In a perfect world, appearances don’t have an impact on business, but in the real world, unfortunately, looks seem to matter. Studies have shown that people considered to be attractive earn more money and generate higher sales results. The studies aren’t necessarily conclusive, but I know this from being in sales for many years: buyers do judge  – appearances matter in sales and in spite of any conscious efforts to be objective, this judging is happening at least some of the time if not most of the time.

So that brings us to the question of looks in sales. Do looks matter and how much?

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Daniel Hamermesh, an economics professor at the University of Texas in Austin, and author of the fascinating book, “Beauty Pays: Why Attractive People Are More Successful” says that attractive people are likely to earn an average of 3-4% more than a person with below-average looks and that an average-looking worker is likely to make 1-2% more over a lifetime than an ugly worker (his words, not mine). His research also indicates that attractive people sell more.

In the interview he also goes on to say that “While looks can be altered by clothing, cosmetics and other short-term investments, the effects of these improvements are minor. We are generally stuck with what nature has given us in the way of looks.” Not good news if you are judged to have less than great looks.

Other researchers have found similar results. Peter Reingen, a professor at Arizona State University, conducted a survey in the pharmaceutical industry and found that physical attractiveness was correlated with buyer impressions of like-ability, trustworthiness, communication abilities and a salesperson’s adeptness at selling.

So if looks matter in sales, should I hire someone who is not attractive?

Wow. This is a loaded question in every sense. I think only a hiring manager knows who they should hire, but I will say this about high end sales people. We see a lot of very successful sales people who are not what you would consider overly attractive. Part of this has to do with the fact that we are typically engaged to recruit top B2B and complex sales people, who are involved in sales that are higher dollar value (and made over longer periods of time where looks are less of a factor) and where decisions are more cost/benefit oriented and impacted by emotional factors. The studies mentioned above focussed more on sectors with short sales cycles and more face to face selling. There is also the fact that more selling is done over the phone these days than ever before, even for complex sales.

Target Training International, has administered psychometric tests to tens of thousands of sales people since the mid 19080’s in over 90 countries. The company’s founder,  Bill Bonstetter, has this to say about the impact of looks on performance:

As a result of our twenty years of research, development and distribution of assessment tools to measure performance, we have been telling organizations that it is what’s on the inside, not the outside that counts, especially in sales performance. What we are fighting is the myth that hiring people who look and sound good leads to good performance.

While there is no research that proves that looks have a significant impact on sales success in complex sales, there is little question of one thing – that the smartest sales people tend to be the most successful, so that’s where we put our money.

What about interviewing? What appearance-based biases exist there?

Many interviewers suffer from a bias called the Halo Effect, which refers to the act of favorably judging someone’s character, in spite of the facts, if they are attractive. For instance an interviewer might think a person is friendly, which leads to a false assumption that they are also smart and capable. We see this a lot in sales hiring. A charming, good looking interviewee might be considered successful and qualified even if they have not been successful (conversely an aggressive sales person may create a feeling of mistrust on the part of the interviewer even if the sales person is in fact very successful and capable). We know that without the right sales DNA, a sales person won’t be successful, no matter how they look, so every hiring manager needs to be aware of the negative impact of the Halo Effect on hiring results. An objective hiring process and screening strategy helps mitigate this issues (see the Top 3 Reasons to Have a Structured Hiring Process)

So what about my existing team?

As I pointed out, appearance of sales people may or may not be a factor in success depending on the role, but it definitely paves way to the formation of strong impressions – positive or otherwise. Any sales manager should care about the personal grooming habits of the reps on the salesforce for several reasons:

• Proper appearance gives the impression of professionalism and contributes to trustworthiness and respect
• Casual appearance indicates a casual approach to the prospect’s needs
• Proper grooming instills confidence in sales people
• Grooming can impact the attractiveness of a person and swing the odds for all the reasons we discussed above

Grooming falls into three categories:

• Cleanliness: Things like hair, teeth, nails, breath, and personal hygiene. Customers notice all of these.
• Wardrobe: Casual dress is becoming more and more popular, but in most cases it is safe to overdress. If you think your customer will be formally dressed, the rep should dress formally. If the customer will be dressed casual, then properly pressed formal wear usually won’t hurt the rep, however under dressing is likely to have a negative impact.
• Attitude: Above all, wear a positive and confident attitude on your sleeve. Wear a clean smile that elicits trust.

