This article ranks 50 metros in terms of relative ”stress” and I was glad to see my metro did not make the top 10. We did, however, miss the “Top 10 Least Stressful” metros (by one place). Distressing, to say the least. Those of us who live in the Twin Cities love to brag on our quality of life, even more so than our weather. We love being in the top 10 of any silly survey.
It made me think about the stress of working in sales. The constant pressure to perform. The uncertainty of the deal. The hidden power centers and arcane purchasing rules. The shifty clients and the wayward economy. Off-shore competition. Crabby sales managers (OK, that was a dig, but I am entitled having lived on both sides of that aisle).
Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!
When you’re interviewing for that next sales person, you better find out how they handle stress or you might simply be adding to your own. Does the candidate shut down? Blame others? Avoid confrontation (and thereby avoid closing the tough deal)? Or do they readily accept the conditions of the job and figure out ways to succeed without exploding?
Now, you say to yourself, if this is such a key attribute, how do I evaluate that candidate? Ask them during the final interview?
Better to address it with a careful assessment, up front. Our friends at Select Metrix capture a lot of key information during their online assessment of sales candidates, including skills, motivations and rewards. Plus, they use their unique approach as another proving ground, each conversation or contact with the candidate carefully crafted to place that salesperson into facsimiles of real-life sales situations. The candidate is evaluated not only by their answers to the assessment questions, but also in how they respond to the challenges, topic shifts and intentional obstacles that the Select Metrix interviewer throws at them. It’s like this – they try to intentionally stress them out to see how they handle it!
Here’s the analogy that pops into my head – an NFL quarterback who can’t handle crowd noise won’t succeed, despite all the basic skills and athletic ability. So too, a sales professional needs to be able to handle the stress of our highly competitive and fast-paced world of commerce.
Assess the stress and stay out of the scary forest.