For years, I have been trying to put my finger on the key to the question of complexity when hiring the right salesperson. I have studied it, written about it, and lost hair over it (well okay, I have lost hair over pretty much everything, really), but I have never been able to reduce the complexity of hiring to a simple concept. Yesterday, during a training class, the answer popped out like a recalcitrant candy bar from a vending machine.
In the end, the answer was too simple. Like many answers, I suppose, it just insisted I put the appropriate time thinking it through, and then like a butterfly from a cocoon, it would sally forth and beautify the world of sales.
You see, finding the right salesperson for any company is one of the single-most important efforts for any sales manager or business owner—one that, if done wrong, is a very expensive proposition in lost sales, customer dissatisfaction, and blown-up opportunities. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the salary and commissions paid to a person incapable of doing the job. Hiring the right person, however, is a dream. Wasn’t it Alfred Hitchcock, the great movie director, who said a well-cast movie is half directed? Well, a well-hired sales team is 90 percent managed, requiring very little oversight, minimal coaching, almost no sales drama, and capable of holding themselves accountable. And to that I say, “Woo hoo!”
So how do you find this kind of dream team, you ask? The answer has always been to match the complexity of your sales effort to the experience of your salesperson. When they match up, you have a good candidate. The problem is that complexity is, well, complex. It has been a difficult concept to explain and an even more difficult concept to teach. It has always been one of those “I’ll know it when I see it” kind of things, but I cannot allow myself to get away with that reasoning because my job is helping everyone else understand this stuff. So yesterday it finally dawned on me what the one-word concept is: risk.
If you look at the risk factors your buyers face, a sales professional who has sold into similar risk factors has the best chance of success in your sales environment. Clearly identifiable risk factors include the level to which we sell, the length of the sales cycle, the percentage of overall budget from we require, the number of people required to make a choice for us, and the exact degree to which we match the purchase requirements. There may be other factors, but this is a strong starting point. So if you recognize your buyers are taking a risk by working with you, and your sales candidate has had success in selling to these risk factors, then that person is a better candidate than one who has no experience.
Assess your risk factors and measure your candidates against them. You will be glad you did. And it will be less risky...
Respectfully submitted,
Michael D Goodman
Recent Comments