As we wrap up Q3 and head into the final quarter of the year, now is the time to look across your team and make sure everyone has the right attitude for a strong finish to the year. “99% of failures come from people who make excuses.” ~ George Washington I recall one September a [...]
20 Sales Interviewing Mistakes to Avoid
Now more than ever before, successful sales hiring is absolutely critical to sales success. When so few hiring managers are trained to conduct sales interviews, it is no surprise that failure rates are as high as 70% on some teams. Here are 20 sales interviewing mistakes to avoid: No structure or preset agenda for the interview [...]
When to Fire A Sales Rep – 4 Signs it's Time (Takes 25 seconds to read)
If you are like most sales managers at this time of year you have a few sales reps who are falling behind in their numbers. You are optimistic that the fall will mean a bounce-back but you don’t want to carry dead weight on your team either. While successful sales hiring is matter of science, [...]
The Fatal Mistake Boards & VP Sales Will Make In 2012 Planning
Today a guest post from Aaron Ross, CEO of Pebblestorm who has just published a book called Predictable Revenue. Enjoy the post. My comments are at the end. For companies selling products worth less than $100,000-$250,000, the old school strategy of hiring more feet-on-the-street to drive revenue growth is failing more often. Or just fails. [...]
Not All Sales Tests are the Same (Requires 30 seconds to read)
Candidate assessments and tests can be useful tools in the sales hiring process, but there are literally thousands of tests available for evaluating candidates and it can be confusing to know which one to use and when. Worse yet, many tests are either ill conceived and provide inaccurate assessments or are applied incorrectly and provide [...]
Should I Broadcast My Sales Reps Performance Numbers Inside My Company? (Mailbag Question)
We are responding to a question from one of our readers: We are an early stage, growth oriented company where performance is critical. I share our sales numbers with the whole company as part of monthly updates. Do you think it helps or hurts to share details on how each individual rep performed against quota? [...]
Avoid the Brutal Costs of Hiring the Wrong People
Companies that aren’t serious about hiring sales people don’t succeed. It’s that simple. You can’t train a farmer to be a hunter. You can’t train someone suited to transactional sales to sell complex solutions. You can’t entice someone that isn’t self motivated to be highly successful. Dave Anderson agrees and shares this perspective in 5 [...]
Do You Have a Sales Talent Pipeline? (Requires 30 seconds to read)
How many times have you decided you needed to add sales reps to your team or make some changes and gone to your recruiting function only to find that there is no one you could hire immediately? While your company receives job applications all the time, these are usually from unemployed people who didn’t cut [...]
Sales Hiring Strategy and the Killer Flaw (Requires 20 seconds to read)
In most companies, when it comes to sales hiring, the Human Resource group finds candidates while the sales organization makes the hire. To build successful sales teams, obviously the sales and HR departments must work closely together, but in the majority of organizations, only one of these two departments is measured on the success of [...]
Sales Management in the New Normal
The world of sales is changing. There is simply no denying it. Hyper connectivity, social networks and online feedback loops have moved sales from a world of stability to a world of chaos. Consequently, resilience, stamina and adaptability are the critical traits required to thrive in a sales leadership position today. As Nancy Martini of [...]
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