The epitome of optimism – a headline from abcnews.com: Has the Recession Finally Ended? I guess you could characterize this as “talking up” the economy. Here is one paragraph from the article that made me laugh (emphasis mine): Today also brought some positive news from the much-battered retail sector. For the first time in three months, retail sales in May rose, by 0.5 percent, according to the Commerce Department. The sales were pushed higher by increased demand for new cars and sales at gas stations. It was the largest increase since sales rose 1.7 percent in January following six straight monthly declines. While this is good news, part of the… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Wrong Approach
I received an email recently from someone I presume to be a salesperson looking for work. Obviously this is a common occurrence these days, but here is the error in the delivery – the email had no writing. Yup, it was just a blank email with an MS Word attachment that appeared to be a resume. This approach is a wasted effort in today’s world. I never opened the attachment for fear it may be some malicious, virus-infested computer-killer. Dramatic, I know, but the point is valid. It is similar to a phone call that comes in on your home phone at night and lists nothing more than “Out of… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Pain Of A Lagging Indicator
Hiring, that is, and it appears that it is going to be an even rougher road over the back half of 2009. If you are in the recruiting, hiring, assessing business you are aware of this fact. 9.4% unemployment is remarkable. From abcnews.com: The percentage of people without jobs in this country is now at the highest point in nearly 26 years. Every month since January 2008 we have seen jobs disappear. So far the economy has shed 6 million jobs since the recession started push (sic) employers to start handing out pink slips. I’m still looking for the report that lists the number of jobs “saved” by the stimulus… Read More
Continue ReadingLyin’ Eyes
Clearly the greatest song from the Eagles and a key to discovering lies in an interview. Forbes.com covers fascinating topic with a startling point at the beginning of the article: …they only work about 80% of the time, according to the American Polygraph Association. That is far lower than I expected. Clearly, it is probably better than the vast majority of people, but I thought the number would be north of 90% for sure. Ah, but here are the fun “tells” for interviewers to use: Liars often give short or one-word responses to questions, while truth tellers are more likely to flesh out their answers. And this: Skilled liars don’t… Read More
Continue ReadingMediocre People
This quote is from the JustSell.com daily email. I thought it was excellent: “Mediocre people have an answer for everything and are astonished at nothing.” Eugene Delacroix (1798-1863) French Artist
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 ReadingEven Airlines Use Assessments
Short background here is that Delta bought Northwest Airlines and now I am in the process of switching my frequent flyer program to Delta. Being a free miles junkie, I completed Delta’s online travel profile. I thought it was simple background info/preferences for me. At the end of the 15 questions I receive this information: Speed Racer Comfort Seeker Opportunist Grand Planner YOU TRAVEL IN THE FAST LANE, WITH MAXIMUM EFFICIENCY. As one of those rare, special people who gets things done quicker when there’s more to do, you prioritize your time to your advantage. You always find a way to be more efficient, and you never met an obstacle… Read More
Continue ReadingDo Values Change In A Recession?
That is a tough question since I think values are primarily hardwired into each of us. We assess this trait in sales candidates – call them motivations. Each person tends to have two of these motivators that drives their behaviors (some people have 3 primary motivators). We have assessed salespeople who were in slumps, who were unemployed and who were candidates. These are stressful situations that should impact their values. When we had the opportunity to assess the same people at a later date (years later), we did not see an appreciable change in their values/motivations. Granted, this was no scientific study, but rather a consistent observation. BusinessWeek.com provides this… Read More
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