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Eliot Burdett

CEO at Peak Sales Recruiting

Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.

Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.

He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.

Connect:

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
• How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
• Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021

We hear this story a lot.

I recently hired a new sales person. During the interview process they seemed like a great hunter. They pursued me during the hiring process and actively closed me during our final interview. Now that the rep is on-board, it seems they won’t pick up the phone to save their life.

Few products sell themselves. Achieving targets takes concerted effort and in most cases, requires contacting prospects and making cold calls.

If you have a rep on your team, perhaps someone you just hired, who doesn’t seem to want to make cold calls, then you have a serious problem, but you are not alone. The book “The Psychology of Sales Call Reluctance“, written by psychologists Shannon Goodson and George Dudley, indicates the following research findings:

As many as 80% of all sales people who fail within their first year, do so because of insufficient prospecting activity.

Even experience does not immunize a sales rep from call reluctance.

….during their careers, approximately 40% (of veteran sales people) will experience one or more episodes of call reluctance serious enough to threaten their continuation in sales – despite years of experience, product knowledge, or current income level.

Our experience from recruiting for thousands of sales positions, Rep right up to Sales VP, indicates that the minority of people in the sales profession are comfortable with calling on new prospects and would rather handle inbound and warm leads where a need has been identified and the customer has invited a call with a salesperson. Unfortunately in most companies, sales growth comes from opening up new accounts, not growing existing ones.

There are many reasons why people avoid cold calling. Various studies show cultural and age correlate to call reluctance, however in our experience, DNA plays the largest factor. Some people are simply not engineered to put themselves to take risks and face the rejection that typically comes with cold calling.

If you hired a sales rep that appeared to have the right DNA for new business development, but won’t make cold calls, chances are you misdiagnosed the person’s DNA when you interviewed and selected them. Now you are faced with two choices. Cut bait and move on, or work with that person. You will know the right answer to this question, based on the the degree of call avoidance, but assuming your initial strategy is to work with the person, here are some of the methods that worked for me as a sales manager that you can employ to try and get your rep to make more outbound sales calls:

1. Get Trained – Fear of making cold calls can be mitigated if a rep achieves more success in making cold calls and one way to do this is to develop callings skills.
2. Don’t Take it Personally – Encourage your sales rep to not take the cold calls and rejection personally. A prospect is rejecting the company’s offering, not the sales person.
3. Get Into a Rhythm – The more calls a rep makes, the more comfortable they will be with the routine and by sheer law of averages, the more positive responses they will get, which in turn helps build confidence and reduces fear of cold calling.
4. Make it a Game – If you know that you are going to hear “no” 9 time for every “yes”, then turn it into a game whereby the rep tries to see how quickly he or she can get through the the negative responses to get to the Yes. Like the rule of not taking it personally, making turning it into a sport makes cold calling more abstract and less scary.
5. Get Better at Targeting – Often calling the right person can increase call success rates and reduce fear of cold calling. In a similar way, if a rep improves their ability to qualify a prospect, then they will spend less time with prospects who aren’t going to buy, and more time with those that will. This, of course, reduces the negative feeling associated with prospecting activities.
6. What is the Worst That Can Happen? If the rep asks themselves honestly, what is the worst that can happen as a result of the rejection on sales calls, they will see it is not that bad. They might fear they are going to be unsuccessful and lose their job, but a smart sales manager doesn’t terminate reps who are doing the work and utilizing their energy efficiently. A smart sales manager knows that if you work the plan, the plan will work and reps will be rewarded who commit to the work.
7. Develop an Expectation of Success – If the rep knows the ratio of rejects to closed sales, then they can view the cold calling activity as a pure math exercise and one which leads to success. This develops self confidence, reduces call reluctance and has a snowball effect on sales success.

In the end, the sales rep has to buy in and make these techniques work. If you have tried and your sales rep still won’t make the calls, contact us. We’d be happy to help you find a sales rep with the right sales DNA and no fear of cold calling.

To your success!

Photo Credit: Jon Pinder via Compfight cc

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Eliot Burdett

CEO at Peak Sales Recruiting

Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.

He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.

Connect:

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
• How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
• Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021

There are countless articles on how to build a high performance sales team (including ours: How To Create A High-Performance Sales Culture), so we decided to take a lighthearted look at how not to build a sales team.

