Understanding the Sales Force

The microphone went dead.  That forced him to come out from behind the podium and, with no microphone, he relaxed, and suddenly had a lot more to say, about a lot more subjects and went on for another 45 minutes.

Seth Godin had a great post today on trade shows selling/marketing.  While Seth talked about creating buzz, it’s important to stress another point about exhibiting at trade shows.  Most companies don’t have realistic goals for trade show appearances, while others have the wrong goal for their trade show events.

It may be a one call close, the need to call on the CEO, the amount of money your salespeople must ask for, the number of competitors, or a host of other factors. A strong candidate has already had success selling with those challenges.

Some salespeople don’t appear at the top of their company’s charts because they are new, don’t have the best territories or are starting territories from scratch, may be great performers, doing all the right things on a daily basis, but don’t get the recognition they deserve.

You know the definition of insanity – doing the same thing and expecting a different result.  That’s how most companies approach hiring salespeople.  They use their experiences from doing it incorrectly to project the results they would get if they did it the right way.