Uncategorized

Do Sales Recruitment and College Recruiting Go Hand in Hand?

I can be absolutely 100% certain about one thing with respect to all top salespeople across every industry. They all had a first job in sales. They were all hired without ANY previous sales experience whatsoever. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been told by a sales recruiting manager that they are only interested in candidates who have previous sales or industry experience. Why they would want to limit their potential candidate pool by eliminating a bunch of people destined to be top sales performers at some point in their career? Most industries, with some good product knowledge training and some basic sales skills training, can bring on a new person who has the mind and guts of a seller. And that’s where the world of sales recruiting and college recruiting become a great match.

Graduation
Photographer: Juan Ramos | Source: Unsplash

It is remarkable how different the job outlook is today for college graduates as opposed to how it looked just a couple months ago. Exiting school, graduates now face the highest unemployment rate in generations.

Let’s talk for a minute about a philosophy that might be foreign or even a little scary to you. It is entirely possible that your next top seller served you lunch yesterday at that business lunch yesterday. You should look EVERYWHERE for candidates. Disregard your previous belief that only an experienced seller can sell your product. A great seller can sell any product. And presented with a solid compensation strategy, you can make it so they’ll stay with you forever.

Let’s finish up going back to college. There is a tremendous number of bright young candidates coming out of school and looking to begin their career. They’ll be hungry to learn and to earn. And, using a good online recruitment strategy, they can be reached in huge numbers very quickly. To conclude, some well planned sales training from you or one of the many online sales training options, you should be able to find some really solid candidates coming out of college who can develop from a great waiter into your top seller before you know it.

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Talent Acquisition

Interviewing Mistake Revealed

Watch this 1 minute video revealing a common but terribly detrimental mistake often made by sales managers.

CLICK HERE to set up a time to talk to me about how we can help you have more success in the important business function of sales team recruiting.

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Uncategorized

How To Recruit a Sales Team of Quality Salespeople With This Simple Trick

Recruiting a sales team isn’t easy. I once ran an ad for a week asking companies “Tell Me Your Biggest Sales Hiring Challenge Recruiting a Sales Team.” Nothing to buy, just tell me what doesn’t work for you when you hire salespeople.

Some of the complaints in recruiting a sales team were:

1. Applicants don’t show up for interviews.

The fact that 30-40% of sales applicants don’t show up is a good thing

I didn’t understand that one. And I don’t see that as a problem. I like to know they have no follow-through BEFORE I hire them.

The fact that 30-40% of sales applicants don’t show up is a good thing. I say “The mass of sales applicants are full of bull. They went into sales for all the wrong reasons and your job is to spot them. Get rid of them from your sales hiring system.”

2. Can’t find applicants for commission-only jobs.

Our clients don’t have that problem. If the sales cycle is longer than a couple of weeks, real salespeople need a draw to stay alive. That’s reality.

We prove in our ads that good quality salespeople make a pile of money. One of our clients pays a $50,000 bonus if their sales hire hits certain benchmarks in the first month.

If the sales cycle is longer than a couple of weeks, real salespeople need a draw to stay alive. That’s reality.

Salespeople who lack confidence in their ability to hit these benchmarks are not real salespeople.

3. Applicants who sound good in the interview, but can’t sell once they’re hired.

This was the biggest category. It is an interesting problem and it has two parts to it.

First, who are you letting in your office? What is your system for selecting applicants to invest energy in? Hint: if you’re using LinkedIn Profiles and job experience you are way off the mark.

Second, what are you doing in the interview? Why are you not getting to the heart of the matter when interviewing?

who are you letting in your office? What is your system for selecting applicants to invest energy in? Hint: if you’re using LinkedIn Profiles and job experience you are way off the mark.

People can be divided into many different categories. When it comes to hiring salespeople we divide applicants into two piles. “People who fulfill their potential” and “People who fail at it.”

Dr. Carol Dweck of Harvard University has a foolproof method. She explains people have two distinct worldviews when it comes to accomplishment.

There are those who believe in fixed prior ability and there are those who believe in growth of ability.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort. We endow our heroes with superhuman abilities that led them inevitably toward their greatness. It’s as if Midori popped out of the womb fiddling, Michael Jordan dribbling, and Picasso doodling. This captures the fixed mindset perfectly. And it’s everywhere.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort.

People with the growth mindset, however, believe something very different. For them, even geniuses have to work hard for their achievements.

Our clients use an interview that we call the FST Intelligence Interview Sequence. It’s based on this model. We look for learners and growers — and of course those who enjoy the process of influencing others.

The next time you find yourself saying, “He or she handled themselves well in the interview” you might well be on the road to making another bad sales hire

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