Checklists are handy things. Professionals use checklists.

Pilots are big on checklists. Check out the cool video here

I’ve prepared a list of things not to do when hiring salespeople.

In 2003, when our company’s growth got us to 200 salespeople very quickly, I realized we were way too focused on training. We needed to fix our sales hiring.

Hopefully becoming more aware of these pitfalls will help you to be a better sales manager for 2010.

1. Not constantly looking for sales talent.

If you don’t have a folder in your Outlook of applicants you’ve talked to who show promise, you’re missing out on a key way to build – over time, a better team.

2) Only running the sales hiring process when you need a salesperson.

Someone quits and you start scrambling. Related to number 1, but this is only one dimension of the benefit. You’ll laugh at “sales hiring crunch worries” forever.

3) Running ads that attract the wrong personality style.

If you want a hoot, open up any job board and look at the ads for salespeople. Most of them say to me, “No top sales performers need to apply.” They look like ads written by people who hate sales and salespeople.

4) Not marketing your company’s sales position.

Your sales team is your company’s lifeblood. Really. Great product. A lousy sales team means disaster.

Hopefully, this will get you started. I’ll post some more later, but I’ve got to run to a meeting…

Better Sales – Managing Different Styles The High-S

High-S behavior is staying in one physical location for extended periods of time. High-S’s make good accounting managers and receptionists since their work requires they stay in the same physical location for extended periods of time.

The High-S is possibly a good inside salesperson PROVIDED that other criteria are met. This is discussed in the Member Area of the Advanced Hiring System website. In general, though, we recommend you stay away from High-S in salespeople.

If you’ve ever hired a salesperson who looked good, smelled good and everything seemed right with them in the interview, but they never left the office, you hired a High-S.

Many sales managers think they can train people to change their behavior. Be extremely cautious when you find this thought creeping into your head – especially with High-S’s.

When I was a young sales guy, I remember my Sales Manager going through the office at 10:00 am clapping his hands saying, “OK everyone out of the office.” He was trying to fix the High-S hirers he had made by getting them out. It was an exercise in futility as those High-S’s just go home or to their favorite coffee show.

Think back to the time you’ve hired a salesperson who you thought was spending a long time learning about the product at their desk. Did they really ever succeed? In the overwhelming majority of cases they failed.

Outside sales is Low-S behavior. It requires a personality style that enjoys going to different places – which is what is required to make sales calls.

Sales Managers: Watch This Video of a 737 Landing For a Sales Hiring Lesson

If the statistics are accurate, as a profession, sales managers hire 1 great salesperson for every 3 or 4 hires. Contrast this to commercial airline pilots who successfully land 50,000 to 70,000 planes a day.

Sales Managers: We “bat” anywhere from .250 to .300. Pretty bad. This “sales hiring failure” rate hurts:

• your reputation as a manager and leader
• sales as a profession
• your company
  • lost revenue
  • lost salary to the bad hires
  • lost reputation in your markets
  • poor morale in your sales department
• our clients miss a chance to take advantage of our company’s products and have to settle for our competitor’s inferior offering
• the poor shlub you hire
  • is wasting his or her time
  • hates their job
  • doesn’t make any real money
  • in truth should never have gone into sales

Here’s why pilots succeed:

Because they know their decision is a life or death situation. Pilots have developed a system with a series of benchmarks. They check those benchmarks off every single time.

Haven’t you suffered enough hiring salespeople the old fashion way?

Check out this amazing video