The title of a resume I found online: Experience Hard Warker
Continue Reading14 “Top” Interview Questions
CareerBuilder.com has put out another link-bait article titled Top Interview Questions. I wonder if they send this version out to their employer customers and a modified version out to the jobseekers in a separate email? Anyway, here is the list: What circumstance brings you here today? This is one of the best opening questions ever. This open ended question surprises many candidates. If they do not respond quickly, just sit quietly and wait for the response. Some candidates reveal problems with their current employer, potential insubordination, and both positive or negative character traits. How would your best friend describe you? What would you say are your 2 greatest weaknesses? How… Read More
Continue Reading3 Steps To Successful Negotiation
We’re in the middle of a couple negotiations between our customers and their top sales candidate selection. The companies are smaller and these positions are fairly important within the department so they are not “slotted” pay ranges that are more common in larger companies. Both negotiations have similar topics (salary and commission plans are always prevalent in sales negotiations) but different approaches by the candidates. Call it serendipity, but I came across a timely SalesHQ article titled How To Structure A Negotiation. The author, Jonathan Farrington, provides 3 important steps for any negotiation whether it be for a potential hire or a potential customer: The recommended structure for negotiations is:… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling To The C Level
We here that phrase often – must have experience selling to the (insert executive/C level/CEO here). But how many positions actually sell to this level? What do CEO’s actually purchase for their company? Financial planners sell to the C level. High-end insurance salespeople sell to the C level. However, most positions do not sell at that level. One value for a salesperson is the ability to enter at that level and then be sent down to the correct mid-level manager with a referral from the C level contact. Yet even that “kicked down” ability is overstated. The real value is being able to discover the decision process within the company. … Read More
Continue ReadingRedefining The Sales Funnel
This video from Selling Power discusses a unique look at the traditional sales funnel. The author in the video states that the sales funnel has to be thrown out and redesigned based on the prospect’s process. The 4 minute video is an excellent discussion on this topic: If you have trouble with the video, here is the link to watch it on the Selling Power website.
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 ReadingGenerations 101
The Wall Street Journal provides an article that does a nice job of laying out the upcoming shortage of workers. The focus is upon the different generations and the general drive behind each. The article is rather rudimentary, but it provides a clean view of the problem. First: Americans of childbearing age simply are not producing enough kids to meet the economy’s future need for workers, notably in fast-growing fields such as medicine and engineering. The shortfall is coming largely because the fabled baby boom generation was so huge—75 million Americans born in the 18 years from 1946 to 1964—that no other generation can be expected to match it any… Read More
Continue Reading2 If By Blog
Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event. -Oscar Wilde We have made it through another year of posting and pontificating. Today, The Hire Sense turns two. Thanks to all of you for allowing us the chance to share our thoughts, opinions, anecdotes and suggestions in this format.
Continue Reading7 Deadly Sins of Sales Managers
First we posted on the 7 Deadly Sins of Salespeople over a year ago. Now comes the follow up – leaders, or sales managers. Each item has a full paragraph explanation to it which I have removed for space. However, 3 of them warranted the full paragraph: 1. Passiveness 2. Unaccountability 3. Thoughtlessness Leaders think. They acknowledge they are making assumptions when they make them and that they are considering opinion rather than dress it up as a fact. They do not apply business models from other industries or businesses without considering whether their external operating environment, strengths and weaknesses are or can be made to be similar. They do… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Is A Flexible Work Strategy?
Apparently the answer to that question depends upon whom you ask. From an older RecruitingTrends.com article: Furthermore, executives’ innate understanding of what defines flexible work strategies varies. While the largest percentage (45%) define it as pertaining to time, 31% view it as something to do with an employee’s location, and another 23% see flexible work arrangements as something other than time or location. I would fall in the “Flexible location” group in terms of defining it. It would appear that this relatively new phrase requires a better definition. Or perhaps all new phrases and terms begin with some ambiguity.
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