I’ve commented on this before, but please don’t do this. From an ad I read this morning: Customer Service / Sales Representative Responsibilities will include the development of new prospect business in addition to growing the current company House Account business through assisting customers with their orders from the quotes stage through the delivery / billing stage. These are two vastly different skill sets. There are very few people who are good at both customer service and new sales development. Odds are you are not going to find a person with this skill set. Typically, candidates will be strong at one to the detriment of the other. The better approach… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Self-Discipline
Remote offices are the rage amongst a geographically dispersed sales force. Yet, this distributed structure requires salespeople who have the self-discipline to work effectively on their own. The only method to measure this trait when hiring is to assess. Self Discipline And Sense of DutyThis is a measure of the strength one has in the norms with which they rule their own conduct. They feel a need to be consistent and true to themselves in their actions. It is the compulsion that one feels to be true to the ideals they have set for themselves. A salesperson with strength in this trait will have an inner strength which enables them to… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Are You Afraid Of?
The Hammer’s recent post, The Trick to Talent Upgrades, brings up a touchy subject for some sales managers. What if the talent upgrade includes people with more experience or with seemingly superior skills to those of the sales manager? If I upgrade the talent I manage, where does that leave me? Unfortunately, these types of scenarios make our role rather difficult. We have encountered more than a few instances where these situations have derailed strong candidates. This derailment has happened despite the sales manager’s stated goal of upgrading the skills and experience of the sales force. In these types of situations, I find it helpful to make myself go through… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Truth About Candidates
This line is straight from a CareerBuilder.com email blast: The record shows that the job goes not necessarily to the perfect candidate, but to the person who knows the most about how to get hired. So let€™s get busy€¦ I hope that gives you pause. That’s their bolding too. This approach – knowing how to get hired – is the backbone of bad hiring. Bad candidates can still know how to appear strong, adapt greatly or Google deeply to masquerade through your hiring process. The fix is to use a process that limits your reliance upon your gut since that is how they pull it off. Use a focused process,… Read More
Continue ReadingResults-based Work
From Seth Godin’s post Who should you hire? There is a fundamental shift in rules from manual-based work (where you follow instructions and an increase in productivity means doing the steps faster) to project-based work (where the instructions are unknown, and visualizing outcomes and then getting things done is what counts.) And yet, we’re still trying to hire people who have shown an ability to follow instructions. A great point from him especially in terms of hiring strong salespeople. “Project-based work” has been more common in sales since salespeople tend to have some freedom, or latitude, to achieve results. Sales is typically the easiest position to measure success. If a… Read More
Continue ReadingI Wouldn’t Call It a Skill or Hobby
From the Special Skills/Hobbies section of a resume (my emphasis): Athletic in football,baseball,hockey and can play pool very well. Other hobbies include hunting,fishing,horseback riding, drinking, and reading. That definitely falls under the TMI section of communication (Too Much Information).
Continue ReadingA High-Maintenance Generation
According to this quick blurb from the Pioneer Press – Talkin’ ’bout Y Generation (emphasis mine): Generation Y is coming of age, and “manage” – as in telling them what to do and how to do it – appears not to be in their vocabulary. Gen Y was born between 1977 and 1995, and Fortune (June 4) says the 20-somethings really are different. “This is the most high-maintenance work force in history. The good news is they’re also going to be the most high-performing,” the magazine reports. … Companies that want to attract the stars of this highly competitive generation must be creative. At JPMorgan, for instance, job candidates can play… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Trick To Talent Upgrades
Great article at abcnews.com from my friend Bob Rosner titled Working Wounded: Recruiting Top Talent for Your Organization. Recruiting top talent takes an incredible amount of work to be successful. Bob’s article hits on 3 important topics to any hiring process. DO identify top talent. DO ask: Why would top talent work for us? DO showcase your talent. DON’T abuse top talent. All are good tips and you can read his description under each topic. I wanted to point out his section under his second point: Does your company pay a higher salary than the average for your industry and community? Do you let workers control as much of their… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Requires Mobility
What is your company doing to accommodate remote employees? That question is becoming more common in each subsequent interview I run with our customers. Sales has always been an “outside-the-walls” position, but now that truth is being taken to new levels. From Managesmarter.com’s Get Competitive, Get Mobile (added emphasis): The study polled more than 500 executives globally on whether or not their organizations had implemented mobility initiatives and how often those initiatives were being used. The results show that business mobility is now implemented in most companies and executives report that one fifth of their employees are mobile, spending at least one day a week working outside the office. Reasons… Read More
Continue ReadingCover Letter Dissonance
Welcome back from the long weekend. Let’s start this day with a strange closing from a cover email: I possess SELF-ASSURANCE that naturally helps me to form conclusions, make decisions and act Excellence, not average, is my measure. As a MAXIMIZER I enjoy transforming something strong into something superb. As an ACTIVATOR I cannot wait to start a task. I am eager for action. If you€™re interested in talking please email… If there was any momentum in the cover email, it was stripped away with that last line. It is a subtle, but salient point – asking for an email to talk is a bit passive for an “ACTIVATOR.”
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