LinkedIn Sucks these days — and why you still need it.

We all feel frustrated going to LinkedIn and seeing our inbox filled with offers. 90% of them are off-target.

Most senders don’t know squat about Sales 101 when they contact us.

Some say Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn turned it spammy.

(They did pay $26 billion for it. Kind of gives you a hint they want it to be Facebook for Business.)

Regardless of all the LinkedIn spam, we tell clients to stay in LinkedIn. There is still tremendous value in building a LinkedIn profile.

In fact, if you’re looking to hire salespeople, your managers MUST have good profiles.

Think about it for a second.  You’re written a great ad. It talks directly to the right kind of people — those who’d rather sell than breathe. It excites their interest.

You’re got it running in all the right places.

Tons are applying.

And that one sales animal sees it who will find all the hidden business you know is out there.

How will they find out about you and your business to check you out?

Where do they look? That’s right, LinkedIn.

So if you’re vaguely entertaining the idea of deleting your LinkedIn profile, think again.

Tolerate the spam. Work on building your profile.

Make your profile say one thing: “I know how rare and valuable great sales talent is. Come work with me and we will both make a lot of money.”

DISCLAIMER: LinkedIn is a registered trademark. Advanced Hiring System is not affiliated with LinkedIn, nor should it be implied that we are in any way associated with them

If the data is correct, the average age of a top-performing Financial Advisor is 62. For those of you who’ve taken a statistics course, that is about as bad as things get. The insurance industry is going to find its back against the wall within two years.

Every week I personally make a series of client service calls. My team thinks I’m crazy for doing it because it takes time. But I’ve been doing it for 16 years now and every week I learn something. (Besides, deep down, I’m a sales guys who likes talking with my clients.)

I was talking with a General Agent client, Harry, last week. He was telling me that the average age of a top-performing Financial Advisor at his agency is 32. He’s got two agents who’ve won his company’s top performer awards.

Harry is MDRT and he told me that at least 4 of his agents will end up MDRT.

I asked him why his agents are so young compared to the industry average. Without a pause, he said, “Your Advanced Hiring System is the key. It helps me spot the best talent without any prejudice. Before we used Advanced Hiring we did what every other insurance agency does. Their standardized testing sucks compared to AHS. Plus they start out looking for the wrong things.”

If you’re an insurance agency looking for talented applicants for the key Financial Advisor role, click here

Insurance companies have whole teams of analysts who know better than anyone why an aging sales team spells trouble. The key to recruiting younger team members is to start with a proposition that interests them.

Take a look here for some fast answers

Hiring Salespeople Who Perform Well After the Interview

Have you hired too many salespeople who were great during the interview, but who failed? Were you sure during the interview they were “handling themselves so well”, that they just had to be the one? Did you feel yourself sold on them in the interview?

Allowing yourself to sell or be sold in the interview is a fatal mistake.

Pretend You’re an Engineer – Adopt the “Engineer Persona”

It’s tough for us sales managers not to get fired up in the interview. Our enthusiasm and natural persuasiveness got us to where we are.

Selling is our “default setting.”

But to do well in sales hiring, you’ve got to get out of the “Salesperson Head.”  Instead, the best mindset to use in interviewing is the “Engineer Head.”

What a 62 Year Old Engineer Taught Me About Making Good Decisions

When I was first in sales, my customers came from many backgrounds. One in particular, Jacque, controlled a large ad budget for a technology company. Jacque was an engineer.

I wanted to get a hunk of his budget for our Rock and Roll radio station.  I knew our audience would respond to his offer and I knew I needed a big budget to make it work. No one had come close to cracking the account.

While I was presenting, he was impossible to read. I was sure I was getting nowhere with him during my presentation. He kept looking down at his desk. He seemed bored.

You know what THAT feels like in a sales presentation. I wanted to stop in the middle, because I “knew” he wasn’t buying.

I got to the end. Silence. I couldn’t think of anything to say.

Finally he looked up and said that it sounded good.  And he bought. And that is how I sold Jacque and brought in the largest annual contract ever.

I was 22 years old and I learned an important lesson. 

Jacque taught me why it is so important to stay clear on your goal. And don’t let your emotions control the decision process.

Too many sales managers make the fatal mistake of turning the interview into a sales call.

Stop getting tricked in the interview by scripting your interview. Break your interview down to sections. Each section needs to cover a key personality characteristic.

• Stick-to-it-iveness
• Entrepreneurialism
• Ability to overcome adversity

We’ve put together a video. Watch it and see how to construct an interview that gets you salespeople who perform.

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