It goes without saying, Google effects every aspect of our lives — and sales hiring is no exception. Having recently gone back to college to audit a course given through the School of Journalism at Northwestern University, Understanding Media by Understanding Google, a recent incident points up just how much sales hiring has been effected by “Googlization.”
As many long-time readers of the blog know, we’re proponents of scientific modeling when it comes to filling sales positions. In its simplest form, modeling says rather than guess at what really makes a great salesperson, figure out what makes current top performers tick. Then only interview applicants who match the model of top performers.
We have based this on our experience with a sales team of 200 salespeople. We had a large team and we were attentive to tracking. As a result, we learned that key personality characteristics are common to top sales performers.
Here’s what we look for:
- Strong practical Values scores
- Highly persuasive Styles DISC scores
- Examples of entrepreneurialism in their history
- Able to demonstrate repeated examples of stick-to-it-iveness
- Strong ability to control their internal emotional state (able to get themselves to do things they don’t necessarily want to)
But what happens when you find an applicant who Google says doesn’t pay their bills and has a string of Warrants at Circuit Court yet they seem to match the model?
That, as my friend Scott Wolf used to say “Is why you make the big bucks.” You’ve got to determine whether this applicant hit a bad patch because of the Crash of 2008 or whether you didn’t get the real answers in items 3-5 above.
Through a combination of values, styles and good interviewing skills, you can rocket your sales hiring success to Google-like heights!
