{"id":2092,"date":"2009-08-12T15:38:00","date_gmt":"2009-08-12T20:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/08\/should-you-involve-customers-in-hiring\/"},"modified":"2009-08-12T15:07:44","modified_gmt":"2009-08-12T20:07:44","slug":"should-you-involve-customers-in-hiring","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/08\/should-you-involve-customers-in-hiring\/","title":{"rendered":"Should You Involve Customers In Hiring?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Quite the question, don\u2019t you think?\u00a0 That is the title of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sellingpower.com\/html_newsletter\/article.asp?usr=SP9477331254&amp;NLid=10&amp;Layout_ID=926&amp;ARTid=4109&amp;nDate=August+12%2C+2009\" target=\"_blank\">this article<\/a> from Selling Power.\u00a0 I have to confess I was perplexed by the entire thought \u2013 how would you as the hiring manager benefit from having your customer help you hire the salesperson?\u00a0 I see nothing but pitfalls in this approach.<\/p>\n<p>My first thought is mentioned in the article:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cFor example, the customer could be shopping around for someone he could squeeze on margins,&#8221; she says. &#8220;It&#8217;s more that they are looking for an easier mark, and that&#8217;s not to anyone&#8217;s advantage in the long run.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>No kidding \u2013 there might be a great advantage to the customer to find a salesperson who they can roll.<\/p>\n<p>I have never encountered this customer-assisted approach to sales hiring.\u00a0 Here is another thought for hiring managers who are focused on experience-based hiring (I could riff on that but won\u2019t) \u2013 would you be willing to expose your customer to a sales candidate from a competitor?\u00a0 I could see many salespeople acting as candidates so they could prospect in your most-valued customer list.\u00a0 Remember, your top customer is your competition\u2019s top prospect.<\/p>\n<p>At any rate, I think the article closes with the best approach if you are adamant about including customers in your sales hiring:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Another way to involve customers is when you are conducting a needs analysis for the position \u2013 before you even look at candidates. Ask your customers what traits and skills are important to them, and add them to your list.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Do that and then <a href=\"http:\/\/www.selectmetrix.com\/Assessing_Main.html\" target=\"_blank\">assess the candidates<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Quite the question, don\u2019t you think?\u00a0 That is the title of this article from Selling Power.\u00a0 I have to confess I was perplexed by the entire thought \u2013 how would you as the hiring manager benefit from having your customer help you hire the salesperson?\u00a0 I see nothing but pitfalls in this approach. My first thought is mentioned in the article: \u201cFor example, the customer could be shopping around for someone he could squeeze on margins,&#8221; she says. &#8220;It&#8217;s more that they are looking for an easier mark, and that&#8217;s not to anyone&#8217;s advantage in the long run.&#8221; No kidding \u2013 there might be a great advantage to the customer&hellip; <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2009\/08\/should-you-involve-customers-in-hiring\/\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"bgseo_title":"","bgseo_description":"","bgseo_robots_index":"","bgseo_robots_follow":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2,16],"tags":[1383,1385,1762,1384,38],"class_list":["post-2092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiring","category-hiring-salespeople","tag-customer-hiring","tag-hiring-sales-approach","tag-hiring-salespeople","tag-hring-sales-person","tag-sales-hiring"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-xK","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":126,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/06\/hiring-experience\/","url_meta":{"origin":2092,"position":0},"title":"Hiring Experience","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 21, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm putting the finishing touches on an article we are going to release next week that deals with hiring salespeople based on experience vs. talent. We advocate sales talent first. A couple of points to whet your appetite: First, the vast majority of resumes are embellished. We have written about\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1592,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/05\/trophy-hires\/","url_meta":{"origin":2092,"position":1},"title":"Trophy Hires","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Some companies focus on hiring from their competition almost exclusively and I am not exactly sure why.\u00a0 I realize they believe they are bolstering their sales department while depleting their competition's.\u00a0 But taken too far, this approach becomes a detriment to a successful hiring campaign. I've seen it with one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1032,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/06\/customers-dont-walk\/","url_meta":{"origin":2092,"position":2},"title":"Customers Don&#8217;t Walk","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"June 26, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an urban legend we encounter frequently in our sales hiring activities - customers don't walk with the salesperson.\u00a0 What I mean is customers rarely follow a salesperson to a new company.\u00a0 If the salesperson quits one company and goes to a competitor, it is a rare occurrence in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/06\/windowslivewritercustomersdontwalk-76b3dont-walk-sign.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1362,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/01\/the-toughest-topic-to-qualify-money\/","url_meta":{"origin":2092,"position":3},"title":"The Toughest Topic To Qualify-Money","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"January 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"It's not really when you know how to do it.\u00a0 Unfortunately, many salespeople have a distinct weakness when it comes to even broaching this topic with a prospect.\u00a0 This weakness leads to compounded expenses in that the salesperson will typically invest time and resources on a prospect who will disappear\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring Salespeople&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19691,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2018\/07\/finding-sales-talent-in-tight-markets\/","url_meta":{"origin":2092,"position":4},"title":"Finding Sales Talent In Tight Markets","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"July 20, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The labor market is tight today as you assuredly know if you have been attempting to fill open sales positions.\u00a0 The issue in sales runs deeper than that as you are typically attempting to find strong sales candidates.\u00a0 \"Attempting\" is the key - many hiring managers are unsure of selecting\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Hiring&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Hiring","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Compass-on-rocks.png?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Compass-on-rocks.png?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Compass-on-rocks.png?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1165,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/09\/2-keys-to-finding-sales-stars\/","url_meta":{"origin":2092,"position":5},"title":"2 Keys To Finding Sales Stars","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"September 5, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"ManageSmarter.com offers up an article I cannot resist - Find Your Next Sales Star. We're going to start a 10 part series on this article. No, we're not (though I would like to). I've written about this topic in the past (emphasis mine): Chet Bloom isn't a big believer in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Assessing&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Assessing","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2092"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2093,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2092\/revisions\/2093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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