Do you ever wonder why most sales hires end up failing?

Here’s a quick true story and then a real client conversation:

When I was a kid growing up in New York, my Dad, who was a monstrous baseball fan, signed me up for Little League.  I was 8 or 9.

Signing up for Little League wasn’t my idea and I was less than enthusiastic about playing baseball.  I also was a lousy hitter and fielder.

But worse than that, in my first two games, I got hit by a pitch in each game when at bat. From then on, I hung back from the plate when the ball was pitched. I was afraid to really get in there and swing the bat for fear of getting hit by another pitch.

I think most sales managers act the same way when it comes to hiring salespeople. They’ve screwed up so many times hiring that they just want to get anybody who’ll stick around.

But it’s a new ballgame and the tools that have been developed to match values and styles to the job are at your disposal. They give you an unfair advantage. You no longer have to hire in fear of failure.

Here’s an email I got from a new client together with my answer:

Alan – I have a question.    As one of your newest customers, I don’t have any experience with you product but the first real candidate to take your test did not proceed to the second level and he called me after our Sales Manager told him he wasn’t a good fit.    Him calling me is not the problem; not having solid answers to “How can we base our decision on a test with only 12 questions?”    Finding salespeople is really hard in this market and I hate to pass on someone that might have worked out.   What advise do you have for me?   B. W

Dear B.W.

Thanks for the note.

First of all, in our Member Area we specifically recommend that you never say to a candidate “you are being rejected because you didn’t pass our profile.” Although our profiles are legal and valid, saying that opens you up to having to explain something that may be beyond your experience. Best to say we’ve found other more qualified candidates. Period.

Now on to the System: the ValuesMatrix™ measures whether an applicant is a high practical. Is Money or Power their highest value. Our experience shows that applicants who fail that profile top out early in their productivity. They may be effective communicators, even persuasive, (which you would determine from the StylesMatrix™). But deep down inside money doesn’t really drive them.

Some clients are content having a bunch of low-dollar producers so they ignore the ValuesMatrix. I can tell you that our client in Green Bay used to ignore ValuesMatrix™. And got your typical small market low dollar producers. One day I convinced him to use the System the way it was designed.

Here’s a quote of his I have stuck on my wall, “OMG, Alan, I have just hired three salespeople who have revamped my sales effort, thanks to deciding to listen to you last year and do it just the way you say, ValuesMatrix™, then StylesMatrix™, then AHS Interview Module™. I am amazed.” — Ed Sterling

Alan

If the data is correct, more duds are hired for sales than studs.

Most sales managers when given the task of hiring salespeople couldn’t pick a sales stud out of a stack of resumes if he or she bit them in the butt.

We go on daily, thinking that nobody wants to work these days.  We hire hoping that it will work out, but it is pure guesswork using resumes and gut feel interviewing.

Here are the facts:

Most people don’t want to work — However this is nothing new. Its always been this way. Long before our current numb nuts politicians screwed things up… previous generations of politicians screwed things up… Get over it.

The economy has made selling harder than ever — This might be somewhat true for our lifetimes, but things have been a heck of a lot worse. In the 1930’s there was a killer Depression. Worldwide economies were stagnant. Guess what? IBM was founded during the Depression.

There is no test to really prove whether a sales hire will work out — Actually there is… well, actually there are two tests that we use to get inside an applicant’s head. Here’s what Matt McCallum of Great American Publishing said to me the other day.

“The Advanced Hiring System tests are amazing. And whenever I have violated the rules of the test, I ended up sooner or later (usually sooner) finding out I hired a fake.”

Now is the time to start looking for those studs. The economy is not going to give you a better time to hire (just look at what Big Blue IBM became from their start during the Depression.)

In this section of the Advanced Hiring System E-course we will create the message you will need to attract the best sales applicants.

Marketing your position in the Internet age has become both harder– and easier.

It is harder because we live in a time some have called The Attention Deficit Age. People are being pulled in all directions and its sometimes difficult to get their attention.

Its easier because you can do most of this from your computer.

When you think about hiring as a process the first step in the hiring process is advertising… Both what our ad will say and where were will place it to look for applicants.

Before we start to write the ad I want to focus you here with one question…

“Why are you hiring a salesperson?”

“Ah, to bring in more sales,” you say

OK but tell me more…
1. Are they required to generate their own leads?
2. Do you have any success stories for this position?
3. If they do a good job what will they earn?
4. Is your compensation strategy realistic?

Answer those questions before you start writing

Expert ad writers call the headline “The ad for the ad.” Consider that statement for a moment. The headline is the part of the ad that calls out,
“Hey Jim,” on a crowded subway platform that gets Jim’s attention.

Writing great headlines is overlooked by most sales recruiters.
Great copywriters spend three-fourths of their time writing their headline because if the headline is weak no one will read the ad

Your headline is the first thing the applicant sees in your ad

Scroll through the ads on internet job boards right now. Most of the headlines are boring or trite or just stupid. Your headline either causes the right applicants to read your ad or to ignore it.

Your ad’s headline must stop them in their tracks and get them to read about your offer.

There’s a trick to writing great headlines: Borrow on.

Here are some examples of taking great classic headlines and turning them into sales hiring headlines:

Do You Consider Yourself to be Strong-willed, Forceful and Determined?
Last Year Our Top Salesperson Earned $135,400 In His 2nd Year Working With Us
Did You Ever Tell Yourself That Your Talent As A Salesperson Ought To Be Worth More Than You’re Making Right Now?
Who Else Has Got What It Takes To Earn $138,900 (that’s what our top sales rep earned last year)?

If you follow this formula your ad will be more powerful than the thousands of other ads you are competing with.