Understanding the Sales Force

Well, are you?

I’ll bet you are. You can probably spot an energetic, motivated, likable, memorable, polished, polite and attractive salesperson from a handshake away. Aren’t those the ones you like best? Aren’t those, especially when they have industry background, the ones you hire? And don’t they all perform just swell?

When a great salesperson is recommended by Objective Management Group’s (OMG) Sales Candidate Assessment, and this star has a great track record, and great references, should we expect this person to succeed?

One of the first emails I came across this morning was a LinkedIn update telling me that 16% of my network had started new jobs.  16%. That’s one of every 6.25 people I am connected to.

That brings us to this question.  Who’s in a LinkedIn network?

Clients frequently ask about the percentage of candidates recommended by Objective Management Group’s (OMG) Sales Candidate Assessment and why it is so low. When clients are feeling the urgency to hire salespeople and too many candidates are not getting recommended, their knee-jerk reaction is to change the customized criteria on the role configuration so that more candidates can be recommended.

Got you on that title, didn’t I?

Did you ever find yourself in a position where you needed to hire salespeople? Of course you did.

There are many keys to making the the sales hiring process work effectively yet most companies fail to get these keys right. Some of them are obvious, while some are more subtle. And most of all, the integrity, or in this case, the outcome of the process is only as strong as the weakest link. Ignore or fail to complete any one step the way it is designed and the entire outcome will be in jeopardy, as in, another salesperson that fails to launch, doesn’t meet expectations, or succeeds at being utterly mediocre.

When you coach a salesperson, which words should you hear that would tell you the session was effective?
Not “Thanks” or “OK”.

Has this ever happened to you?
A salesperson asks for your advice and it’s opportunity specific, important, and time sensitive.

You schedule a time to talk, provide the coaching, ask if it helped, receive acknowledgement, get commitment for follow through and wish them luck.

Your system for coaching – the frequency, duration and process – should remain consistent, but it is important to remember these variations. All of the people whom you coach or should be coaching are unique individuals and need you to work with them in a way that is most beneficial to them, not you.

One confusing component of effective sales management is that great sales management skills don’t always translate into great sales results. This phenomenon is most obvious when a company hires a terrific, new sales manager, who possesses all the desired skills, and the manager fails to have an immediate impact.