We keep an eye on the sales employment ads so we are informed of trends in the market. I came across an ad that was innocuous enough in its title. Then I read the opening sentence:<\/p>\n
This is a job in our Customer Service Department that can lead to<\/strong> an outside sales position at our company.<\/p><\/blockquote>\nWhat does customer service and outside sales have to do with each other? Nothing…that is the problem. We have seen this trap before with some of our customers. The skills and aptitudes required for effective customer service are markedly different than the skills and aptitudes required for successful outside<\/em> selling.<\/p>\nThis situation is exasperated by the initial customer service path. Think of a new employee who begins as a customer service representative. They become acquainted with answering the phone, doing the customer’s bidding, checking orders and answering customer questions.<\/p>\n
Once they have developed those abilities, the sales manager will then ask them to step into an outside sales position. There they will be asked to cold call prospects, get past gatekeepers, convince strangers to consider their solution and ask questions of the prospects. As you can see, these two positions require completely different skill sets.<\/p>\n
Typically, you will either hire a good customer service rep who will not be a successful salesperson. Or you will hire a good salesperson who will be a terrible customer service rep. Either approach is high risk, low reward.<\/p>\n
If you need a salesperson, hire a salesperson. And please, do not<\/strong> use customer service as a sales training department.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We keep an eye on the sales employment ads so we are informed of trends in the market. I came across an ad that was innocuous enough in its title. Then I read the opening sentence: This is a job in our Customer Service Department that can lead to an outside sales position at our company. What does customer service and outside sales have to do with each other? Nothing…that is the problem. We have seen this trap before with some of our customers. The skills and aptitudes required for effective customer service are markedly different than the skills and aptitudes required for successful outside selling. This situation is exasperated… 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":[2,16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hiring","category-hiring-salespeople","category-sales"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5Oho-72","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":47946,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2019\/05\/soft-skills-needed-in-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":0},"title":"Soft Skills Needed In Sales","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"May 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The customer experience shift occurring right before our eyes is causing a sea change in sales.\u00a0 The transactional sale is being consumed by a myriad of company websites offering products and solutions.\u00a0 I think this description from the TTI blog deftly describes the trend in sales hiring: Only a few\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sales Techniques"","block_context":{"text":"Sales Techniques","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/sales-techniques\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heart-Hands.png?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heart-Hands.png?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Heart-Hands.png?fit=560%2C315&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2307,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2010\/04\/product-vs-service-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":1},"title":"Product vs. Service Sales","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"April 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I\u2019ve been seeing this distinction first-hand among salespeople I have encountered of late.\u00a0 I\u2019m not sure there is a clear-cut sales ability towards product vs. service sales, but I do know that certain salespeople have skills and aptitudes that support one over the other.\u00a0 In that vein I give you\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hiring Salespeople"","block_context":{"text":"Hiring Salespeople","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/hiring-salespeople\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":675,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/02\/sales-or-customer-service\/","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":2},"title":"Sales OR Customer Service","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 19, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Employment Ads"","block_context":{"text":"Employment Ads","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/employment-ads\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1258,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2007\/11\/sales-traits-series-sensitivity-to-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":3},"title":"Sales Traits Series – Sensitivity To Others","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 1, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Today we wrap up our year-long Sales Traits Series with the final installment. This week's trait is one that provides us insight into a candidate's soft skills when relating to a prospect or customer. Sensitivity To Others The ability to be sensitive and aware of the feelings of others, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Aptitudes"","block_context":{"text":"Aptitudes","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/aptitudes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1416,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2008\/02\/dulled-by-success\/","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":4},"title":"Dulled By Success","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"February 12, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"There is an effect we have noticed when recruiting salespeople from larger companies that seems to be consistent across markets.\u00a0 Some salespeople, maybe many, lose their edge when it comes to prospecting when they land a large customer.\u00a0 I see this effect happening in larger companies, for some reason, more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Compensation"","block_context":{"text":"Compensation","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/compensation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":444,"url":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/2006\/11\/sales-aptitudes-series-handling-stress\/","url_meta":{"origin":436,"position":5},"title":"Sales Traits Series – Handling Stress","author":"Derrick Moe","date":"November 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"You could argue that this week's aptitude - Handling Stress - is a key component in almost every job. In sales, it is critical because the typical sales position involves multiple levels of stress. Whether it be presentations in front of many Directors and VP's or dealing with an irate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Aptitudes"","block_context":{"text":"Aptitudes","link":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/category\/hiring\/assessing\/aptitudes\/"},"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\/436","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=436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/436\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/selectmetrix.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}