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Find the Ideal Salespeople
The Beacon Business Newsletter, November 2005
by Pete Kadens, CEO Acquirent LLC
For those of you who have experienced it you
know that locating and hiring the best salespeople
is an arduous task, and probably one of the
most difficult things you have to do in building
your business. Then, when you find the right
person they often want too much money! So,
what is the process of finding these amazing
people that will take your sales to the next
level, see your compensation offering as fair
and equitable, and not cause you a multitude
of migraine headaches along the way?
The first thing is this: PROCESS. Every company
must have a reliable and repeatable process
in place that they feel comfortable with and
that will generate the right quality of candidates.
At our company we have a twenty two step process
that takes us from resume review and phone
screens all the way to hiring a candidate.
It is long and painstaking, but boy does it
work. By the time a candidate has made it
all the way through the first twenty-one stages
we know that he/she is interested in us and
that we are prepared to extend an offer to
a really quality candidate.
In addition to the process, you have to narrow
down and focus on qualities and criteria that
will make a salesperson successful at selling
your offering. For you business owners out
there, be careful not to make this person
look identical to you because in many cases
you are actually not the same person who is
really good at selling your own offering!
Be very open minded and thoughtful about these
qualities and commit to them such that if
an individual does not possess ALL of these
qualities that you will not to hire them even
if you think the world of them. The most minute
detail or character flaw can impact a salesperson’s
ability to succeed at selling your offering,
so bear that in mind and make no exceptions
to your critical hiring criteria.
There are several criteria in salespeople
that are truly universal criteria and not
at all specific to the opportunity at hand,
so ensure that these four criteria are included
in your critical hiring criteria. Below is
an outline of these criteria and how to question
and assess if an individual possesses these
necessary traits.
1)Positive Attitude: Its like the American
Express slogan except a little different.
“Your salesperson won’t go anywhere
without it!” Positive attitude and exuding
this attitude are a must. You can assess this
by asking them about their prior experiences,
and then by questioning how they would go
about helping you grow your business if they
were hired. A great question to elicit some
information about positive attitude is: “What
do you dislike the most about sales?”
If they get on a pessimistic tangent at this
point then you will know that positive attitude
is not their strong suit!
2)Listening Skills: We have two ears and one
mouth for a reason, and the best salespeople
use these in the appropriate proportion. Test
listening skills while you interview. Ensure
that the individual does not interrupt you
and that he/she answers your questions directly.
3)Self Discipline: Salespeople spend a lot
of time by themselves without supervision.
Ensure that this is someone who does not need
to be supervised and is a self starter. This
is something that is great to ascertain when
you check their prior employment references.
4)Tactful Persistence: This is something that
I have mentioned in past articles and it is
absolutely crucial to sales success. The ideal
salespeople are classy and full of tact, but
simultaneously aggressive. Ask the candidate
how they would handle a really important prospect
who does not call them back after three or
four tries. You can find out a lot about their
tact and persistence by asking that!
All in all, these are a few things to consider
when looking for the ideal salespeople. The
ideal person for your company may embody some
other traits so just make sure that you are
keenly aware of what those traits are and
build a process to ensure that you find people
who are the embodiment of those traits.
Pete Kadens is the founder and CEO of Acquirent,
a Chicago-based
outsourced sales execution team (pkadens@acquirent.com).
Check out
Acquirent at www.acquirent.com
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