This is an advice column from the Selling Power archives: E. Kinds of ads. Classified ads are found in the help wanted section of the newspaper, organized on the basis of occupation or industry and often alphabetized by the first word of the ad. Display ads have special borders with the company logo and sometimes artwork, drawings or photos. Open ads identify the name of the company. All inquiries from such ads must be answered, usually by mail or phone. Blind ads do not reveal the name of the company; the reader is asked to respond, by letter or resume, to a box number. In this case, you can respond… Read More
Continue ReadingSubtle Morons…I Mean Oxymorons
I have seen versions of this statement appearing in quite a few sales ads: The ability to work well independently and within a collaborative environment I think I understand what they are saying, but it is a poorly constructed bullet point. Independent salespeople tend not to work well in collaborative cultures. The same is true of collaborative salespeople, they tend to struggle in an independent role. For me, this type of writing is either lazy, unfocused and/or wishful. The better approach here is to define what a typical sale looks like in your company. Use that information to determine if you need a salesperson with an independent mindset or a… Read More
Continue ReadingDecline Of The Dinosaur Boards
Here is a job title of a job posting I read this morning on one of the 2 large boards: SECRET CASH LOOPHOLE Here is the opening line of the ad: EARN AN EXTRA $1,000 a Week Working Less Than an Hour a Day, or $500 a Day Working 2-3 Hours a Day. As an aside, it is a good policy to be highly suspicious of any position that leads with your ability to earn more doing less. Perhaps couch potatoes are their top prospects. I realize in a recession with extremely high unemployment that these types of positions materialize. However, the two big boards are being overrun by these… Read More
Continue ReadingA Minimalist Job Posting
Here is a sales job posting I clicked on this morning: Regional Account Executive- Minneapolis About the Job That is it – the rest is a scrollable white page. It gets better – the hiring company is in computer software.
Continue ReadingHumble Ad Writing
Honestly, I came across this title to a sales ad: I make more money in a month than you make all year Fantastic! That is one humble title. As you can imagine, the ad is written in a casual, confrontational style to challenge the most aggressive sales candidates. I wouldn’t write an ad this way, but true confession – I got a kick out of it.
Continue ReadingHiring A Robot
This is an actual title from a sales ad I read this past weekend: TSM-IL (203684-022) Good grief. Unless you are hiring a specific model of robot, do not do this when writing your title.
Continue ReadingOverwritten Ads
I keep an eye on the sales employment ads looking for trends, positions, companies and prospects. I admit it. One of the aspects that catches my attention is the sheer length of some of these ads. It seems apparent that some companies simple publish their internal, HR-drive job descriptions as an employment ad. Mistake. Ads that incorporate this style read as an onerous task list as opposed to describing the opportunity and, more importantly, describing the ideal salesperson in his or her terms. The salesperson should read the ad and think to themselves, “Those are my skills, those are my strengths.” Many ads like to list the reporting requirements of… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Pipeline Bloat Occurs
Here is another line from a sales employment ad (emphasis mine): The primary role of this position is to build a revenue generating sales pipeline which will primarily consist of prospective accounts. Pipeline bloat is something we encounter with sales managers on a regular basis. As you probably know, salespeople have a tendency to…overestimate their pipeline. This is done for a number of reasons, but the primary one is to make their sales manager believe that the salesperson is on the cusp of big revenue. Many a sales manager has been drawn in by potential deals. So with that as a backdrop, I am surprised to see a sales ad… Read More
Continue ReadingWrite It Don’t Hide It
There seems to be some ethereal ad writing of late that I am not certain I understand. I read a sales manager ad this morning that was written by a recruiting company for their client. Here is the “Job Requirements” section: All sales will be direct at this time. What? I have no idea what that means in context of the requirements. The simple, best approach to writing sales ads is to use descriptive language that allows the reader to see themselves in the position. Our goal is always to write ads that make the right candidate know that we are describing their abilities. This ad falls far short of… 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 Reading