www.advancedhiring.com/blog

Have you ever hired a total dud…even when you were sure they were going to be great?

I’ve been a fan of Business author and speaker Robert J. Ringer since the 1970s. Author of eight books including best sellers…

“Winning Through Intimidation”…
And “Looking Out for Number One”

He’s well known for his set of Theories. For example Ringer’s “Theory of Reality”. Reality isn’t the way you wish things to be or the way things appear to be, but the way things actually are. You either acknowledge reality and use it to your benefit or it will automatically work against you.

We’ve all experienced it, deluding ourselves about reality and getting ourselves in big trouble for it.

Ringers writes a blog and a recent post caught my attention when he described a disastrous hiring experience.

Ringer explains why psychologically, standard hiring strategy, that is — hiring the way most people do it:
Flipping through resumes…
Then hiring the applicant who “handled themselves well in the interview”…

Causes more failures than successes.

Titled “More on the Dunning-Kruger Effect” the post describes Ringer’s experience hiring a dud snd the pain that hiring that dud caused him. Ringer cites extensive research conducted by Cornell University psychology professors Justin Kruger and David Dunning into “The Dunning-Kruger Effect” which states “Incompetent people often suffer from delusions of superiority the result being that they overrate their own abilities.”

Since incompetent people overate their abilities the most incompetent write the greatest resumes Which they can’t deliver on. And, too, since they’re extremely confident because of their delusions of superiority hiring managers often get tricked in interviews and come away saying “They handled themselves well in the interview”.

Advanced Hiring System clients use a strategy to avoid these common pitfalls. Since AHS clients never rely on resumes to select. Instead we look for a match between the Values and Personality Style of the applicant and the requirements of the position itself.

We’ve honed those requirements with nearly 16 years of data. As a result you’re rarely fooled by “The Dunning-Kruger Effect”.

We welcome Robert J. Ringer and readers of his blog to take a look at the Advanced Hiring System if they’re hiring salespeople so they can stop using standard hiring strategies and avoid hiring duds as a result of the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Maybe you’ve seen one; maybe you’ve even been lucky enough to hire one. There are some salesmen who seem to do everything right, from getting the right leads to closing the deals. It seems like magic; it’s like they have a crystal ball that tells them which clients to go after and how to approach each one.

The truth is, it’s not magic—not really. It’s sales intuition, and it’s how rock star salesmen are always getting better and better sales.

Although intuition is not something that can be identified on a DiSC assessment or the Values or Styles Matrices used in the AHS sales hiring system, any salesman who has strong intuitive skills is going to bring better sales to your company. By definition, intuition is the ability to know or sense something without the use of logic or rational processes. In sales, intuition tends to tip the scales, smoothing out most facets of the process. Basically, it’s selling by gut feelings.

Yes, we know. We’ve addressed the issue of how gut feelings can steer you wrong in sales hiring, but now the game has changed. Now the salesman is on the hunt—tracking down the client, discovering his problem, offering a solution, dealing with objections, and closing the sale. Let’s see how intuition will work each part of the process and create the potential for better sales.

First, finding the client. Whatever process the salesman uses to acquire leads, sales intuition can save him a lot of time if he can isolate the prospects that offer him the best chance for better sales. A little research to gather information about the prospects, and he will most likely develop some rational ideas about which ones are more open to dealing with him. But if he has a good sense of intuition, he’ll be able to use the facts to “sense” the right person to approach as well as the right style to adopt in making the initial contact.

Once contact has been made, intuition helps a salesman understand the best time to make the presentation as well as the appropriate method. When the prospect raises resistance or makes an objection, the salesman uses intuition to gain insight into what might be behind the objections and creates alternative solutions to dispel the prospect’s reservations.

Sales intuition enables a salesman to manage the delicate balance of knowing when to be assertive and knowing when to back off and give the customer some space. With intuition, he is confident that the sale will go through; he just needs to listen to the inner voice that tells him where the customer stands in relation to making the commitment, and wait for the appropriate moment to guide the prospect toward closing the deal.

To clarify, intuition is not something that just happens. It develops as the salesman focuses on what he sees, hears, and experiences as he communicates with a customer. Learning to read between the lines and interpreting body language are key in developing these magical insights. So it’s no crystal ball, but sales intuition is an invaluable tool that ultimately leads to better sales.

Most of us will admit that self-esteem is an issue that develops in our childhood and follows us throughout our lives, and hiring managers know that high self-esteem is a key factor in what makes a good salesman.  As long as a person has a high level of self-esteem, he will most likely also have many of the other traits that determine what makes a good salesman: enthusiasm, self-motivation, energy, competitiveness, resilience, and a positive outlook. These are all fundamental aspects of sales success.

A healthy level of self-esteem is what gives salesmen the confidence to go after a target and follow the process just to experience the greatest sound in the world, “YES”. Each sale builds more self-esteem, which creates more confidence, which leads to more sales, and the cycle has the power to repeat itself indefinitely. When a candidate shows the potential to engage in this cycle of success, you know he has what makes a good salesman.

Combined with a competitive nature, high self-esteem translates into a persuasive disposition, which in turn translates into an almost irresistible force (for good). Salesmen with these qualities see the influence they have over others—the way they are able to inspire others to make decisions—and it makes them feel good, not only about themselves, but good in general.

Even in cases where salesmen are rejected, and those cases do occur, a high level of self-esteem enables them to bounce back and keep going, rather than see the rejection as some kind of personal failure that makes it harder and harder to face the next challenge. Like the Energizer Rabbit, good salesmen keep going, and going . . . .

This is not arrogance, nor is it narcissism. Most hiring managers want to avoid the salesmen that customers perceive as obnoxious. A high self-esteem enables a salesman to be proactive, not pushy; strong-willed, not mule-headed; motivated, not confrontational; and confident, not smug. With high self-esteem, salesmen feel natural in any situation, and they can control it with no sign of obnoxious behavior.

Even though good salesmen may have a healthy self-concept, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they don’t have some limitations. Rather than ignoring those limitations or despairing of ever improving themselves, good salesmen constantly self-evaluate to stay connected to an  awareness of both their weaknesses and their strengths; they work on creating a balance to capitalize on their strong points, but remain realistic in their expectations and goals.

Sales managers probably most appreciate the fact that the salesmen who exhibit high self-esteem will be the ones who aren’t always looking for emotional and/or professional support from others. As long as supervisors follow recommendations revealed in the pre-employment tests, such as the ones in the AHS sales hiring materials, to recognize their achievements, reward their successes, etc., these salesmen will always maintain a high performance level in every phase of the job. They are the self-starters who will set challenging goals for themselves, and will do everything within their power to achieve those goals. That’s ultimately what makes a good salesman.