1. Only look for talent when you need to hire – If a hiring manager looks for talent only when an open spot has been identified, then they are likely going to be focussed on talking to job seekers and feel pressure to hire whoever is available, but potentially miss out on recruiting high achievers who are currently busy selling for other companies and not looking for jobs. Limiting the pool from which to recruit is a great way to hire less than stellar candidates. Alternatively, a hiring manager can maximize the chance of getting exposed to top sales talent by practicing the ABC’s of Recruiting – Always Be Recruiting.
2. Determine who to interview based on the resume – The hiring manager who only considers the resume when deciding who to consider for open sales positions, assumes that experience and credentials are more important than sales DNA. This is a risky bet. Furthermore, the best written resumes are often created by the reps with the most free time on their hands, so to filter candidates based on resume alone is a great way to focus on reps with weak Sales DNA and those who spend more time polishing their resume than selling. Alternatively, you can seek the right DNA and build a team of superior performers (see the DNA of a Peak Performer)
3. Hire on gut feel – Intuition is a bad substitute for carefully and objectively evaluating potential hires, and avoiding bias-based mistakes like selecting someone because they are likeable, good looking, good at interviewing or share personality traits with the sales manager is critical if you want to make the right hire. Sales leaders who make hiring decisions based on feeling or brief assessments have remarkably poor hiring success rates, so this is a particularly good way to hire poor performing sales people.  Alternatively, a hiring manager with a structured hiring process will increase the chances of selecting overachieving sales people ( see The Top 3 Reasons to Have Structure in Your Sales Hiring Process)
4. Have no on-boarding process –  One the best ways to ensure a new sales rep under performs, gets frustrated and/or leaves an employer is to provide them with no training, coaching or insight into how to sell a company’s products or the most effective ways to be successful. Alternatively, a sales manager can create a structured on-boarding process that sets new reps up to succeed (See The First 90 Days – Your Guide to Making New Sales Hires Produce Fast
5. Expect your reps to be successful on their own – The assumption that  sales reps can be successful with little or no guidance is flawed – all reps, even the great ones, need to be led or they are likely to choose their own direction and under perform (see The Myth of The Self Managing Sales Rep). Alternatively, a sales manager can actively manage and lead reps to maximize their output.
6. Avoid setting goals, communicate infrequently and refrain from holding reps accountable – One sure way to ensure poor sales results is to poorly communicate explicit goals and have an ad-hoc meeting schedule between the reps and the sales leader with infrequent pipeline reviews during which the reps are challenged to deliver strategies for success. Alternatively, a sales leader can ensure a high level of sales force performance by adopting the 7 Habits of Highly Effective Selling Organizations and the Habits of Highly Effective Sales Leaders. See also Top Sales Teams Have Quotas.
7. Change their comp plan regularly – One of the biggest frustrations for sales reps which is often a cause for leaving an employer is frequent changes to the compensation plan that make it difficult to maintain a certain compensation level. To ensure top sales reps are distracted from selling by their compensation plan or seeking to join another employer, a sales manager can change the compensation plan quarterly or even annually (see 19 Simple Ways to Make Your Best Reps Leave). Alternatively, a sales manager can create a sales comp plan with all the Components of an Effective Sales Compensation Plan and ensure reps are happy and motivated to exceed targets.
8. Change  direction even more regularly than comp plans – Another frustration for sales reps are frequent changes to the company and sales direction which require them to change the focus of their selling efforts and/or compromises the quality of the pipelines they have worked hard to create. This is a good way to ensure inferior sales results. Alternatively, a sales leader can pick a direction, stick to it and Be the Leader That People Choose.
9. Never part ways with a poor performing rep – Another great way to foster poor performance is to keep sales people long after they have proven they are not capable of meeting quota and contributing to the success of the sales force. This will also have the effect of annoying customers and fellow employees so there will be a strong multiplier effect at work. Alternatively, the sales manager can decided when it is time to part ways with a rep and make the hard decision to move on (see Ten Signs You Need to Part Ways with Your Sales Rep)
10. Don’t foster a culture of success – A great way to ensure that your team never meets or exceeds quota is to invest little in creating a winning attitude on your team. Reps will form bad habits and slide into a mindset of mediocrity. Alternatively, a hiring manager can consistently exceed targets by Building a Culture of Success.

Image courtesy of imagerymajestic | FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Eliot Burdett

CEO at Peak Sales Recruiting

Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.

