BusinessWeek.com’s Think Before You Speak or Write provides a couple excellent stories regarding candidates who did a great job of putting their foot in their mouth. How would you like to receive this email? “I’m disappointed that the job you’re advertising pays much less than I’m used to making. It would be almost impossible for me to survive on the salary listed in the ad. Can you please tell me how much travel is required?” Not the way to initiate a dialogue. I’ve encountered this short approach when sourcing also. I actually received an email from one candidate that pointedly asked: Do I not qualify for the position that you… Read More
Continue ReadingExposing HR Myths
We had a chance to contribute to an article that appears in Ragan’s Management Resource’s newsletter Employee Recruitment & Retention this month. The article is titled Experts explode the HR industry’s biggest myths and reads like a collection of short essays on many surprising HR/hiring topics. My contribution (I get the byline though Lee assisted me) involves debunking the conventional wisdom that all good salespeople are extroverts. Nope, that isn’t true. The tease: My advice would be to look at a salesperson’s qualifying skills in the hiring process as opposed to their linguistic mannerisms. Watch for their ability to ask pertinent questions regarding the opportunity. Some candidates will be outgoing,… Read More
Continue ReadingGen Y Workers Want…
This: “a high level of connectivity and collaboration with employees at all levels of the organization – but especially with young, like-minded professionals.” According to a short article in Managesmarter.com’s What Gen Y Wants At Work. The one item we have seen the most in this generation: Connection. This is often lacking. Just over 80 percent of Gen Y workers say they feel disconnected from the information flow, politics and career opportunities in their organization. We have seen some fairly brash Gen Y candidates, but I think the confidence many of them exude is valuable. This generation has an incredibly flattened hierarchical mindset. They view the company org chart in… Read More
Continue ReadingSales Traits Series – Problem Solving
We€™re looking at a €œbolt-on€ aptitude that is quite complementary to last week€™s trait – Practical Thinking. Problem Solving has become a much needed sales trait in that salespeople today need to be subject matter experts. Prospects expect salespeople to be able to diagnose the prospect€™s pain points. This trait also assists a salesperson in bringing back the needed information to formulate the best solution for his or her presentation. Problem Solving This is a salesperson€™s ability to identify alternative solutions to a problem and to select the best option. This basically means to be able to identify the system component that is causing the error as well as the… Read More
Continue Reading6 Sales Hiring Mistakes
Salesopedia has this article on their home page this week – Six Common Mistakes in the Sales Hiring Process. Obviously we are going to read that one. First off, great quote from Zig Ziglar in the article: “Sales people are really the only people in business who pay the bills!” That provides some perspective on the importance of strong sales hiring. Here are the 6 mistakes as outlined by the author: 1) Assuming the hiring manager knows how to qualify people 2) Not defining EXACTLY what you are looking for in a new hire 3) Assuming specific business functions know how to hire like talent 4) Over emphasizing a hire… Read More
Continue ReadingTop 10 Selling Mistakes
“Don’t Make These Top 10 Selling Mistakes!” Bet that got your attention. I found it on the Business Buyer Directory which provides a non-traditional means for business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide. The article is a couple of years old, but makes some excellent points, in fact ones that applicable to a hiring process. 4. NOT Looking the Part – Selling involves approaching strangers, people who have never met you before. People naturally base purchase decisions on first impressions. Look the part you are playing, or better yet, exceed the common image expectation in your industry. Always dress and groom one level above your targeted audience. It portrays… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Contradicting Ad
I read a short sales ad for a Sales Rep that was only 7 sentences long. But the brevity of the ad did not stop the author from being unconsciously contradicting. The open: Person must be an achiever, with excellent communication skills. Previous Marketing and Sales experience is a must with a proven track record and cold calling experience. Later is states a Bachelor’s degree is required. Why? If there was a Bachelor’s degree for selling, I would deem this requirement important. The contradiction comes in the last sentence: No phone calls please. I know I have mentioned this before but please don’t do this. The beginning of the ad… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Not To Impress A Client
I never know if these stories are believable or not, but this one from monster.com struck me as something I would do: Then, the client offers a cup of hot chocolate. As we get to the details of price, I take a gulp of my chocolate and it goes down the wrong way. I choke and spray it all over the client’s face, shirt and white trousers. I was numb. While I sat there, my bosses were running about trying to find napkins. I apologized profusely and wanted to cry. It was just one of those days. I laughed at the story because I have experienced that immediate choke response… Read More
Continue ReadingSales OR Customer Service
An ad continues to run for a specific sales position in our backyard that defines the job as an outside sales person, Account Executive and requires 25% travel. Yet the title of the ad is Sales/Customer Service. These two positions are almost mutually exclusive of each other. There are few customer service people who develop into strong outside business development salespeople. The opposite is true too, most strong outside salespeople do not make effective customer service reps. The point here is that ad titles are incredibly important in today’s online world. The title is the gateway to garnering the click. Without the click, the ad does not get seen. I… Read More
Continue ReadingResume Pile Perfection
More fun from the resume pile: Sales, If your looking for a rock star. I’m looking for a sale carreer with a strong base and benifits. I’m the best looking for the best.
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