The economy is improving. Job creation is increasing but unemployment remains high. So why is it so difficult to find and hire good salespeople? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics (BLS), in May 2010 there were over 13 million wage and salary sales workers in the United States. The BLS also stated the
Next month, we will be publishing a new guide entitled The First 90 Days – How to Get Your New Sales Hires Producing, Fast. Here is a teaser from the introduction. Most companies take months or even years to determine whether a new hire is successful, but often all the evidence to indicate whether a
Have you ever gone on a date without combing your hair, taking a shower or wearing clean clothes? You probably wouldn’t expect to be asked on a second date, yet many companies court sales hires as if appearances don’t matter. Top performing sales people are very picky about which employers they will work for, because
Finding salespeople who will perform exceptionally well is a big challenge for many sales organizations. When dealing with sales people who are trained at selling themselves, it can be tough enough simply knowing who to speak with so it can be extremely valuable to have a method of quickly deciding who is worth your time
Interviews are the staple method for most companies when hiring sales staff and often there are multiple interviews conducted by different team members of the hiring company. Some companies will take the screening process a step further and conduct in depth reference checks. All of this is done to ensure the new hire is the
We know we sound like a broken record on the evolution of sales. Selling is not the same as it used to be. Just 20 years ago, golf memberships, long lunches and snazzy promotions had a huge influence on customer decisions and Herb Tarlek’s character on WKRP in Cincinnati was a funny depiction of the
The three most common sales hiring mistakes which result in sub-optimal sales hires, missed targets, and staff turnover. 1. Poor understanding of selling environment 2. Unstructured hiring process 3. Not looking in the right places To read a transcript of this video click here… Full transcript of the interview. Avoiding the Three Most Common Sales
A surprisingly high number of sales people aren’t well prepared when they attend job interviews, perhaps because they don’t do it that often, but when you see one who makes a great presentation, it should give you some insight into how they will prepare for customer meetings. While this is not always the case –
I ran across this great post What Really Motivates Sales People. The author, Jim Keenan, a sales exec who also writes the A Sales Guy blog, shares thoughts about the significance of money in motivating sales reps. He also shares comments from members of his LinkedIn group. The bottom line from his perspective is that
Geoffrey James at the Sales Machine recently interviewed Michael Dell and posted his interview. I have included some of the most interesting comments from Dell. On Competition: “Sometimes it’s a battle, but sometimes we’re clearly working with a number of companies to grow an industry. I think the leading companies tend to be able to
