Need Sales Reps?
By Bill Willard on Dec 8, 2008 in Feature
Recruiting & Selection Tips SBOS Can Put To The Test – Part 1
By Bill Willard, Contributing Author
The Issue: For SBOs, Recruiting sales reps means finding people who can sell; Selection means inviting only the best to come aboard.
[Note: We’re talking outside sales here, not clerks roaming the isles or manning the cash register in a retail store…not that there’s anything wrong with that!]
What I Think: If and when you need to bring in outside sales reps to grow your business, CONGRATUALATIONS! But don’t grab just anyone who shows up and can fog a mirror. You want the best! In fact, as my clients in the financial services business will tell you, recruiting and selecting top sales performers has a direct, positive impact on your bottom line.
Success Factors: Sales reps can have different styles and personalities, and you’ll probably have to teach new hires about your company’s products and markets; but the most successful sales people all have some things in common. I call them “Success Factors:”
- Empathy - Genuinely liking to be with people, and showing it!
- Ego – A sales rep’s empathy helps develop prospects’ trust and confidence; but ego closes sales. You’ll know you’re talking to potential winners if their eyes glaze over if the subject drifts off themselves!
- Courage – The meek may inherit the earth, but few of them survive in sales. The most successful reps are risk-takers who’ll approach anyone at any time, and deflect rejection like water off a duck.
- Effort – A demonstrated capacity for hard work. The theory about working “smarter, not harder” can be dangerous. If you have a choice (and you do), look for people who work hard, smarter can come later.
- Ethics – Doing the right things for the right reasons, no matter what.
- Financial Achievement Drive – The need to measure one’s success (at least in part) in terms of income, net-worth or lifestyle.
- Entrepreneurial Drive – The desire to run a successful, profitable business. Sound familiar? I’d bet you fit the bill!
That sounds like a combination of John the Baptist and John Wayne! Once you identify people who have what it takes to succeed in sales, you can see if they’re well-suited for your business…in effect, identifying people who won’t shoot themselves in the foot in front of your customers.
What Do You Think? Your comments are welcome. Have you registered?
Bill Willard is a freelance writer in Clearwater FL. He has been a high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years. In addition to his byline pieces, Bill’s beat includes ghostwriting and editing for businesses of all types and sizes, professional practitioners and individuals, and he is a www.thefreestyleentrepreneur.com Contributing Author.
Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml.
Or contact him at billw15@tambabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular new eblog: Daily Grin.
Popularity: 5% [?]
Stevieboy66 | Dec 9, 2008 | Reply
It reminds me of numerous interviews for sales people within my previous business when I listened intently as the hopeful sales rep explained clearly what they could do for my business and how success was ‘nailed on’.
I would then suggest that if that were the case perhaps they wouldn’t mind working on a commission only basis. The resulting backtracking, squirming and general discomfort was hilarious. Was I being a bit unfair?
John Ingrisano | Dec 14, 2008 | Reply
On a bit different tact, I was once interviewing potential editors for my publishing company. Out of about a dozen applicants, I boiled that list down to four reasonable ones. Then I threw in the kicker: I need a writing sample … on a topic I selected and that was unique to my industry and business.
The running immediately thinned to two applicants, one who actually said, “Oh, good.” I ended up hiring this young lady, perhaps the best writer I’ve know. She stayed with me a year or so, before moving to the Washington DC area. Today, she is a well-respected editor with Kiplinger’s Magazine.
Bill Sheridan | Dec 14, 2008 | Reply
Excellent piece, Willy. As Collins says in ‘Good to Great,’ getting the right people on the right bus and then getting them in the right seat is the key to success. A well written essay, my good man!