Drayton Bird, sent this today. Drayton is a very clever world class marketer. I’ve learned a lot from Drayton. Like many highly successful people, he shares freely. His free email tips contain gems. Sign up at the bottom of this message. 
Hire Salespeople Better Than Yourself is Smart Hiring
by Drayton Bird
I confess: this is not my idea. I have no idea who came up with it.
But I know my old boss David Ogilvy’s dictum, “If we hire people better than ourselves will become a company of giants; if we hire people worse, we will become a company of dwarves.”
However, David (like a lot of good people) had no qualms in stealing stuff.
Nevertheless it is a natural failing – through insecurity, I guess – to hire people that aren’t as smart as we are. That way we feel less threatened.
But I can think of more than one occasion when I have taken on people who I thought better than me in some way. One was Brian Thomas who came into our Covent Garden offices in 1980 and said “Do you have any jobs?”
I asked why he had come in. He said, “I’ve been reading your house ads, and you sound like the kind of people I’d like to work for.”
(Hint: remember that your ads are certainly read more by your staff than by prospects, and also by possible employees.)
I spent ten minutes talking to Brian and realised he knew more about the mail order business than I did, so we hired him. Within a year he was the managing director (I couldn’t run a fruit stall).
More recently I hired my current partner, who certainly has a better analytical mind than I do – as indeed she should, being a Doctor of Philosophy.)
So remember, try not to be daunted by clever people; you’re a lot better off hiring them than trying to do everything yourself.
Best,
Drayton
