Full transcript of the interview.<\/p>\n
Avoiding the Three Most Common Sales Hiring Mistakes \u2013 Peak Sales Recruiting<\/p>\n
Eliot Burdett: Hi, I\u2019m Eliot Burdett, a partner at Peak Sales Recruiting.<\/p>\n
I want to talk to you about the three mistakes that companies typically make in their sales hiring.<\/p>\n
The first is, not understanding their own selling environment.<\/p>\n
When we\u2019re talking about a selling environment, we mean the different characteristics that make your sales environment, or the environment that your sales reps work in, different from that of any other company.<\/p>\n
So we talk about things like your selling process, any sales methodology, the price of your product, the sales cycle and the customer\u2019s buying cycle, the different way you promote your product, the maturity of your market, the maturity of your customer, the market share, your positioning in the market and the amount of support that your team has.<\/p>\n
All of these factors, combined with the culture of your company, make your selling environment different from another company and therefore make the type of person that you\u2019re looking for, often, very different in terms of the attributes that they have to have to be successful in your company.<\/p>\n
So, that\u2019s the first thing: knowing your own selling environment.<\/p>\n
The second thing is having a structured hiring process that allows you to compare apples to apples.<\/p>\n
So, unfortunately, a lot of hiring managers hire on gut, and I think there\u2019s a lot of halo effect that, you know, a smile and a sunny disposition, translates into a successful salesperson.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, that\u2019s just not the case.<\/p>\n
The more you can; when you\u2019re interviewing salespeople and, what I\u2019ve said before is, it often feels like you\u2019re peeling an onion with a thousand layers, because salespeople are conditioned to tell you the types of things that you want to hear. They\u2019re conditioned to do that in their selling, and they\u2019re going to do it in the interviews.<\/p>\n
What you want to know is what they\u2019re really all about; what kind of selling environment they\u2019re uniquely suited to succeed in.<\/p>\n
And so our selling process is all about; sorry, our interview process, which involves everything from different types of screening, to behavioral interviewing, to different kinds of background checks and very thorough, structured background checks.<\/p>\n
All of that, combined with score sheets and criteria sheets, allows us to make sure that we are comparing apples to apples and comparing different candidates objectively rather than looking at each and hiring based on gut feel or how we feel on a certain day, and being attracted to the wrong things.<\/p>\n
So that second thing is really important: having structure in your hiring process.<\/p>\n
And then the third way that many companies make mistakes in sales hiring is hiring who\u2019s available rather than the right person.<\/p>\n
So, it\u2019s very typical for companies to go out to the job boards and post an ad and then interview the people that come back.<\/p>\n
But unfortunately, a lot of the time, the people that come back from job board postings are the people that are looking for jobs. And, unfortunately, they\u2019re often the wrong people.<\/p>\n
They\u2019re the people that are either out of work or hoping to get a job. And what you want, when you\u2019re hiring, it\u2019s really critical that you get the right person. In this kind of economy, you\u2019re looking for the person who not only has the right attributes but is also a reliable performer and can show you; give you the proof that they are able to succeed in your selling environment.<\/p>\n
And, usually, reliable performers are working somewhere. Which means you\u2019re gonna have to; they\u2019re not gonna see your ad because they\u2019re going to be busy selling and making money.<\/p>\n
What you\u2019re going to need to do is go out and find them and get them exposed to your opportunity and make sure that they are aware of it and potentially excited about it so that if your company is a better opportunity for them; better career opportunity for them to work for your company, they\u2019re aware of it and they can make the move.<\/p>\n
So, those are the three ways: having a clear understanding of what you\u2019re looking for; your own selling environment; what you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n
The second thing is having structure in your sales hiring process.<\/p>\n
And the third thing is to hire the right person, not who\u2019s available.<\/p>\n
I hope those tips are useful to you. Good luck with your sales hiring. I hope we get a chance to work together. Thank you.<\/p>\n
(text on screen): For more sales management and hiring tips, visit our blog at: www.peaksalesrecruiting.com\/blog.<\/p>\n
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