We received an email heads up about the new book from Bradford Smart titled Topgrading for Sales. What I like is the promo page they have put together for the book – it includes a movie trailer…of the book’s content. A very web 2.0 approach which I appreciate. The topics include how to interview, hire and coach top performing salespeople. The one thing that catches my eye is the calculator for mishires. This topic is bandied about without a definitive number for what a bad sales hire costs a company. The number is certainly staggering no matter how it is calculated. The opportunity cost is the killer…and a number that… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Does Job Vacancy Cost?
Interesting article here from RecruitingTrends.com that highlights a speech given recently by Dan Hanyzewski, staffing director from Nike. There is one piece of data that caught my attention immediately: “This is the first time in American history that we’ve had four generations at work at the same time,” Hanyzewski says. How do you communicate an employer brand that will attract such a broad audience? Quite a dilemma, isn’t it? The task of branding your company effectively for 4 different generations is a tremendous undertaking. But the discussion then turns to a critical point (my editing): “One of the most powerful metrics is time,” Hanyzewski says. But, what’s does it mean?… Read More
Continue Reading3 Sales Hiring Inhibitors
Even bad salespeople can appear to be strong in a face-to-face interview situation. This reason is why sales recruiting is truly different than any other form of recruiting. Reviewing resumes and assuming abilities is is a fool’s errand. Yet, there are certain aspects of general recruiting that can that hinder effective sales recruiting. The Resumes. Yes, resumes. I have sat through far too many discussions where hiring managers or recruiters attempted to divine incredible insight from a sheet of paper. Granted, you can probably eliminate the retail salespeople from your B2B Sales manager process. Sales is still a people-oriented profession so overanalyzing a document is not the most effective technique… Read More
Continue ReadingTop 3 In-Demand Positions
From RecruitingTrends.com (my emphasis): Manpower Inc. releases the results of its third annual talent shortage survey, revealing that 31% of employers globally are finding it increasingly more difficult to fill jobs. The top three candidates most in-demand are skilled manual trades, sales representatives and technicians (technical workers in the areas of production/operations, engineering and maintenance). What would it be if they put a qualifier on finding the right salesperson? I keep saying this – a strong salesperson is always in demand no matter what the economy is doing.
Continue ReadingDulled By Success
There is an effect we have noticed when recruiting salespeople from larger companies that seems to be consistent across markets. Some salespeople, maybe many, lose their edge when it comes to prospecting when they land a large customer. I see this effect happening in larger companies, for some reason, more than smaller companies. I bring this up because I read an employment ad for a large company that we used to work with in a previous life. This company has an unbelievably strong customer service orientation. I mean that in a negative way. Their “hunter” salespeople believe they can service their way to a sale. This approach is reinforced by… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Demand For Salespeople
Salespeople, with strong skills, are always in demand in any economy. Certainly some sales opportunities have an ebb and flow tied to the current economic conditions, but those are mainly business-to-consumer positions. From that understanding comes a 2008 sales hiring outlook from Monster.com. First key graph: In 2008 as always, salespeople in nearly any industry will find work, if they’ve got the contacts, the product knowledge and the street savvy. “Any successful salesperson in any industry is able to write their own ticket,” says Brandon Gutman, director of marketing and business development for recruiter Stephen-Bradford Search in New York. Couldn’t agree more. As companies make difficult decisions, some strong salespeople… Read More
Continue ReadingObservational Management
I kid you not, this approach comes from a manager of a small company that recently hired a new salesperson. The salesperson traveled to the company for a couple days of training before his official start date. He did this on his own dime so he could accelerate his ramp-up time. The manager of the company was involved in the training since this salesperson would report directly to him (remember-small company). During the training days, there was some confusion about when the salesperson should arrive in the morning. No specific time was set, but a general schedule starting around 9am was the target. The salesperson arrived around 9:20am. A stack… Read More
Continue ReadingMore Job Ad Errors
Ok, I know it is a holiday week so people are cruising at half speed, but there is no room for some errors. Spelling mistakes in the title is inexcusable. The title is the only information that is displayed on most job boards so you can see the significance of this mistake. The position’s title: Egineer – Mulitple Positions Honestly, I am embarrassed for the company.
Continue ReadingMediocrity In The Hiring Process
Hiring salespeople is the difficult combination of science and art weighted perfectly to select the right person for the position’s requirements. Obviously, knowing the position’s requirements is the preeminent step. Many sales managers believe they know what it takes to be successful in the position and they do to a certain extent. Yet, their knowledge often consists of themes as opposed to specifics. This reason drives us to profile the sale as the very first step in our sales hiring process. ManageSmarter.com’s Is Hiring Mediocre Good Enough? approaches a hiring process with some valuable insight and other items I wouldn’t recommend. First, the reason astute hiring is mission-critical to corporate… Read More
Continue ReadingTelecommuting – Now More Than A Trend
We’ve been on the telecommuting trend for quite some time this year as it continues to grow. I think it is safe to say it is more than a trend now. As we source for sales positions, it is quite apparent that the younger candidates almost always address this issue early in the process. They want to know what tools are in place and what the office expectations are. We only work in the sales arena so our data may be slightly exaggerated to that end. Nonetheless, telecommuting is a hot article topic as you can see from CareerJournal.com’s Good News for Professionals Who Want to Work at Home: A… Read More
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