Recruit Your Way to the Top!
By John Boe
Essentially a sales manager's primary responsibility is to
recruit, train and motivate his or her sales force to achieve
peak performance. Of these three vitally important tasks,
recruiting is the least understood and by far the most
challenging.
When you recruit the right person you will find that they're
self-motivated and eager to train. On the other hand, if you
hire someone that is not suited for the position, you'ill
experience low morale, high turnover and find yourself
constantly in the training mode.
While there's no perfect system that can guarantee you'll
hire the right person every time, there are fundamental
guidelines you must follow if you expect to recruit your way
to the top!
Are You a Buyer or a Seller?
It pays to be patient and selective during the interviewing
process. Obviously, what you're looking for is a hard-
working, self-motivated, team player and not just a warm
body to fill the position. By approaching the interviewing
process with a buyer's mentality, you're more likely to
maintain your objectivity and hire a long-term top producer.
During the initial interview, the vast majority of sales
managers have a tendency to oversell the position. These
well-meaning managers make the fundamental mistake of
describing the sales profession in its most favorable light by
over-emphasizing the compensation potential and
understating the inherent challenges.
Buyers understand the importance and the responsibility of
being straightforward and laying all of their cards on the
table. They know through experience that it is better to run
the risk of scaring off a prospective hire than to face a
disillusioned salesperson after the fact. Buyers tell it like it is
by emphasizing the demanding aspects of the sales
profession such as rejection and hard work. By placing a few
roadblocks and challenges in front of a prospective hire you
are able to check his or her interest and validate their resolve.
The Process Makes the Difference
You'll never see a bad resume. Buyers understand the
absolute necessity of doing a thorough reference check. In
addition to the standard questions regarding character and
work ethic, it's always a good idea to ask his or her reference,
“In your opinion, if (candidate's name) were to fail as a
salesperson, what do you think the reason would be?” This
question is never anticipated and frequently invites the most
insightful discussion.
I strongly recommend that you use a checklist, because it
allows you to stay on message and helps you to remember
important questions. Relying on your memory is a poor
business decision and will normally come back to haunt you.
Take good notes throughout the interview. If you talk more
than you listen during an interview, you're a seller and not
a buyer.
As a manager there are several benchmark questions you
need to keep in mind during the interviewing process. Ask
yourself, does the candidate make a favorable first
impression and would you want this person working for your
competition?
You would be fooling yourself not to anticipate that your
prospective hire has been coached and is well prepared for
a standard office interview. With this in mind, I suggest that
you conduct two formal interviews followed by a social
interview. The initial interview is designed primarily to probe
for general suitability such as punctuality, communication
skills, financial stability and evidence of past success. Its
been said that both success and failure leave a trail. Look for
past experiences where they have faced difficulties and have
shown the resiliency to bounce back. This approach lends
itself to a valuable discussion about the necessity of being
self-motivated and maintaining a positive attitude in the sales
profession.
To allow for reflection, temperament testing and verification
of references, I would advise a minimum of one week
between interviews. Consider setting up some hurdles
between the first and second interviews that will allow you to
measure interest and personal responsibility. When I was a
sales manager, I would invite both my potential hire and his
or her spouse out to dinner or to a sporting event. When you're
interviewing a salesperson for a commission-based position,
it's imperative to check for spousal support.
Here are my Favorite Eight Interview Questions:
- Do you have written goals you want to accomplish and if
so, tell me about them? You are looking for indications of
maturity, focus, planning ability and desire for achievement.
- How did you earn your first paycheck, how old were you,
and what did you do with the money? With this question you
are probing to check their work ethic.
- What are the top three leadership traits that you look for
in a manager? With this question you are attempting to gauge
their expectation and ascertain their preferred management
style.
- Have you ever failed at something and if so, why did you
fail and what did you learn from the experience? This question
lends itself to a discussion on resiliency, personal responsibility
and tendencies under pressure.
- Everyone has strengths and weaknesses as employees.
What are your strong points for this position? This question
gives them the opportunity to tell you what assets they bring
to the table and how they see themselves fitting into your
organization.
- What is the one thing you would improve about yourself?
This question gives you an indication of his or her self-
assessment capability.
