Talent Acquisition

Why Top-Performing Sales Managers Build a Bench

Building a sales team, filled with salespeople who do the work is the goal of all great sales managers.

It really does happen. I’ve seen many dozens of sales teams run by great sales managers. The majority of their salespeople are producers.

Years ago, I had a conversation with one of the smartest entrepreneurs I’ve ever met that sticks in my mind.

Tony Renda, Sr owned a group of 13 radio stations. Tony had started out in sales management, as so many great entrepreneurs do.

Every one of his 13 stations was a top billing station in their market.

He told me his secret for building great sales teams in his stations.

He said, “When I visit my stations I always ask the sales manager to show me his bench. Does he have a list of sales applicants he’s recently interviewed? Is he proactively looking for new sales talent and does he have a system for building a team? If not, he’d better shape up.”

It’s sad but true that too many sales managers look at sales hiring with dread. It’s the thing you do when you HAVE TO, not as an ongoing strategy for improving.

Tony said, “If there had been a system like yours when I was a sales manager it would have made it so much easier. Your system does all the work. All the sales manager has to do is write a good ad and run it and your Advanced Hiring System does the rest for them.

Today there is no excuse for lack of continuous improvement in sales departments.

Remember the definition of the job of sales manager. “Recruit, train and motivate a sales team.”

Recruit comes first. It is the most leverageable of the functions of sales manager.

Training and motivating are important. But if you don’t have the right salespeople on your team, you are “Brick Polishing.” And in case you don’t know, you can polish a brick from now until doomsday, but it will never get shiny. A weak sales hire will never get strong.

The Advanced Hiring System AAPS Profiler Sequence is in use in more than 2000 companies. We’ve put together a short survey to help you decide the quickest way to improve the quality of your sales team. Take the survey to find the best way to build a great sales team for your company.

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Talent Acquisition

Nick Saban and The Process or “What Sales Managers Need to Do to Get Back on Track”

Nick Saban, the winningest coach in the history of football, doesn’t refer to it much. But ask any one of his assistants and players what makes University of Alabama football. Without hesitation they’ll say, “The Process.”

Anyone who’s followed me for the last 20 years knows that great sports and great sales happen the same way. Individual performers who don’t make excuses. It’s all about “the buck stops here, baby.”

… great sports and great sales happen the same way. Individual performers who don’t make excuses. It’s all about “the buck stops here, baby.”

2020 has been a bear for most businesses. And if you’re a sales manager figuring out where to go from here, this post is for you.

Quoting Coach Saban:

“Don’t think about winning the SEC Championship. Don’t think about the national championship. Think about what you needed to do in this drill, on this play, in this moment. That’s the process: Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.”

Let’s think about what we can do today, the task at hand.

So what can you do right now? If you’re a Sales Manager you know your sales team has got quality performers and also-rans. The also-rans might be nice guys and gals, but in today’s tough environment the also-rans are dead.

Its only the quality people you’ve recruited who have a chance to make something happen. This is going to be a tough sales environment going forward and you need more quality on your team.

Great coaches like great sales managers pay a lot of attention to recruiting.

You’re heard me say dozens of times the job is Recruit, train and motivate. Do you have salespeople on your team who have failed to respond to training and motivating? It’s time to recruit.

And the good news is this is the best time I’ve seen in the last decade to look for real sales talent.

this is the best time I’ve seen in the last decade to look for real sales talent.

How do you go about it so you don’t end up hiring another big-talker salesperson who doesn’t do the work?

We’ve put together a short quiz that will show you the easist and quickest way to find a quality salesperson. You want someone who does the work, who picks up the phone. No excuses. This quiz will take you less that two minutes to complete. Click the link below and take the quiz. You’ll find the quickest and most effective way to get quality on your sales team.

Find out why we’re the only sales hiring system with a one-year performance guarantee. Click below to take the short quiz now.

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Uncategorized

Valentines Day: DISC Styles Technique For a Good Marriage

Can DISC Profiles explain why some couples, like my wife Leah and I, have stayed married for 43 years? Or why other couples “throw in the towel” long before “death do us part?”

I didn’t pick my wife based on her DISC profile — in fact, I didn’t know beans about DISC Profiles when I first met her. I just really liked being around her. However having learned to read DISC styles has helped us stay together.

Our marriage has had its ups and downs. There were many times over the past 43 years that I was ready to call it quits and so was she.

DISC is a personality style system. It’s a tool that’s been around for nearly 100 years and has gone through constant refinements. In DISC we measure four aspects of the human personality. We then look at the relationship of those aspects. Then establish both a Natural more permanent style and an Adapted situational style.

In order for DISC styles to be helpful in making a marriage work, the interface of the two partners styles needs to be managed by them. This is easier for some styles to do than others — regardless it can be learned. For a marriage to work, often the responses need to be “Oh, its their personality style that is causing them to…”

I think one partner will tend to compromise more than the other. Certain styles are more happy to bend.

In a society that values Drive and Achievement, we focuson maximum achievement. In my opinion, this tends to partner two high Drives. Unless Drivers are very self-aware, this is often a prescription for disaster.

The four aspects of DISC are Drive, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance.

DRIVE: That voice inside my head saying “I’ve got to make it”, “I can do it”, “I’m the one who can make this happen”, “It’s all about me”. Drive is about putting my ego on the line, if I fail I am hard on myself. The Drive voice inside my head talks tough to myself.

Under pressure Drivers tend to push people, rather than lead and they become impatient.

INFLUENCE: My ability to communicate with others in a way they like to be communicated with. Influence is about my flexible communication style. Influence is my ability to measure the effect of my communication on others. How I adjust to get my message through.

Under pressure Influencers become all heart over head. They rely too heavily on verbal ability.

STEADINESS: My desire to stay for extended periods of time on one physical location. Steadiness is the desire for less movement and more stability. It is my desire for routines.

Steadies under stress resist change. They internalize feelings when they should be discussing them.

COMPLIANCE: My belief in the value and importance of rules. My comfort in following the rules.

When feeling pressure Compliants experience analysis paralysis and avoid controversy.

As it turns out, my wife Leah and I have complimentary styles. Fortunately despite be a Driver, I had the good sense to look for someone who is kind hearted and let’s things go.

Oh, and we don’t marriage counseling here at Advanced Hiring. We use these power tools to help clients hire great salespeople. If you’re looking to hire great salespeople we’ve put together a quick one minute quiz that will help. Click the button below to take the short quiz.

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