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The sales resume\u00a0is often the first contact a hiring manager will have with the person who could become the next best performer on his or her sales team. However, with managers stating that one in five hires are \u201cbad\u201d or \u201cregrettable\u201d, the reality is that most have trouble distinguishing a bad salesperson from a good or a great one. To mitigate hiring risk and expedite the recruiting process, hiring leaders need to be able to quickly identify a great resume\u00a0from a terrible one.<\/span><\/p>\n A recent survey from The Society of Human Resource Managers reported that an incredible 53 percent of the resume they reviewed contained false information \u2013 anything from altered job descriptions to inaccurate employment dates and false degrees. Moreover, we have found that more than eight in ten hiring managers have interviewed salespeople who have exaggerated their sales accomplishments and selling activities.<\/span><\/p>\n While most candidates don\u2019t set out to intentionally mislead their future employers, people naturally want to present themselves in the best light. They may stretch the truth to cover up an unfortunate job choice or try to elevate their experience to be considered for a position for which they are not qualified.<\/span><\/p>\n The best salespeople have a resume\u00a0that states their accomplishments in a clear, concise manner, supporting their claims with quantifiable results and examples. Their resume\u00a0includes concrete examples of key customer wins (logos), large deals, quota achievement, and\/or how they started key channel partnerships that lead to a defined revenue number. For example:<\/p>\n \u201cGreat salespeople aren\u2019t afraid to showcase their achievements, and they know that detailing their sales results on their resume is an effective\u00a0way to separate themselves from average and below average sellers\u201d \u2013 Brent Thomson, CSO of Peak Sales Recruiting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If these statistics are not on a resume, that is a cause for concern. \u201cIf I don\u2019t see these stats, I become suspicious,\u201d says Dave Stein<\/a>, author of Beyond the Sales Process<\/a><\/em>. \u201cI\u2019ll ask the candidate to send me their performance against quota, year by year.\u201d<\/p>\n What separates the top sellers from the rest, however, is that in addition to the metrics listed above, they list closing ratio, average sales size, repeat order percentage, and average sales conversion time from prospect to close. They also take it a step further by listing details on how their numbers compare to past employer averages or industry benchmarks. Put simply, the best candidates provide detailed number breakdowns, while the worst try to conceal their failures.<\/p>\n It is easy for candidates to inflate the numbers on their resume\u00a0\u2013 how often do you see candidates list \u201cAchieved 50% of quota\u201d? But the majority of salespeople miss their targets \u2013 more than 60%. That\u2019s why experienced sales interviewers ask for more details on specific numbers during the introductory, screening interview (click here to find download a list of the interview questions every great hiring manager asks a sales candidate<\/a>). Should the candidate make it into the final phases of the assessment process, interviewing references that were in a supervisory role, and checking W-2s to verify the claims made by the candidate are proven methods to further reduce hiring risk.<\/p>\n Requiring candidates to complete a career history form adds another layer to the assessment process that employers can leverage to eliminate poor performers from the recruiting process. This is a lengthy account of the person\u2019s selling history, requiring much more detailed information than can be found on a r\u00e9sum\u00e9. If a candidate responds that the information is on their CV or that they will fill it out if they go further in the hiring process, it may indicate they are not serious about the position, or they are trying to hide less than stellar sales results.<\/p>\n A career history form doesn\u2019t come without its drawbacks, however. The form can discourage great salespeople from continuing through the hiring process since they are too busy focusing on achieving their sales targets than to be filling out lengthy application forms. Confidentiality agreements also hinder the usefulness of this from since it restricts candidates from disclosing key client acquisitions or specific deals. In this case, the best salespeople will list the information more generally, stating the industry rather than company \u2013 \u201cFortune 500 telecommunications company\u201d or \u201cLarge national automotive supplier\u201d.<\/p>\n Annual top salesperson, top revenue, units sold, sales trips and other incentives are common awards given to top performers on a sales team \u2013 and the best salespeople are constantly winning. \u201cThe best salespeople on my team wear their awards as badges of honor\u201d, says Eliot Burdett<\/a>, CEO of Peak Sales Recruiting, \u201cThey take every opportunity to showcase their accomplishments.