I’m a big fan of online purchases mainly because I can get exactly what I want, click to order and forget about it. I’m not a big tracking guy either – I pick the slowest, cheapest method for shipping and the stuff usually arrives within 1 week. Fire and forget. Now Inc.com offers up Ever Wish You Could Read Your Customers’ Minds? Get a load of this new software: Proclivity is a consumer predictive engine technology that is able to analyze a customer’s online activity and identify their interest in certain types of merchandise. … For example, if an online clothing retailer wants to launch a campaign around jeans, Proclivity… Read More
Continue ReadingTough Hiring Data To Spin
Time to suspend the recession talk for one more week. From CNNMoney.com’s Unemployment claims down: WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits fell to the lowest level in seven weeks, an unexpected sign of improvement for the job market. The Labor Department reported Thursday that new applications for unemployment benefits totaled 311,000 last week, a drop of 9,000 from the previous week. It marked the lowest level for jobless claims since July 28. The decline came as a surprise to economists, who had been forecasting a rise in claims of about 6,000. As I have said before, our day-to-day activities at Select Metrix are… Read More
Continue ReadingBackground Screening Stats
According to a recent article in Workforce Managements Newsletter, almost as many employees are discharged for poor performance as those who leave for better pay or for personal reasons. The National Association of Professional Employer Organizations, an Alexandria, Virginia-based group found about 70 percent of companies say job candidates omit relevant background information €œoccasionally or frequently.€ A fairly high rate especially if you are not conducting some type of background check. We have been very consistent here at The Hire Sense encouraging you as an employer to run background checks on all final candidates. If you aren’t performing background checks today, I hope the latest statistic will prompt you to… Read More
Continue ReadingFlamboyant Incompetence
I’ve been swamped of late and am still trying to catch up on my RSS reading. I did just read this hilarious post from GL over at What Would Dad Say. You have to read the whole thing – it is excellent. I’m still laughing as I type. The content primarily discusses what not to do in a layoff The post is written from the recently laid-off employee’s perspective. The line that got me laughing (emphasis mine): 1. Include an obvious misspelling or two in the letter €” ideally, something that would slip past a spell checker but be caught easily by anyone who bothered to proofread it. Suggestion: €œIf… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Correcting Others
Another managerial trait this week that we measure when assessing sales manager candidates. A critical aspect of successful sales management is the manager’s ability to hold salespeople accountable. At times that can be like herding cats, but it is still mission critical to developing a top-notch sales team. Correcting OthersThis ability confronts controversial or difficult issues in an objective manner while having non-emotional discussions about disciplinary matters. This trait is directly related to the manager’s balance in their ability to evaluate others and be empathetic. A manager with strength in this trait can usually provide constructive criticism to another in a way that it is not received as insulting or degrading. The… Read More
Continue ReadingTeam-Based Intelligence
Ok, I haven’t heard of this book until now, but it sounds most interesting – Teaching an Anthill to Fetch: Developing Collaborative Intelligence @ Work. The book is profiled in the BusinessWeek.com article Building a Better Team. From the author: Teaching an Anthill to Fetch is a metaphor for the challenge of creating a significant level of collaborative intelligence in a system. It applies equally whether it is a team, a business, or an entire organization. The title also poses a question: Is it possible to create change at a micro level that will have s(sic) predictable large-scale effects? In my opinion it is. I think he is on to… Read More
Continue ReadingI’m It
Ok, I have been delinquent in responding to Clayton from Salesopedia and his tag of me. Apparently I have to share 8 little known things about me. I’ll give it a try: I am a twin. I have a “younger” sister – I was born 3 min. before her. Still counts. Although I live in Minnesota, I was born in Ann Arbor, MI and bleed Maize and Blue. I only lived there the first 5 years of my life, but it had a huge impact on me no matter what the Rock Star says. I met my wife at work. I was in sales and she was in marketing. We… Read More
Continue Reading1 Is The Loneliest Number
Here is the ultimate hiring conundrum – you complete all of your sourcing and qualifying to end up with one candidate. That candidate was strong on the phone screen, has strong online assessments and a notable track record of sales success. The hope here is that he will interview well and there is not reason to think he won’t. The issue is that many clients are not comfortable just interviewing one candidate . . . no matter how strong the candidate is. This predicament is one we are in currently. The candidate is quite strong and has been excellent throughout our process. He has stood head and shoulders above the… Read More
Continue Reading2 Performance Problems – Mismanaged and Misemployed
Since we work in the sale hiring and management arena, we get the chance to see a sales position from both sides – the sales management side and the sales person side. It is a unique perspective that we discuss often internally. Like most people, we tend to look at what goes wrong in these situations and we really see 2 items that lead to performance issues within the department: Mismanaged – Sales Manager sideThis problem is quite severe and certainly is the greater of the two problems. A sales manager who mismanages salespeople has a tremendously negative effect on an entire company. The most common problem is disengagement. A sales manager… Read More
Continue ReadingCold Call Potpourri
Some more general points from this morning’s cold calling discussion: Some other items to consider: -Be positive – it is only a phone call -Stand up-your tonality is better, you’ll be less anxious and less distracted -Don’t get verbal diarrhea -Have a hook, don’t try to do a data dump -Qualify the next step – no fuzzy phrases (“I’ll think it over”) In the end, you need to be able to answer (well) this question from the prospect: What do you know about our company? We use a modified approach when phone screening candidates. We ask them how their skills and experience fit the criteria listed in our ad. The Rock Star… Read More
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