Selling has always been about relationships, but it is becoming more significant in today’s world. According to a recent study referenced in this Selling Power.com article – The Relationship Imperative – product superiority is not as big a driver in customers’ decision-making process. “Product superiority used to be a big advantage for companies,” says Jim Dickie, partner at CSO Insights. “But collapsing product lifecycles is changing that. If a competitor doesn’t have a feature or function today, they can catch up a lot faster than they could in the past.” The result: product superiority has dropped down to the number three reason companies win deals with just 35 percent of… Read More
Continue ReadingFastest Dying Industries
Clearly newspapers are the poster child for this topic. ABCnews.com approaches this topic with research that forecasts industry changes over the next 5 years. Some of their predictions and suggestions: Another way to avoid disaster? Diversify. In response to decades of declining circulation and shaky print advertising numbers, newspaper publishers are expanding their holdings in non-traditional ways. The two largest, Gannett and Tribune, own a stake Careerbuilder.com, the online job search Web site. In 2005, The New York Times Co. bought About.com, a general information site. Will it work? The jury is out. Worth noting, though–the industry’s most successful transition is also its most radical. The Washington Post Co. secured… Read More
Continue ReadingEgomaniacal Business Beliefs
My father likes to state that your ego is your most expensive business partner. I’ve seen this firsthand in companies where the leader regularly proclaims their position or superiority. I’m all for it when it is accurate and not overstated. I’m thinking of one particular company where the President consistently stated: Our company does things better than any other company. We are the best in our industry. Nobody can do what we do. Unfortunately, in this instance, these statements were just not accurate. The outcropping from this situation was painful for us. We were searching for a regional sales manager for this company. We lost good candidates because the President… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Qualifications Determine Sales Success?
Here’s what we often see from hiring managers or recruiters that focus on a wide variety of positions. They tend to look for qualifications in their sourcing activities. Obviously, this approach is warranted and required when sourcing for positions like accountants, medical personnel, IT, engineers and so forth. But what about sales? What qualifications determine sales success? A college degree? 5, 7 or 10 years tenure? Industry experience? The difficulty in sales is that there are so few, if any, verifiable qualifications that properly filter applicants out. The better approach is to list the skills that the sale requires. Notice I didn’t write “position?” The typical sale is what needs to… Read More
Continue ReadingAssonance Alert: Archive Annual Awards
Well, I should qualify that; I suppose an Oscar, Grammy, Tony, etc. is a timeless award. However, I just read an employment ad from a large recruiting firm that had this bolded statement at the top: #1 Ranked Executive Search Firm – January 2006 January 2006? My first thought was who beat them out for the past 2 years. Maybe they have drastically declined in some way? Call me a minimalist, but I prefer to get right to the meat in an employment ad. In fairness to this firm, this was an internal hire. Still, I would think they would have a bit more sense to remove that statement since… Read More
Continue ReadingScratch And Sniff Resumes?
First off, the word “wacky” should not be used in any form of writing. Second, this Yahoo Hot Jobs article – Wacky Job-Seeker Stunts – lists some . . . zany gimmicks for attempting to land a marketing/advertising position: Puts up posters of himself in your company parking lot. Attaches pineapple scratch-and-sniff stickers to his resume. Announces his candidacy with a singing telegram. Sends lottery tickets with her resume. Rents a billboard that you can see from your office to list his qualifications. Bakes cookies with icing to write several reasons why she should be hired. Delivers pre-paid Chinese food, including a fortune cookie with his name and number. Yeah,… Read More
Continue ReadingNow Is The Time
We have been sourcing for a handful of sales positions around the country this past weekend and we are starting to see some potential movement of strong candidates. What I mean is that there is some contraction about to start among large sales forces. Some strong salespeople will be pushed out in the contraction which makes for an excellent time to expand or upgrade your sales team. Revenue-generating positions are always a priority no matter what the economy does. A slowdown generally pushes companies towards cost-saving maneuvers which is good for sales hiring – some good salespeople are going to be squeezed out. One example is a candidate we recently… Read More
Continue ReadingComeback Careerists
That title is for John Sumser – one more colloquialism for the recruiting world. The Wall Street Journal offers up this article to discuss mothers re-entering the workforce after taking extended time off (years) to raise their family. I have a soft spot in my heart for this topic since my wife recently reentered the workforce after taking 8 years off. It took her some time, but she landed an ideal position at a medical clinic. That isn’t always the case: Though 74% do find work, only 40% say they are gainfully employed in full-time, mainstream jobs. “There is still a tremendous amount of stigma and suspension when employers see… Read More
Continue ReadingQ2 Hiring To Remain Consistent
That title probably got your attention. The economy is completely dynamic so things can change, but the quarterly CareerBuilder.com/Harris Interactive survey came back with some surprising results (my editing). “The job loss reported in the first quarter signified a gradual deceleration in recruitment in the U.S. as the nation’s economy downshifted,” says CEO, Matt Ferguson. “In the next three months, employers anticipate marginal change in their hiring pace. While some industries are experiencing a contraction in employment levels, areas such as information technology, healthcare, professional and business services and sales continue to add full-time jobs.” …29% of employers state plans to grow their number of full-time, permanent employees from April… Read More
Continue ReadingCulling The Applicant Herd
Forbes.com offers up an article about companies hiring large numbers of employees. How large? Infosys received 1.3 million résumés last year. “In peak seasons we receive around 6,000-10,000 resumes in a day,” says Nandita Gurjar, vice president of human resources development at Infosys. And you thought you had a pile of resumes to get through. The article explains how many of these companies are using online tests or questionnaires at the first step in the process. Clearly, as cold as it sounds, they would have to do some sort of first-pass, automated filter to handle this level of response. After the initial culling, one casino uses a unique approach to… Read More
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