demonstrated ability to develop and implement account plans.<br \/>\nDemonstrated ability to work with accounts\u20ac\u2122 senior management and across functions within customer organizations to gain commitment, obtain resources and achieve desired results.<br \/>\nExcellent presentation skills.<br \/>\nStrong team building skills and ability to resolve conflict situations.<br \/>\nSuperior professional presence and business acumen.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This excerpt is just <em>part<\/em> of a sales ad placed by a retained search firm.  I realize that these firms often want to impress their customer by launching these Tolstoy-esque ads (think <em>War and Peace<\/em>).  But this ad is actually a hindrance to successful sales hiring.<\/p>\n<p>Sales revolves around the skill of qualifying.  This ad puts far too much information into the sales candidates&#8217; book.  The sales hiring process should mirror certain aspects of a typical sale.  By taking this approach, you are able to see the salesperson&#8217;s skills in action.  A shorter ad that touches on the absolute requirements requires the sales candidates to ask questions&#8230;in other words qualify the position.  Pay attention to their questions, observe their pattern and note their focus.<\/p>\n<p>An ad of this length will elicit responses from detail-oriented, highly-compliant salespeople who work better with existing accounts than they do with developing new accounts.  Obviously we have not profiled this sale, but the ad lists &#8220;developing sales opportunities&#8221; as one of the (many) requirements.  I suspect they will uncover many sales candidates who sell by responding to RFP&#8217;s.  And maybe that is the company&#8217;s sales model.<\/p>\n<p>However, you do not need a retained search company to find RFP-responding salespeople.  They are a dime a dozen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You don&#8217;t have to read this, just look at it&#8217;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&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/overwritten-sales-ads\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[26,16],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-bi","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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