This line is from a sales ad I read this morning: Pre-qualified prospects are provided by <company> (cold leads). Reminds me of President Clinton saying, “It depends on what the meaning of the words ‘is’ is.” “Pre-qualified prospects” and “cold leads” seems to be a stretch, at least in my mind, to be used in the same sentence.
Continue ReadingHard Numbers On Telecommuting
The Herman Trend Alert newsletter (sorry, no link) provides some interesting statistics from a Cisco survey: Now the international technology giant Cisco Systems has just released a study of its own organization demonstrating these benefits and more. Using telecommuting, Cisco estimates annual savings of USD $277 Million. In its in-depth “Teleworker Survey” of almost 2,000 company employees, the company evaluated the social, economic, and environmental impacts associated with telecommuting. The study found that telecommuting significantly increased employee productivity, work-life flexibility, and job satisfaction. In addition, the report cited that “a majority of respondents experienced a significant increase in work-life flexibility, productivity, and overall satisfaction as a result of their ability… Read More
Continue ReadingAdjusting A Sales Process For This Recession
The thought of retiring is going to be a novel idea in the near future, at least according to a new abcnews.com poll. In a recent survey of Americans (my bold): Half the population in this new ABC News poll thinks both job security and retirement prospects in the years ahead will remain worse than their pre-recession levels. Four in 10 also see worsened prospects for the availability of jobs and advancement, and, consequently, their own spending power. No surprise there. The second aspect regarding worsened prospects for the availability of jobs is phrased in a negative manner. However, it is only 40%. This effect occurs in these difficult economic… Read More
Continue ReadingFunnel Or Sieve?
This Selling Power article title made me laugh – Are You Using a Funnel or a Sieve? I laughed because my son is a hockey goalie so the word “sieve” carries a special horror. That horror is compounded by the fact that we just returned from a hockey tournament in Winnipeg where I expected to hear some rowdy crowds and perhaps a sieve chant towards my son. My fears were unfounded as the Canadians were extremely pleasant. Hockey colloquialisms aside, this article makes many excellent points before turning into an advertisement. This entire graph is valuable: It’s an issue that makes sense from a cost standpoint as well. Karam says… Read More
Continue ReadingAlluring Experience
I’ve written about this phenomenon in the past and I continually encounter it in many sales areas – the allure of experience. In fact, I just talked to a recruiter from a different part of the country who focuses on sales hiring. We talked a bit of strategy and I was just dumbfounded. This gentleman focuses solely on finding someone with as much industry experience as possible. His primary motivation – find candidates who can bring accounts with them. No discussion about skills, no behavioral-based questions, no attempt at learning their style and motivation…just simple experience. I am not even sure if he asks if it was successful experience. My… Read More
Continue ReadingObvious Red Flags In Employment Ads
Don’t do this: If you have the contacts in these areas with such customers, let us know! That line is from a sales employment ad I read this morning and it is a tremendous red flag to savvy salespeople. The ad is also from a recruiter and not the hiring company which makes it worse. It is this approach that makes sales recruiting so difficult. Clearly this recruiter is less interested in ability and more interested in an existing network. Fair enough, but having a network is one thing, getting customers to walk over to a new company is another. It rarely works in spite of what the salesperson thinks… Read More
Continue ReadingA Simple Interview Rule
If you (hiring manager) are talking, you’re not interviewing. I know, simple in concept, but for some it is difficult in practice. I sat through an interview recently that involved a sales manager who spoke for 75-85% of the time! The candidate was simply caught in his wake for the entire interview. My take on the interview was that we learned next to nothing about the candidate and his fit to the position. He may have been strong – we’ll never know. What we did learn is the frantic, scattered approach of the sales manager makes for an interview that did not go deep on any topic. The fault here… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Interviews Are Uncomfortable
I about fell out of my chair reading this SellingPower.com article – Interviews Get Comfortable. A quick excerpt to set the tone: “It’s your job as an interviewer to make the candidate feel comfortable and it starts from the moment you see that person,” says Barbara Pachter, a speaker, trainer, coach, and author of numerous business books, including The Power of Positive Confrontation (Marlowe & Co., 2006). Pachter does acknowledge that there are times when interviewers put candidates in awkward positions to view reactions, but for the most part they should work to put candidates at ease. Her suggestions for putting candidates at ease include: Be a gracious host.… Read More
Continue ReadingChaotic Freedom In Sales
I read this line from an sales employment ad this morning: Reps are NOT restricted by territory. The unrestricted territory seems innocuous enough…maybe even valuable. It usually isn’t. As a salesperson, I would read this ad with some skepticism in that the company may be trying to add salespeople without a cogent management plan. Back in my early years I took a job with a company that had no territories. There were approximately 15 salespeople in there serving the local market. What I learned is that the “old-timers” had effectively squatted on all of the accounts, whether they had an active relationship or not. Since there were no defined territories… Read More
Continue ReadingBench Building
I was shocked today when I read this sentence in a sales ad”: Please note that at this time this posting is for purposes of building our talent pool only and there are no current available positions. That was the 2nd sentence in the ad. This is an interesting approach in this market – the company appears to be building their bench which is an important task. What type of response they receive…well, that I wonder. Nonetheless, I like the approach.
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