Connect:

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
• How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
• Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021

We are big believers that creating a winning culture is absolutely essential for any type of success from sports to raising children and it is particularly important in terms of driving superior sales results (see our previous posts: Building a Culture of Success in Your Sales Team and Why Culture Matters in Sales Hiring).

Sales managers have a full plate every day; hiring, training, and driving their sales teams to meet demanding sales numbers. Few managers have the time to think about creating a culture of success. Yet, that is exactly what the best companies do—they work hard to build and communicate a culture that demands, and rewards, sales excellence.

Looking back at some of the books we have enjoyed and business experts we admire, we culled together some key success traits common across the cultures of leading organizations.

Candor

Managers should expect and encourage frankness from their sales people. Early in my sales management life, I had one rep who always had strong sales forecasts – that were never realized. We have all employed a”sunshine pump.” You have to challenge your reps. Dig beneath what they are saying, and motivate them to do better. Jack Welch, the legendary former CEO of General Electric, credits developing candor throughout GE as a key reason he was able to change it from a stagnant corporation to a global powerhouse.

Welch would push sales teams to strive for more. If they achieved a 15 percent annual increase, he would applaud them, but then ask if they were exploring every possible avenue to achieve even higher goals. Candor ruffles a few feathers, but is critical to building an action-oriented business culture.

Planning and Strategy

The most successful companies we work with put emphasis on planning and strategy. They are not alone. A while back I read Jeb Blount’s book, “People Follow You,” and in it he says that great sales managers provide consistent systems that allow their people to win. They focus on coaching, mentoring, and providing a structure that gets their account executives in front of customers often. They spend lots of time watching their salespeople and helping them learn, as well as holding them accountable and recognizing their achievement.

Consistency

Another interesting read, Robert Hogan’s “Personality and the Fate of Organizations”, notes that 75 percent of people at work say their boss is the most stressful part of their work life. Part of the reason for this is management inconsistency. We see this as well when recruiting sales managers and reviewing their performance and management style. Micro-managing when they have time or under managing when they are busy. Providing conflicting guidance and not regularly holding reps accountable or reviewing performance. Great organizations are able to get a lot out of their people because they present a consistent culture. Team members are expected to excel, but always know where they stand.

Modern Sales Process

Creating a consistent culture of sales success is especially important in today’s world of advanced technology. In the past, prospects and clients got most of their information from the salesperson. Today buyers research different options online well before they contact any vendors.

A CEB Marketing survey showed B2B clients across many industries contact a salesperson after they have finished an average of 60 percent of the buying decision. As a result, every person in your company, as well as every piece of marketing, must share a consistent vision so that prospects receive a unified message.

Inspire Your Team

Sales is all about money, right? Well yes in most cases, but actually, creating a culture of success demands that sales managers have a broader foundation. Teach reps how to have meaningful integrity-based relationships with customers, and more than simply reminding reps of the goal to deliver revenues, promote a larger mission such as improving the lives of customers and regularly point to examples where this has happened.

Explain Why

Wait, aren’t good sales leaders hard-headed pragmatists? Who cares about inspiration? The best leaders make sure their people buy into their vision. In his landmark 2010 TED talk, author Simon Senek explains that great leaders inspire with belief. It explains why some leaders inspire while others do not.

Senek says every organization knows what they do, some know how they do it, but very few know why. Most companies and leaders operate from the outside in, with the “why” in the middle. Great leaders do the opposite. They live from the inside out, by starting with the “why.” They are able to create a culture of success because their followers support what the leadership believes, not just what they do.

Recast The Mission

Sales trainer Troy Harrison told American Business magazine that every successful company he has worked with had a strong sales culture. He recommends that organizations forget their original corporate mission statement, and start over by developing a mission with a sales slant that guides every decision made.

Rory Vaden, sales trainer and bestselling author of “Take the Stairs,” agrees. He explained in the American Express Open Forum that one of the keys to creating a top sales culture is being able to share a vision. He believes that great salespeople need an overarching creed, and it is the responsibility of management to create one for them.

High-performance sales cultures are based on candor, consistency, and a deeper mission to improve the lives of employees and customers. Step back from the daily grind, and examine where you can use some of these techniques to improve your own sales culture.

To your success!

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• About
• Latest Posts

Connect:

Eliot Burdett

CEO at Peak Sales Recruiting

Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.

Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.

He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.

Connect:

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
• How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
• Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021