Why Some Salesmen Top Out Below Where You Think They Can?

If this isn’t the oldest question in sales management, it’s the second oldest for sure.

How is it that some sales hires are so perfect in every way – they are persuasive and present themselves well – yet they never seem to make the big monthly numbers?

These are the ones we Sales Managers dedicate ourselves to – training them and cajoling, challenging and mentoring them.

Look back over your results with salespeople like this over your career as a Sales Manager

Tell me what you see? Did you get them to break out and really go for it? Or did they stay so average or slightly below average that you don’t really want to look that closely?

I bet the later because those kinds of salespeople are exhibiting values that people with low money or power scores in the AHS ValuesMatrix™ are likely to show.

Mr. and Ms Sales Manager, it is not your job (nor is it possible in most cases) to change another person’s values.

When Auburn’s line coach Tracy Roker recruited lineman Nick Fairly he was recruiting top talent. He invested time and energy in his recruiting strategy to get the kind of result that gets him a Vince Lombarbi Trophy Ourstanding Lineman.

There is no excuse for a bad sales hire.

So, in answer to the question “Why Some Salespeople Top Out Below Where You Think They Can?” the answer is because the Sales Manager hired the wrong person.

How to fix it? Spend more time mastering your sales recruiting system and you’ll get the salespeople who constantly meet and exceed your expectations. Anything less simply won’t get you want you really want as a Sales Manager.

Better Sales – Managing Different Styles The High-C

High-C is about compliance – following “the rules.” High-C’s are mechanical and committed to being accurate. These characteristics present a challenge for someone who you’ve hired to sell for you.

Since selling is about breaking rules, if you have hired a High-C the odds are they are not making it. And worse, High-C’s really are not cut out for sales in 99.9% of cases. (At least in high sales driven types of sales organizations.)

High-C’s are worried in general as a result of their desire to be accurate. Felix Unger is the ultimate High-C.

Contrast this to top sales performers who are relaxed and, dare I say, a bit loose with the details. Put this note on your wall “High-C’s Can’t Sell” – it will save you a lot of time and energy.

Sale Personality Test and “The Art of Learning”

I just finished reading Josh Waitzkin’s The Art of Learning. Josh was the young chess champion star of the movie “In Search of Bobby Fisher.”  If you haven’t seen the movie it’s a 2 Thumbs up from Advanced Hiring System in the human excellence category.

The Art of Learning is different from the movie in that Waitzkin discusses how he learned to first become a world chess champion and, then, a world champion martial artist.

Pretty amazing stuff to achieve that level of excellence — to be both a world champion chess and world champion martial artist.

The book  is about learning strategies he used. It’s applicable to Sales Managers who are charged with training top sales performers to achieve even more in their careers.

One criticism I had with the book is the author never mentions how to identify personality styles with the predisposition to achieve high levels of success. (Sales managers looking to hire salespeople would use sales tests.)

Having worked with Sales Managers for nearly 14 years who are responsible for hiring salespeople the question is “Is this applicant I am interviewing a master interviewee or a master salesperson?”

All too often managers make that mistake of believing the applicant who sells well in the interview is a good seller. We disagree.

Virtually no one hires an applicant who interviews poorly – yet only a small minority of sales hires are top performers.

Here we have found that sales managers who use Advanced Hiring System’s scientifically validated sales tests achieve much higher levels of sales hiring success. Because they are able to be sure that the applicants they are interviewing actually have the proven personality characteristics of top sales performers.