Five Rules for Hiring Great Sales People | The Custom Sales ...

Hiring great sales people is never easy. ?In this article I will help you understand what it takes to hire great sales people. ?And, you will hire and fire fewer people. ?Why? An easy hire is a quick fire. ?The more energy you spend identifying what you need your sales people to do and who you need them to be, the less energy you will spend interviewing, hiring and firing.

You will then have more energy to spend managing and leading sales people who will be around for a while.

I look at sales help wanted ads in my area on monster for a simple reason. ?They are leads for my sales training business. ?There is one particular company that hires sales people in my area all the time. ?And, their office isn?t that big. ?Hmmm? ?Based on a little personal knowledge this is because they churn their sales staff like people used to churn butter.

If you have to hire 20 people to get one of them to stick, four things are going on. ?Bad leadership, bad hiring, bad product or service, and bad training.

First rule-Previous experience in the same industry isn?t a good marker for future success. ?(Check out research by the Gallup Corporation). ?People with lots of experience have lots of ingrained bad habits to relearn. ?People who are good at learning, willing to work hard, be open to fail and success and wonderfully honest will find a way.

Second rule-Sucess is a good marker for future success. ?Example: kids who get great grades in high school will find a way to get good grades in college. ?In sales we want people who have shown discipline and the ability to produce success combining linear process and non-linear process. ?Huh? ?A lot of sales process is linear. ?Cold calling, identifying leads, following up, asking for referrals, asking for the order. ?Building rapport, judging people, knowing when to drop a prospective customer and when to pursue are all non-linear. ?Look for analogous experience.

Third rule-You can?t make up for a bad hire with training. ?There is such a thing as bad seed. ?All the training in the world isn?t going to make up for dumb, lazy and lying.

Fourth rule-Bad management will kill talent and production. ?The most important elements of a good hire are talent, fit, management and training-in that order. And, bad managers can create a toxic workplace filled with favoritism, lack of recognition and negativity.

Fifth rule-Talent will out. ?The key is talent. ?Good people will find a way to work around bad process, tough territories and average management.

Most important rule-Different people can sell different things. ?Sales ain?t sales. Some people are great at selling something they can touch and feel. ?Others are great at selling service or consulting. Some people are great at selling when people stop by and others are great stopping by and selling. ?Some people are great at selling big stuff and some great at selling little stuff. ?Sales ain?t sales.

Action items:

1 . Stop being lazy by asking for a lot of experience selling your particular product or service and look for analogous experience.

2. Look for previous success that is both linear and non-linear. Example: A black belt and raising money for a charity.

3. Don?t rely on training to overcome a bad hire or bad fit.

4. Make sure your great people have decent management.

5. Pay for talent.

Most important. ?Understand that sales ain?t sales.

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