- Other than family members, who has been the greatest
influence in your life and why?
- If you were to fail in this business, what do you think the
reason would be?
Temperament Profiling is an Absolute Must
Sales managers who lack the benefit of temperament
understanding are inclined to place too much emphasize on
their gut-level feeling during the hiring process. Progressive
organizations that understand the value of temperament
profiling actively seek people with varied behavioral styles
and thereby benefit from a richness and diversity of
perspective. People with different behavioral patterns are
more likely to complement rather than duplicate each other's
strengths and serve in a check and balance capacity.
Managers frequently ask me which traits are the most
important to look for in a prospective hire? In my opinion,
there are two mandatory qualities any new hire should
possess. The first quality I look for is loyalty. If a person is
not loyal to their company, research indicates that they are
more likely to violate company policies and procedures.
Disloyal employees are also the first to leave when the going
gets tough. Look for signs of job stability on the resume and
check his or her attitude regarding previous employers.
The second quality I look for is dependability. It makes
absolutely no sense to invest huge amounts of emotional and
financial capital training someone that you can't depend on.
The most effective people are those who know themselves,
know the demands of the situation, and adapt strategies to
meet those demands. Research indicates that career
incompatibility is the major cause of personnel discontentment
and costly turnover. The hidden cost of excessive personnel
replacement is often measured through a decrease in customer
retention.
Simply put, you want to hire a person that has a temperament
profile compatible with the job opportunity. For example, some
people are born analytical and have a temperament style that
excels in administration and attention to detail. Others are more
comfortable in a supportive role and are better suited for a
customer service position rather than the uncertainty of
commission sales.
The importance of matching the job description to the correct
temperament style cannot be overstated. Temperament testing
is not only advantageous for hiring and suitability but also as a
management aid to assist in training and supervision after the
hiring process. I strongly recommend that a temperament
evaluation be administered between the first and second
interview.
When a temperament evaluation is properly implemented and
utilized in conjunction with other standard hiring and interviewing
procedures, it ensures that applicants are treated fairly without
regard to race, color, age, religion, gender or national origin. If
a temperament evaluation is used as part of a hiring process, it
shouldn't constitute the total basis for hiring or placement. I
recommend that an organization establish and utilize a consistent
standard hiring process. Information gathered in each step of the
hiring process should be reviewed in total prior to making a final
hiring decision.
You're Only as Good as Your Pipeline
While some turnover in your sales force such as retirement,
promotion, and transfer is understandable and can be anticipated;
the quitter is often unpredictable. With this in mind, recruiting
must be thought of as a long-term strategy, not a knee-jerk
reaction.
Perhaps the greatest mistake a manager can make is
underestimating his or her turnover. If your personnel turnover
is high, it's more than likely caused by improper recruiting, rather
than inadequate training or a lack of incentives. Even if you're the
world's best trainer and motivator, if you haven't recruited correctly
you'll experience high turnover and may find your sales team
bogged down with low morale. If your recruiting pipeline has dried
up, here are four tips that will assist you in filling it back up with
quality salespeople!
- To have an effective recruiting program, it's imperative that
your sales team be enthusiastically involved in the recruiting
process. Let them know that their ability to recruit is considered
a vital skill in leadership development and that their assistance is
essential to the health of the organization.
- Keep your sales team informed by focusing on recruiting as an
agenda item at the weekly meeting. On the agenda show the status
of each recruit, highlighting the salesperson that has recruited them.
- Design and implement an incentive program for your sales force
that places an emphasis on recruiting.
- Consider inviting potential new hires out for lunch and cultivate relationships with clients that you think may be successful on your
sales team. Make certain to include them in your company's social
events when appropriate.
I hope I have inspired you to look at your recruiting program with
fresh eyes and a renewed determination to recruit your way to
the top!
John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and
sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales
meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized
sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an
impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have
John speak at your next event, visit www.johnboe.com or
call 877 725-3750. Free Newsletter available on website.
Word Count (w/o contact information): 1,691
Category: Management Training
© Copyright 2003-2008, John Boe International
Publishing Guidelines: This article may be freely reproduced electronically or in print, provided that it is published as written and includes contact information. A courtesy copy would be appreciated.
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