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JULY 2004
Is your sales team producing results?
How effective is your sales team? Jim Collins, in his recent book Good to Great writes “Bureaucratic cultures arise to compensate for incompetence and lack of discipline, which arise from having the wrong people…” It’s hard to find good people, but without them it’s impossible to succeed.
How to hire great sales people
I was recently meeting with the owner of a mid-size systems integrator. In the course of exchanging ideas on business development he made the comment, “Dave, I don’t believe that I have ever hired an effective sales person…and if asked, I am not sure I know what one looks like until I have hired them and seen them in action.” In today’s technology market it is harder than ever to find good people that will impact company performance in a short period of time. In an effort to compensate, many organizations impose bureaucracy and penalties, others turn to offering special programs and incentives, but are we addressing the root issues? Following are some considerations for hiring your next sales person.
1. Consider the TALC
Stephen Covey wrote, in his book, The 7 habits of highly effective people, "Effectiveness-often even survival-does not depend solely on how much effort we expend, but on whether or not the effort we expend is in the right jungle. The analogy here comes from a comparison of people hacking their way through the jungle despite the call of their leader yelling from a treetop, “This is the wrong jungle.” The managers below often reply back “Will you stop yelling, we are making progress”!
How does this relate to the Technology Adoption Life-Cycle (TALC)? I would argue that the computer industry, for traditional VARs, has not seen a discontinuous innovation in hardware in over 5 years (maybe longer). Simply put, the VAR value proposition is not in the hardware. That said, your sales people must provide something more than introductions for technical people. Let’s face it; C-Level buyers are tired of meetings with people who just want to “learn about their business”. Here are some things to look for:
- Can your candidate provide relevant "expert advice" to your customers?
- Would your candidate be able to bill consulting time if required? (While this may not be a good use of their time, it tests the value of their knowledge).
- Does this candidate have a working knowledge of the technology trends? (According to Mack Hanan’s writings on consultative selling, intellectual capital is the VARs only value proposition, therefore it is critical that the candidate have this before taking the job).
2. Character Matters
It has been said, “The eyes are the window to the soul”. Can you read a person’s character? In my briefcase I carry a sheet of 49 character traits. In the process of defining roles, evaluating performance, hiring, and even in the process of working through employee termination, I use this information as the foundation for my decision process. How effective are smart people, if they are not honest, proactive, and dependable employees. In 2004 the Advanced Training Institute published five things that cause the disintegration of an organization’s vision: People with misguided values, hidden expectations, unresolved disloyalties, ethical failures, and unkept commitments. Each item on this list represents a major character flaw. Can you afford to have your company vision derailed by the people you hire? Learn to read a person’s character before evaluating their industry knowledge and you will be able to weed out unqualified candidates early in the process.
3. The importance of a candidate’s vision
Imagine an organization full of people who come to work enthusiastically, with a vision for success, and a strong dedication to the company and its success. This is the result of what Peter Senge calls Shared Vision. Shared vision refers to a set of related visions shared by you and your employees. Today’s leaders must build the commitment and focus that come through shared vision if they are going to grow their team’s effectiveness. Creating a sense of purpose binds people together and motivates them to fulfill their deepest aspirations. This does not happen by accident. It is during the interview process that employers need to understand the vision of the person sitting in front of them and how it will add to the effectiveness of the organization. People don’t put in the extra effort for the company vision unless it’s their vision.
4. Hiring Team
Who interviews your candidates? It has been said that a company’s most important assets are its people. Jim Collins correctly points out that only the right people are assets. In my experience, most companies use a bureaucratic interview process, meaning more process than evaluation, or in smaller companies, an adhoc process consisting of grabbing people in the hall at the last minute. Are these people trained or qualified to judge me as one of the key players in this organization? No! Solution - create a hiring team. Define the character requirements along with a list of skills. Find people who have strong character, care about character, and who can judge character. If the candidate passes this test move to the skills interview using people who really understand the required skill set for the position in question. What ever you do, don’t confuse the two issues.
5. Conducting the Interview
Finally some comments on the interview itself:
- Always interview one on one. Individual interviews allow you to discern the true character and skill set of an individual.
- Watch for lies. Studies show that people frequently misrepresent themselves on resumes and in interviews. There are a number of physiological signs to watch for. Study them and observe.
- Invite them to dinner with their spouse (if they are married). How does your candidate treat their spouse – this is indicative to how they treat people once they get comfortable.
- Discuss past employers – unresolved bitterness will lead to conflict in your own organization.
- Can they add value to a sale? Set their resume aside…Ask them to get up to the white board and consult with you on a topic. Ask them to bring in examples of their work and demonstrate a working knowledge of the business. Would you listen to their input if you were an executive running a major organization?
- Gather input from each person on your hiring team and require 100% unity on the vote. If you don’t value their input they should not be on the hiring team.
There are many more considerations, but this should provide a starting place. There are good people out there, but there are many more that just look good.
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