17/11/2014
Sales Recruitment Blog – Trustpoint Select
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If you’ve ever had to hire salespeople, or sales managers, you have probably asked yourself the same question that CEO’s commonly ask me “how do I hire salespeople that will work out?” Turnover in the
Trustpoint consistently meets and
sales force is one of the most costly issues that CEO’s face, yet many companies continue to make the
frequently exceeds our
same mistakes over and over again.
expectations. Their team is laser focused on finding top notch
The number one thing that companies typically look for in a candidate is experience. Although
business development
experience is an important element in considering if someone is a good fit, it is not the most important
professionals.
element. Even more troubling about experience, is the fact that not all experience is the same. Although many candidates may have a decade or more of experience, I find that the majority of
Brian P.
candidates have 2 years or less average tenure in their prior jobs (for reasons I’ll describe in future articles). What does this mean when evaluating candidates? Well if you have a candidate with 12 years of experience and an average of 6 years tenure – then they have 6 years of experience 2 times. If you have a candidate with 12 years of experience and an average tenure of 2 years – then they have 2 years of experience 6 times. When you are hiring, make sure to understand each candidate’s background, and learn what kind of producer they have been in prior roles. As you’re evaluating candidates don’t overvalue experience. Learn how to identify the desirable characteristics, and the undesirable characteristics (such as comfort zones and blind spots) of each candidate – and you’ll begin to increase performance, speed the ramp time of new reps, and lower your cost of turnover. - See more at: http://www.panoply.sandler.com/pressitems/show/6723/? parent=1182#sthash.m8dCSvTe.dpuf
The ABC’s of Underperformance A lot of underperforming salespeople will be let go. Many of those same salespeople will be interviewed and hired by someone else. And they will most likely continue to underperform for the same reasons they were let go before. They were either just not doing enough of what successful salespeople need to do every day – prospect and make sales calls – or they weren’t doing it with enough basic competency to close sales. Or it could be that they were never a fit for the job and nothing would salvage them. That would be an alignment issue. There are way too many bad acronyms out there, but this one’s a natural…most salespeople fail because of the ABC’s of underperformance: bad Alignment, not enough Behavior, and too little Competency.
The Expensive Trap Most bad salespeople really are good people on a personal level. They can come across very well in the hiring interview, present an impressive, polished resume, and provide references who speak well of them. Those candidates come on board with enthusiasm and good intentions and then – usually after 12-18 months of disappointing performance – the cycle ends and starts over again with another new hire. That
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