\u201d Salespeople who have earned these awards are proud of their achievements and will highlight these on a resume. If this kind of recognition is missing, this is not a great salesperson.<\/p>\n There are as many titles for salespeople out there as there are companies, with organizations of varying sizes selecting identical titles with vastly different responsibilities and success metrics. A VP Sales, for example, could be responsible for a team of 150 reps in a multinational company, or lead a team of 3 reps in a Fortune 10000 company. This makes it easy for salespeople to list a title on their resume\u00a0that inflates their role and level of responsibility.<\/p>\n When sales recruiting, the best hiring managers look beyond the candidate\u2019s title and examine the responsibilities listed on the resume. The actual level, experience, and success of the candidate should quickly become apparent.<\/p>\n A great resume\u00a0for a Vice President of Sales, for example, would highlight responsibilities and success metrics such as increasing company revenue, increasing profit margin, team growth, and market growth, not cold calling stats and number of demos booked.<\/p>\n Great salespeople are busy doing what they do best: sell. The best sales resumes\u00a0focus on sales-related activities. Watch for non-sales activities listed such as:<\/p>\n If there are too many non-selling activities on a resume, this indicates the person has not been actively selling. Again, the best salespeople let their results speak for themselves.<\/p>\n Top performers are always gainfully employed and producing results. If there are months missing from a candidate\u2019s career history, it could be that the person under-performed, did not meet their sales quota, and was let go.<\/p>\n However, there are also good reasons why a person may have months missing in their career history, such as time off to spend with a new child or caring for an ailing parent. A great candidate will be candid about these gaps and proactively address them to prospective employers.<\/p>\n \u201cIf their last three jobs were sole proprietorships where the candidate \u2018worked\u2019 for themselves, take a closer look,\u201d says Stein. \u201cEither they thought they could make oodles of money, or they couldn\u2019t get a real sales job.\u201d<\/p>\n Also, beware if a resume\u00a0lists years only rather than month and year \u2013 this can be an attempt to hide periods of unemployment. If there are too many gaps, best to take a pass.<\/p>\n While it can be good for salespeople to have diverse experiences in different industries and positions, be wary of those who have had many jobs in a short period of time. It may be that they were unemployed and took any position they could get at the time.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen a salesperson\u00a0has worked at five companies in a seven-year period, something is wrong,\u201d says Mike Weinberg<\/a>, author of Sales Management. Simplified.<\/a><\/em> and New Sales. Simplified<\/a><\/em>. \u201cThere are no unemployed \u2018A\u2019 player salespeople.\u201d<\/p>\n There can be good explanations for shorter stays such as a company merger or acquisition, or company-wide lay-offs. However, since top salespeople only represent 10-15% of the entire sales population, the best are retained, even in these situations.<\/p>\n Does the resume\u00a0include vague or verbose language to describe simple tasks or \u201csoft skills\u201d? This usually indicates the candidate is trying to conceal a lack of results by making average or non-selling tasks appear more important.<\/p>\n Consider this example from an actual resume: \u201cGenerates a high volume of sales through implementing creative strategies and solutions to meet individual customer needs\u201d.<\/p>\n First, \u201chigh volume of sales\u201d should be documented as an actual number, either as a percentage of sales target or total dollar revenue against quota. Second, \u201ccreative strategies and solutions to meet individual customer needs\u201d is vague and does not give concrete evidence as to what selling methodology was used and how the solution was tailored to meet the customer\u2019s requirements.<\/p>\n Dave Stein also warns against resumes\u00a0filled with too much \u201ctechno-speak\u201d. \u201cArchitectures, programming languages, platforms, etc. Noise!\u201d says Stein. \u201cThis is usually misdirection away from selling capabilities they probably don\u2019t have.\u201d<\/p>\nTo help you uncover great salespeople and easily identify resumes\u00a0for the reject pile, here we dissect the anatomy of a terrible sales resume.<\/h2>\n
1. No quantifiable results<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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How to peel away the artificial layers<\/h4>\n
2. Lack of awards and achievements<\/strong><\/h3>\n
3. Titles<\/strong><\/h3>\n
4. Too many non-sales responsibilities<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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5. Gaps in employment<\/strong><\/h3>\n
6. Too many jobs in a short period of time<\/strong><\/h3>\n
7. Too much superfluous language<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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