Each day we field a variety of inquiries from new prospects, leads, and current Clients pertaining to their overall talent management strategy. With today’s post I wanted to spend a little time discussing one of the most common questions we hear –
“How do we select better sales people/teams?”
Many of you have probably asked yourself this very same question after being burned by a poor hire in the past.
Is there one silver bullet? No! If there was, imagine the possibilities…
However, strategic organizations are able to create an edge by developing and executing an “on purpose” process to help select and retain stronger sales talent.
Lets take a look at a few habits to help enhance your sales talent strategy.
Match your candidate’s talents to attributes required of the job
We are all “wired” a certain way, which gives us our own unique style and approach. Each individual’s style is neither good nor bad, but is the core of who they are. When selecting the strongest job-fit for a sales position, it is important to understand how the candidate will sell, what motivates them to do so, and the specific skills and attributes they bring the position.
Example: Sales jobs typically reward performance with a monetary reward system. But what happens if your particular team member is not motivated by money? Would dangling a higher commission or bonus in front of them make them any happier or fulfilled in the position?
Utilizing traditional interview techniques along with valid sales personality test and custom Job Benchmarking analysis will position organizations to have stronger clarity and select people who naturally fit the specific characteristics required of the job.
Match sales talent to the culture of your organization
Have you ever had a candidate come to you highly recommended from another organization? Maybe they were the top sales person, Rookie of the Year, “A” player at their old company, but they completely flamed out within 90 days of joining your team.
This common occurrence can stem from a few different areas, but one that is most prevalent is a cultural mismatch.
We often hear in not so direct terms that our potential Client’s Organizational Culture allows or accepts mediocrity and underperformance (which is ok, if that is what you want it to be).
However, the true high performers will sniff that out right away and most likely grow discontent quickly and look for a better opportunity at an organization that values a strong results-focused approach.
Keep Score
While most sales superstars do not like to be micro-managed, they definitely are driven by competition. Tracking useful sales metrics gives you and your sales people a scoreboard to continually evaluate their success, or lack of success during a given time period.
This accountability system also helps leadership keep a close eye on the ever-changing position of the team’s effectiveness in the marketplace. Responding to a dip in sales production as soon as it happens allows an organization to address the root cause before it could potentially begin to spiral out of control.
When is the last time you had that “sunken” feeling in your stomach upon learning that you made a poor hiring decision for your sales team?
