We’re an assessment company so you can imagine how adamant I am about assessing candidates (not just for sales positions either). However, in sales it is crucial to use assessments to cut through the sales candidates’ well-developed social skills. Unfortunately, many assessment tools focus on personality only which is not a reliable or repeatable predictor of sales success. My experience has been that most people focus on big personalities when it comes to selling. If the person is a good talker, tells funny stories, lights up the room, etc., then they must be a good salesperson. The bigger the personality, the more they will sell. Ok, I grant you that… Read More
Continue ReadingProduct vs. Service Sales
I’ve been seeing this distinction first-hand among salespeople I have encountered of late. I’m not sure there is a clear-cut sales ability towards product vs. service sales, but I do know that certain salespeople have skills and aptitudes that support one over the other. In that vein I give you a quick breakdown of sales traits that come from these two forms of selling. Product Sales -Quantity-focused – the approach is to close frequently and success is measured in total numbers -Speed first – fast, frequent closing is their approach, 1-call closes are their ideal -Off-the-shelf – typically they prefer to sell a pre-designed solution -Discount – their drop-close is… Read More
Continue ReadingEnd My Hiring Misery
Here is a good read from Inc.com on improving your hiring process. The pull quote for me: In my opinion, one of the reasons people do such a poor job in hiring, is that they just want to get it over with,” Matuson says. “Really take your time, do it right, and ask yourself the question, constantly, ‘is this person good enough? Is this really the right person, or am I just trying to end my misery?” Umm, yes, I have seen that first hand on many occasions…from my customers! Anyway, there is some good information in the article along with some cliché advice. Here is some of the good:… Read More
Continue Reading2010 Hiring Trends
From the Herman Group newsletter: According to the latest Manpower Employment Outlook Surveys, the US will have a year-over-year increase of about five percent with a record-tying 73 percent of employers keeping staff levels stable. Twelve of the 13 industry sectors surveyed report positive net employment outlooks, meaning employers in most industry sectors plan to add staff during the second quarter. The only sector expecting negative growth is Government, however with the passage of the recent healthcare legislation, we believe that may not be an accurate forecast. Moreover, among the 201 local metropolitan statistical areas surveyed, “94 percent indicate a positive or neutral net employment outlook, indicating cautious optimism is… Read More
Continue ReadingDisappearing Telecommuters
Saleshq.com offers up tricks for telecommuters in this article. There are some solid points like this: 5. Communication It’s very easy to forget the outside world when you work from home. While you do get to avoid the intricacies of corporate politics, it also means that you have to be your own advocate. Make sure there are multiple ways for your boss and colleagues to contact you. Check your email frequently, and respond as immediately as you can. Keep your phone at hand, and make sure you call if there’s an office meeting. An instant messaging service works well for open communication if something changes last minute. For more long… Read More
Continue ReadingIntroverts Make Great Salespeople
You heard me right, that is an indirect quote from this Inc.com article. This topic comes up often in our sales hiring activities as the conventional wisdom is that extroverts make better salespeople. Not true. Successful salespeople have a wide variety of abilities that go far beyond their communication style. And that is the point here, introvert/extrovert is more of a communication style than anything else. It is important to know a salesperson’s style, but it is not predictive of sales success. Here is some excellent advice from the article (emphasis mine): “When selling as an introvert, use your abilities as a good researcher to really know audience, know what… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring Like A Detective
Yes, the title is a bit quirky, but it is true. A significant portion of successful hiring involves being a good detective. I have always taken that approach when helping our customers find the right salesperson for their position. To be a good detective, you need to be a bit skeptical. Sales candidates blow sunshine. Few have ever missed quota, most state their primary weakness is being a workaholic and all have earned everything they have accomplished. Right. In reality, most have missed their sales quota at some point, many have real weaknesses discussing money and handling rejection and most have benefited from somewhere be it marketing, territory, company market… Read More
Continue ReadingDouble Dip
The title of this post is one that brings pause to many people. Are we headed towards a double dip recession? I don’t think we can say one way or another quite yet. However, today’s numbers are not good: The number of Americans filing for initial unemployment insurance surged to just below the 500,000 level last week, and have climbed more than 12% over the past two weeks, the government said Thursday. … The 4-week moving average of initial claims was 473,750, up 6,000 from the previous week’s revised average of 467,750. I have talked to many companies who are in a holding mode for hiring. Thankfully, I have not… Read More
Continue ReadingHiring Time
According to this CNNMoney.com article, 2010 hiring will be steady and growing (emphasis mine): “We see a healthy expansion under way, although it will take time to reduce economic slack and repair damaged balance sheets,” said Lynn Reaser, president of the National Association for Business Economics, which conducted the survey of 48 top economic forecasters in late January and early February. I wonder if those are the same “economic forecasters” who are perpetually surprised by the latest economic news? Nonetheless, I don’t mind a little positive outlook during this recession: The NABE panelists expect that jobs will return slowly this year, forecasting an average monthly increase of 50,000 jobs in… Read More
Continue ReadingBattle Lines
I’ve been busy over the past week or two handling a myriad of business topics and tasks which has decreased my blogging time dramatically. One item has come up during this time at one of our customers – a battle of wills amongst managers. This is no small battle, it has turned into an ongoing war for which I am now in the midst of the battlefield. Without going into specifics, I can tell you where we start in these situations – motivations. The first place to look when there is interpersonal conflict within an office team is the motivation pattern for each individual. In the instance with our customer,… Read More
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