This week we explore an important aspect of a salesperson’s psyche. If you are a sales manager, this trait will explain your salesperson’s view of himself and how best to manage to that view. Self AssessmentThe ability to practically and objectively identify one€™s personal management strengths and weaknesses. This is the ability of a salesperson to take the skills and techniques that they have gained in evaluating external situations and apply them to evaluating their own performance and abilities. A salesperson with strength in this area is capable of accurately evaluating his or her own strengths and weaknesses. They see themselves clearly. A weakness in this area indicates a salesperson who… Read More
Continue ReadingFocus On A Salesperson’s Strengths
Great article from SellingPower.com titled Don’t Fix Weaknesses; Build Strengths that discusses salesperson development. The core tenet of this article is to focus on building strengths and not in transforming weaknesses into strengths (it won’t happen). The entire article is worth the read, but this is the pull quote for me (my emphasis): In fact, while talent will get you to a certain point, developing and strengthening that talent is what brings the greatest success. Consider this experiment, conducted by the University of Nebraska some years back. To study the effectiveness of its speed-reading courses, the school evaluated students€™ natural reading pace and placed them in one of two groups… Read More
Continue ReadingFerret Out The Real Salesperson
I spoke to a sales candidate this week who took a couple days to get back to me after completing a phone interview last week. Her comments were almost unbelievable. The one that caught me most off guard was a statement that the General Manager of the company “clearly didn’t know a thing about sales.” This statement was not true, but even if it was, that is not something to blurt out in a follow-up discussion. She was a strong candidate who screened well, assessed well for fit to the position (with one anomaly) and phone interviewed well. In the end, she was not the right salesperson for the role.… Read More
Continue ReadingHardwired
Each week we highlight a specific sales trait with definitions of how that trait manifests itself as a strength and a weakness. We do this for one simple reason – there are aspects of selling that can’t be taught. In a sense, certain traits are hardwired into top-performing salespeople. And the only way to truly measure these traits is to use objective assessments. An adept interviewer is able to ask insightful questions and drill down on the candidate’s responses to get to some understanding of the truth. Rarely is it objective truth. The information is presented by the candidate in the best possible light to the candidate. This approach should always be… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Self-Discipline
Remote offices are the rage amongst a geographically dispersed sales force. Yet, this distributed structure requires salespeople who have the self-discipline to work effectively on their own. The only method to measure this trait when hiring is to assess. Self Discipline And Sense of DutyThis is a measure of the strength one has in the norms with which they rule their own conduct. They feel a need to be consistent and true to themselves in their actions. It is the compulsion that one feels to be true to the ideals they have set for themselves. A salesperson with strength in this trait will have an inner strength which enables them to… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Are You Afraid Of?
The Hammer’s recent post, The Trick to Talent Upgrades, brings up a touchy subject for some sales managers. What if the talent upgrade includes people with more experience or with seemingly superior skills to those of the sales manager? If I upgrade the talent I manage, where does that leave me? Unfortunately, these types of scenarios make our role rather difficult. We have encountered more than a few instances where these situations have derailed strong candidates. This derailment has happened despite the sales manager’s stated goal of upgrading the skills and experience of the sales force. In these types of situations, I find it helpful to make myself go through… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Truth About Candidates
This line is straight from a CareerBuilder.com email blast: The record shows that the job goes not necessarily to the perfect candidate, but to the person who knows the most about how to get hired. So let€™s get busy€¦ I hope that gives you pause. That’s their bolding too. This approach – knowing how to get hired – is the backbone of bad hiring. Bad candidates can still know how to appear strong, adapt greatly or Google deeply to masquerade through your hiring process. The fix is to use a process that limits your reliance upon your gut since that is how they pull it off. Use a focused process,… Read More
Continue Reading"Looking For Clues" When You Should Assess
Some of these articles get frustrating in that many of these errors can be avoided with a proper hiring process. From Inc.com’s Employers Often Misread Job Applicants: Similarly, out of 400 human resource managers polled, 59 percent said they have misjudged an applicant as being a good fit for the company, while 85 percent said they had lost an employee that simply wasn’t suited to the firm’s work environment, the survey found. According to Diane Domeyer, executive director of OfficeTeam, the interview is a prime opportunity for job seekers to assess the organization. “The interview is a two-way street,” Domeyer said in a statement. “Employers are looking for clues to… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Conceptual Thinking
Complex selling requires salespeople to have a long-term perspective that they incorporate into their short-term tactics. This trait can be measured in candidates and existing employees. Conceptual Thinking The ability to identify and evaluate resources while planning for their utilization throughout the execution of comprehensive, long-range plans. This trait is much more abstract than concrete organization; it deals with the ability to allocate resources in a mental scenario and accurately visualize outcomes. A salesperson with strength in this trait can mentally role-play the execution of the long-range projection and make accurate predictions concerning the possible outcomes. A salesperson with weakness in this trait may have difficulty clearly seeing such a mental scenario, thus tending to… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Intuitive Decision Making
Ok, we’ll approach this week’s trait cautiously since it approaches some forms of gut-level decision-making. Strong selling requires salespeople who do not guess or assume. Rather, they qualify by asking the right questions and listening to the answers. But let’s face it, there is a bit of artistry to being a good salesperson. Much of that artistry comes from having the ability to make the right decision even when all of the data is not available. Intuitive Decision Making The ability to accurately compile intuitive perceptions about a situation into a decision or action. This ability allows one to be €œintuitional€ as opposed to intellectual (requiring data and logical reasoning)… Read More
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