Talent Acquisition

Boost Revenue Forever

Notebook work with statistics on sofa business
Photographer: Lukas Blazek | Source: Unsplash

I’m unaware of any business that, for most of its existence anyway, has not been focused on increasing revenue. Increased revenue allows an organization to hire more people, add products, expand territories, and all the other things on their wish lists. I’m in the business of helping businesses implement a day in, day out system that will play a big role in increasing revenue forever. The biggest role actually.

Having a team of great sellers is the key to constant revenue growth. And the key to having a team of great sellers is to be focused on a systematic, ongoing sales recruitment effort. Systematic? Ongoing? I’ve heard it hundreds of times. Sales leaders generally turn on a recruitment effort when they have an opening. Makes sense. But it eliminates focus on finding talent, whether you need it right then or not.

Therefore, I suggest that you need to get your mind around a total change in sales hiring philosophy. Don’t hire in a panic because one of your people just bailed out on you. Be on the lookout for good sales talent. And have a system to push anyone with great potential into your recruitment pipeline. If you found someone who you really believed could be a top producer for your team, I’d suggest you figure out how to get them on board. Maybe they could replace your weakest player.

A sales recruitment pipeline that always has more people in it than you need is a good thing. It positions you to move quickly if an urgent need arises. More importantly, it keeps you focused on looking at new talent to add to your team. With the philosophy of wanting sales hiring options all the time, you’re unlike to be caught flat footed. And you’ll never be hiring in a panic.

To learn about developing a sales team that boost revenue forever, click HERE.

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How To Recruit a Sales Team of Quality Salespeople With This Simple Trick

Recruiting a sales team isn’t easy. I once ran an ad for a week asking companies “Tell Me Your Biggest Sales Hiring Challenge Recruiting a Sales Team.” Nothing to buy, just tell me what doesn’t work for you when you hire salespeople.

Some of the complaints in recruiting a sales team were:

1. Applicants don’t show up for interviews.

The fact that 30-40% of sales applicants don’t show up is a good thing

I didn’t understand that one. And I don’t see that as a problem. I like to know they have no follow-through BEFORE I hire them.

The fact that 30-40% of sales applicants don’t show up is a good thing. I say “The mass of sales applicants are full of bull. They went into sales for all the wrong reasons and your job is to spot them. Get rid of them from your sales hiring system.”

2. Can’t find applicants for commission-only jobs.

Our clients don’t have that problem. If the sales cycle is longer than a couple of weeks, real salespeople need a draw to stay alive. That’s reality.

We prove in our ads that good quality salespeople make a pile of money. One of our clients pays a $50,000 bonus if their sales hire hits certain benchmarks in the first month.

If the sales cycle is longer than a couple of weeks, real salespeople need a draw to stay alive. That’s reality.

Salespeople who lack confidence in their ability to hit these benchmarks are not real salespeople.

3. Applicants who sound good in the interview, but can’t sell once they’re hired.

This was the biggest category. It is an interesting problem and it has two parts to it.

First, who are you letting in your office? What is your system for selecting applicants to invest energy in? Hint: if you’re using LinkedIn Profiles and job experience you are way off the mark.

Second, what are you doing in the interview? Why are you not getting to the heart of the matter when interviewing?

who are you letting in your office? What is your system for selecting applicants to invest energy in? Hint: if you’re using LinkedIn Profiles and job experience you are way off the mark.

People can be divided into many different categories. When it comes to hiring salespeople we divide applicants into two piles. “People who fulfill their potential” and “People who fail at it.”

Dr. Carol Dweck of Harvard University has a foolproof method. She explains people have two distinct worldviews when it comes to accomplishment.

There are those who believe in fixed prior ability and there are those who believe in growth of ability.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort. We endow our heroes with superhuman abilities that led them inevitably toward their greatness. It’s as if Midori popped out of the womb fiddling, Michael Jordan dribbling, and Picasso doodling. This captures the fixed mindset perfectly. And it’s everywhere.

Malcolm Gladwell, the author and New Yorker writer, has suggested that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishment over achievement through effort.

People with the growth mindset, however, believe something very different. For them, even geniuses have to work hard for their achievements.

Our clients use an interview that we call the FST Intelligence Interview Sequence. It’s based on this model. We look for learners and growers — and of course those who enjoy the process of influencing others.

The next time you find yourself saying, “He or she handled themselves well in the interview” you might well be on the road to making another bad sales hire

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Talent Acquisition

Essential Sales Recruitment Elements

Managing a sales organization can be tough. Especially these days. But one thing has and will remain the foundation upon which sales team success is built. Good Sellers!

Photographer: FILMon | Source: Unsplash

The everyday management of a sales team is typically fairly well structured. You have are procedures for doing most things. There is training on how to do things. Performance metrics are tracked through time. Accountability expectations and ways to measure adherence exist. Basically, a sales manager can find some type of system to help manage most elements of running a sales organization.

Recruiting great sellers happens to be one thing that most organizations do not have a systematic approach to reaching defined goals. Why not? All the sales procedures and systems in the world will not help an organization succeed if it lacks strong performing salespeople. The converse is not true. Great sellers will figure out how to sell things and make money, even in an organization that lacks great structure. It’s what great sellers do.

So if you’re hiring salespeople like your father’s generation did, you are likely to have little success. And resumes are worthless for the most part. Prior industry experience is not an indicator of the ability to sell anything. We’ve all probably known, or have even hired, someone from within our industry who bounces from job to job, failing at them all. You can stop this by implementing a sales recruitment strategy that takes emotion out of the equation.

First, you must always be pushing candidates into your pipeline. Next, use profiling to make sure they have characteristics found in top performers. Then interview only those candidates who match your desired profile in a structured way that allows you to compare one candidate against another. And always have a compensation strategy that will attract real closers and keep them working for you for a long time.

If you’d like to learn how to double your success in sales recruitment, click HERE.

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