A client sales manager recently made this comment to me, “Truth is, I never would have looked at him based on his resume.”

He went on to say, “And more than that, at first impression he didn’t seem very impressive. But your Advanced Hiring ValuesMatrix™ and Advanced Hiring StyleMatrix™ said he had great potential.”

“So, I interviewed him and the more we talked the more I realized he might be a ‘diamond in the rough.’

“That interview was over six months ago. Today, he is our top sales performer in terms of new business development.”

Contrast this to the way most sales managers pick salespeople and you see the difference between the Advanced Hiring System strategy vs the old way of hiring salespeople.

Salespeople who are top performers have a special way of looking at the world. These top sales performers have a strong score in their AHS ValuesMatrix™ in either Money or Power. They are what Maslow calls “High Practicals.” They are most concerned about gaining a greater sense of practical control over their environment.

The AHS StylesMatrix™, next is where we look for top salespeople who have a strong ego drive. They live or die based on their actions and they put their egos on the line in their drive to succeed. They are like a top performing athlete who drives to make the goal.

Another important component revealed in the AHS StylesMatrix™ is the top sellers ability to use language well. Not like an Professor of English, but where they are able to mold the message in a way that the prospect understands it. The measure of their success is whether they can engage the prospect.

Finally, the AHS StylesMatrix™ identifies potential top sales performers who see that sometimes we need to break the rules to make the deal. Without this ability salespeople get hung up on the rules and miss the opportunity to close the deal.

When you finally come to the realization that the rules for sales hiring have changed — you can succeed today. Only hire salespeople who’s personalities match those of the other top 10% of salespeople. The technology is so powerful that without it you are stuck in the 20th Century and going to miss the ‘diamonds in the rough.’

The hiring process can be a very costly endeavor for your company. Before you begin, it’s important that you’re as organized and prepared as possible. The work day is busy enough without adding hiring preparation to it, but the great sales manager knows it must be done. It’s an essential part of the sales manager’s job to keep sales hiring costs at a minimum. The best way to hire sales people cost effectively is to do it right.

Save Money by Doing it Right the First Time

Our goal at AHS is to teach you how to prevent significant expenses and have better sales by hiring the right people. There is nothing cost effective about having to hire again and again due to hiring mistakes. Getting it right the first time is easy, but it requires knowledge and patience.

• You might think you’re saving the company time and money by rushing through the hiring process, but that’s not the reality. Giving disc assessment tests and more than one interview for each applicant takes time. Make better sales hire decisions by allowing the time it takes to gather the right information. Better sales hire decisions equal a better bottom line.

• Hire sales people more cost effectively with the convenient tools available to you. You’ll learn more fully what makes a good salesperson, plus enhance your sales hire proficiency. DISC assessment testing and the AHS Sales Hiring Course materials are the kinds of tools that will make a big difference.

Keep Your Current Sales Team Happy, Too

When you make faulty hiring decisions, it has a negative effect on your current sales team. Moral can suffer if everyone is working harder to compensate for a weak salesperson’s low performance. Not having a strong sales team can make your top performers want to find employment elsewhere. Losing those great salespeople is a tremendous cost to your company, so hire sales people with that in mind, too. You’re not just out to hire sales people worth your hiring expenses, you want to create an environment that keeps them with you.

When you know what makes a good salesperson the right fit for your company, you’re already on track for a much healthier financial path. Hire sales people right the first time, with the best tools available, and watch your business thrive with cost effective gains. It really is remarkable what a difference hiring the best sales team makes.

The proven way for any company to achieve better sales is to hire top performing sales people. Unfortunately, not every hiring manager or sales manager knows how to hire only the top performers and what questions to ask to rule out those who only think they are the best. One of the key ingredients in hiring the best is the sales assessment questions job candidates are asked during the interview process.

During the initial interviews there are certain things you are not allowed to ask, and all good hiring managers are aware of them, but there are other questions that you are required to ask if you only want the best. It is OK to ask sales assessment questions to determine a candidate’s job qualifications and with sales, the candidate’s experience will not tell you anything. After all you are interested in performance not how long they have been in sales and unless you ask how they increased their level of performance in their last position, you won’t know.

By asking the right questions you can determine their values. Don’t confuse values with priorities. Someone’s personal values will not change and cannot be affected by outside influences. However, their priorities will change based on a number of influences. For example, you have established sales goals and their priority is to call on 20 people per day. Another project comes up and they will only have time for 10 calls a day, which is now their priority.

You will also need to establish what most companies call a job description. Unfortunately, once you put that description in writing it could limit the scope of the position. Having a job description can be a map on how to hire a salesperson, as it can be used to develop interview questions sales position candidates will be asked. Achieving better sales should be your priority and assessing the values of the candidates will help direct you to the right person.

Your sales assessment questions should provide answers that are results oriented, not answers that the candidate thinks you want to hear.  Asking what their goals are means nothing if they can’t provide the means of getting there. It’s important to note that while past performance is often an indicator of future success a person with solid values that are in line with your company’s values has the best chance of bringing in better sale and becoming the top performers in your company.