I’ve been receiving a lot of CV’s lately from sales professionals who have either been made redundant who like what we do and want to work for MTD!
A lot of them talk a good game and have very impressive CV’s but who do you choose?
And if you’ve been recruiting for sales positions then you probably know what I mean.
So how do you make your hiring decision?
What do you base your decision on?
Well, I’ve written a lot about what criteria you should use for making your sales recruitment decisions here but when all is said and done you need to ask yourself one question:
“Would you mind if this person worked for your biggest competitor?”
Answering that question will enlighten you as to whether you want to take this sales person on.
Try it!
It works like a treat!
Happy Selling!
Sean
Sean McPheat
The UK’s #1 Authority On Modern Day Selling
MTD Sales Training
MTD Sales Blog
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Friday, 11. December 2009
Hello Sean:
I’m new to your blog, have enjoyed your past postings and am also a first time responder. Your posting today is very timely given the number of professional sales people in the “job” market. I have not read your report yet so I hope my comments do not appear redundant.
I agree that it is critical to provide an objective and valid process for identifying, selecting and developing top sales talent. Just because a sales representative demonstrates excellent verbal or presentation skills does not automatically mean that they are high performers or worthy of being hired.
We all know the sales game has changed and that clients are much more savvy than in years past. As a result, it has become essential to know which sales representative has a personality structure that will and can be effective in sales related roles. This requires being able to objectively and validly evaluate a candidates Sales Personality, Sales Knowledge, and Sales Motivations.
Let’s quickly look at evaluating a candidates Sales Personality. This requires being able to make a decision on the degree to which the candidate possesses the following sales related personality traits. This would include an evaluation of: energy level, ability to follow through, degree of optimism, resiliency, level of assertiveness, sociability, and self-reliance. This said, is this really enough to make a decision as to whether a candidate will or can be a high performer? It is helpful but it is not the whole picture.
You would also need to objectively measure the candidates Sales Knowledge. This would require evaluating their ability to demonstrate the following skills: prospecting/pre-qualifying, first meetings/first impressions, probing/presenting, overcoming objections, influencing/convincing and closing behaviours. At this point many clients would assume this would be enough to decide on a candidates suitability and level of performance. But in today’s world all the rules have changed and the final piece that is essential to understanding and identifying high potential in Sales Representatives is Sales Motivations.
In other words what actually motivates and drives the sales candidate to perform to his or her peak ability. Sales Motivation involves objectively evaluating and measuring the following motivational needs: recognition/attention, control, money, freedom, developing expertise, affiliation security/stability, and achievement.
Taken together these three dimensions (Sales Personality, Sales Knowledge, and Sales Motivations) provide a well rounded and validated means of evaluating a candidates level of sales potential. It also provides a clear path for self development by identifying specific areas that need to be refined.
Any sound hiring process must be objective, reliable, and most important validated for that purpose. A great assessment tool to assist with this is Salesmax. It has been validated to identify high performing sales representatives. In fact, candidates with top scores on Salesmax produce at 121% of the average. A tool such as Salesmax can also be used to screen out 84% of poor performers.
Obviously, combining the results of this sort of process with a behavioural based interview, understanding of the new rules of selling, and other methods that you discuss will get clients extremely close to perfection in being able to hire the best of the best that are available at any given time.
I’d love to continue this conversation.
Dr. Richard Kercz, president
Optimal Performance Tools Inc.
Integrated Talent Management & Assessment Solutions
http://www.opt-inc.com
Saturday, 12. December 2009
Hi Richard
Thank you for your detailed reply. It really added value.
I would love to take SalesMax for a test run.
Let me know if this is possible
Sean
Monday, 14. December 2009
Hi Sean:
Would love to walk you through the details. You can contact me directly at my email.
I look forward to speaking with you.
Dr. Richard Kercz