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Finding your sales
guy (or gal): The 360-degree approach
How do you know a salesperson you're hiring
will be good? How do you control that process?
How much time do you give this person to perform
before cutting bait?
Sapan Shahni, Goodbay Technologies, Inc.,
a Deerfield-based operator of offshore call
centers
OK, Sapan I'll bite,
even though you've cleverly wrapped
three queries into one. It's a great
question — make that, series of
questions. And plenty of Chicago entrepreneurs
have written in with similar ones. That's
no surprise, since sales is something
every entrepreneur needs to figure out.
Convincing another human being to buy
your stuff is the whole point of business
after all. So how do you hire the best
salespeople?
To find out, I turned to a local entrepreneur
who does this for a living: Pete Kadens,
28, founder and CEO of Evanston-based
Acquirent. Pete's gig is finding the
right sales reps for small and mid-sized
companies. Founded three years ago,
his sales outsourcing firm today has
28 employees, eight clients, and last
year posted annual revenues of $1.3
million.
According to Pete, the secret is discipline.
You've got to find the right hiring
process — then stick with it.
(Acquirent, by the way, adheres to the
same hiring strategy used by General
Electric, UBS, Bank of America and other
Fortune 500 companies — consultant
Brad Smart's "topgrading"
methodology. For an overview of this
widely-used practice, see www.smartandassoc.com.)
"Every time we've stuck to this
process we've succeeded," Pete
says. "Every time we've strayed
we've been burned."
That process, he says, focuses on finding
the weaknesses of your potential sales
reps. Those outweigh potential strengths.
"If you've got a decent salesperson
with a wicked attitude or is a nightmare
to deal with it's not going to work,"
he says.
So Pete's interview process is designed
to ferret out limitations. "It's
drilling into their career experiences
and references," he says. Besides
intensive questioning of the candidate,
this "360-degree" approach
involves interviewing references, including
former bosses, peers and subordinates.
This is no 2-minute call to confirm
the person worked there. "You need
to do a really comprehensive review,"
he says. So spend as much time as you
can grilling people who really know
your candidate.
The biggest weakness to look for is
a lack of motivation. Beware the person
who seems eager, but gives up at the
first sign of trouble. Successful sales
are all about weathering the peaks and
valleys, so you need someone who can
hack the inevitable dry spells. If you
hear things from references like, "He
was good but lost motivation quickly,"
or "It was tough to get her out
of a slump," then it's time to
look elsewhere.
The next big warning sign is the blabber
who doesn't listen. Do they interrupt
you? Do they fail to answer your questions?
If so, they're likely to exhibit these
annoying traits on sales calls, too.
"50% of the people we throw out
are due to poor listening," Pete
says.
As for strengths, you're looking for
smarts, energy and a positive attitude.
And don't forget to find people with
the right entrepreneurial spirit. You're
not hiring for IBM, you're hiring for
you. So look for someone who can think
on his or her feet. "A small company
might only have one sales manager, or
may not have the sales and marketing
materials to support the sale. You need
someone who can adapt, move quickly
and work on their own," Pete says.
As for how much time to give them? Acquirent
uses a 60-day window. Two months, Pete
says, is plenty of time to know if you've
found the right person. But don't focus
much on the bottom line during this
trial period. It's more about attitude.
"You're not going to see a ton
of results in 60 days but that's secondary,"
he says. "If they have the ability,
talents and the passion, the results
will come."
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