What little boy or girl hasn’t dreamed of becoming a super-hero when he or she grows up? Their heads fill with images of jumping tall buildings (“in a single bound”), racing locomotives, and defying all the basic laws of physics. When they grow up, they realize that becoming a super-hero is probably not an achievable goal, after all; but if they turn their energy toward becoming super salesmen, instead, you could end up with the opportunity to hire sales people who will record better sales for your company. And they’ll do it faster than a speeding bullet. The key? Energy.
Energy equals productivity; high energy salesmen make more sales calls, develop more leads, and convey more enthusiasm to the client. Theoretically, more sales calls means more sales.
In spite of what it says in the Constitution, all men are not created equal when it comes to their energy levels. This is important to keep in mind when you’re building a sales team. As you hire sales people, be aware of the candidates who spend their leisure time looking for things to do rather than lying around on the couch with a beer, a bowl of popcorn, and a remote. Of course, everyone needs a little down time, but the more “down” a person’s down time is, the less likely it is that he will have the energy needed for pulling his weight as part of your sales team.
A sales career isn’t for sissies: moving through the various aspects of the job, salesmen can be spending time on the road, in the sky, on the phone, or on the internet at any given time. They have to perform research or develop contacts in order to identify prospects, make the connection, make appointments, keep appointments (where they will discuss customer needs), develop presentations and proposals to meet those needs, and ultimately—hopefully—close the sale.
Then there’s the paperwork. Sales call reports have to be completed, sales calls need to be tracked, proposals have to be written, etc., etc., etc. When salesmen aren’t busy doing all of that, they have to keep up with phone calls and emails; spend time learning about the product, the competition, and the customers; and keep polishing their likeability factor. At the end of the day, they have to prepare for whatever tomorrow has in store.
Whew! It would be hard to do all this with even an average amount of energy. No, the ideal salesmen must have energy levels that are fine-tuned to smoothly transition from a mad dash through a crowded airport, to a long spell at the wheel of a rental car, to sustained intervals at phones or computer screens, to appointments and/or meetings that tend to drag on and on.
So, because of the very nature of the selling game, it’s important to be able to spot the high energy applicants when you’re building a sales team. The first step is to single out the candidates who score a high D or I on the DISC assessment. Candidates who score low on Drive or Influence are not likely to have high energy levels. If they also score high Money and Power on the Values matrix provided in the AHS hiring system, you can be pretty confident that these salesmen are going to have the energy levels necessary to focus on the goal and keep your company moving skyward. And all without the use of performance-enhancing drugs!
As many long-time readers of the blog know, we’re proponents of scientific modeling when it comes to filling sales positions. In its simplest form, modeling says rather than guess at what really makes a great salesperson, figure out what makes current top performers tick. Then only interview applicants who match the model of top performers.
