Sales Management Training | How to Interview a Salesperson, Part 2

Posted on July 18, 2011 by Ralph

As we discussed in our last sales management training post, there are 6 sales management training steps to follow when you interview a salesperson for hire. In our continuing series on how to interview a salesperson, we will cover each step in detail, in 6 consecutive posts, so here goes.

Sales Management Training Step # 2: The “Pre-Interview”

Most rookie sales interviewers immediately start the first interview with “interrogation-style” questions to the interviewee as soon as he takes a seat.

This is a big mistake.

Whatever you do…DO NOT launch right into questions as soon as they sit down. Instead, let them “ease into the interview” by letting them hear you talk for a minute or two (no longer) on exactly what the position is all about. This invariably lessens the “interview jitters” that occur with most candidates.

Remember that you are trying to get the candidate Continue reading →

Sales Management Training | How to Interview a Salesperson, Part 1

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Ralph

In this sales management training series, we will delve into the essential steps to take when first interviewing and then hiring top sales candidates.

There are 6 sales management training steps to follow and we will cover each step in detail, in 6 consecutive posts, so here goes.

Most essentially, to make absolutely sure that you are interviewing every candidate on a level playing field, as well as to make your interviews to be as productive as possible, it’s critically important for you to evaluate each candidate in the exact same way. This is why we have a 6 step sales management training system for hiring.

Interview different for each sales candidate and you will get different and inconsistent results.

Same-ness in structure, used in combination with controlled evaluation tools make this possible. You can deviate from the formula ever so slightly if you absolutely have to – but do your best not to.

The formalized structure helps you to process the information that you receive from your questions in a balanced manner, so that all candidates are given an equal chance. The downside of not following any set structure is that you will be less likely to make a sound hiring decision as determinants may be biased and disproportionate.

Remember Continue reading →

Sales Management Training: 6 Proven Interview Guidelines for Sales Managers

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Ralph

To hire a top salesperson, there are a number of sales management training do’s and don’ts you should follow when doing live interviews with salespeople. Each of them will assist you greatly in uncovering the core characteristics of each sales candidate so you can make the most informed hiring decision possible.

1. Take Really Good Notes in the Margin

Make note of statements from the interviewee that you may have any kind of questions about. Instead of asking the question right then and there, jot the statement down, let them finish and then at some point afterward (this may even be in the next interview), ask your question regarding that statement.

This is extremely useful in jogging your memory revolving around crucial statements and detailed data that you can use to later challenge and test the mettle of the sale interviewee. The data you’ll jot down now may seem simplistic and not all that relevant to the hiring process but later it will make the difference between making brilliant hiring decisions and brutal hiring decisions. Continue reading →

Sales Management Training | The Six Step Formula to Hiring Top Salespeople

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Ralph

sales manager checking Picking the right salespeople is one of the most important jobs of a sales manager.

The problem is that most sales managers have don’t have a proven system to hire top sales talent. But to build a team of solid high performing salespeople, a sales manager needs a repeatable, proven system to hire top salespeople.

A word of caution however, no matter what company or industry you are in, don’t ever hire after one interview. It’s simply too little time to really find out what someone’s all about.

No matter how bad the pressure gets to hire quickly, always follow the same six-step system we outline in this sales management training. This sales management hiring system ensures consistency – and to hire the best possible candidate, you need a repeatable system so you can evaluate each candidate in a consistent manner as possible.

The Six Step Hiring System:

1. Determine Your Hiring Criteria

2. Do thorough resume screening

3. Hold the First Interview (one hour)

4. Hold the Second Interview (one to two hours)

5. Perform Background and Reference Checks

6. Make the Offer

Total time investment: two to six weeks (depending on schedules) and nearly three-plus hours of time (possibly more if you do the third interview)

This may seem like an awful lot of time and energy invested for one lousy hire right?

Think of it this way; you are hiring someone who will feed your family…if that isn’t a good enough reason to take pause and make sure you’re doing ALL you can do to make the right decision I don’t know what is.

Each step in the process is outlined in a timed sequence is because you need time to reflect, ponder and contemplate the meaning of the information you’ve uncovered in each step. Your brain simply needs time to process all this stuff!

When interviewing sales candidates you will be accumulating a ton of information all at once; much of which needs to be carefully considered and thought over. To avoid hasty, uninformed or ill-thought decisions, we use a timed, sequenced series of steps that allows you ample time to process all the information necessary to make an educated decision with a minimum of distraction and a maximum of reflection.

Even more importantly, you need to be able to compare and contrast all your candidates on an even playing field. In using the structure outlined above, this is allowed to happen.

Every minute you invest now in carefully finding the right candidate will save you hours of time on the back end should you make the hasty decision and hire before you fully uncover what the candidate is really about.

What Does A Sales Manager Do With Poor Sales Performer?

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Dan

This is the second in an occasional series of guest posts from James Hughes, sales management coaching expert and founder of Sales Leadership Consulting. You can find Jim at www.salesleadershipconsulting.com

Fire them!? Train them!? Develop them!? Coach them!?

All of these answers may be appropriate, and if you have managed this team and this individual for quite some time, then you have probably done one or all three of the last 3 items and are ready for the first choice.

So, let’s focus on inheriting a new team.

The first thing to establish is what does your boss think needs to be done. They are not always right, so understand their perspective and accept it or shape your own plan and ask for support in implementing it.

One example is a team of 10 people I inherited (The entire sales force) where 8 covered territories in the US, a person on the west coast covered Asia Pacific and one person was in Europe. I knew the team was weak, but my boss, the CEO, wanted me to fire 9 of them right away. He was absolutely right with the goal of eliminating these sales people, but I asked him if he wanted ANY revenue in the next 3-6 months. (As it turns out the decision would not have mattered….see below) So we agreed on a plan that eliminated the performers who were weak AND had nothing in the pipeline. We finally got some activity in the pipeline, but less than 3 months later, 9/11 occurred and their key prospects/customers froze all spending in this area. The point is that you have to define a plan, or one will be made for you.

Once you and your boss get on the same page, it’s time to improve performance. Where do you start, and what do you do with the remaining poor performers?

Well, it’s easy to say leave your top performers alone, but what if they need just a little help from you to close even more business. Maybe they need a specific resource? Maybe they need help in handling an objection? What if they just need to show management involvement and the prior manager was not involved? Now, a top performer has probably handled all this, but what if your top performer had just been lucky? Never seen one of those? Lucky you! The key is making sure you ask. It could be the greatest return on your time investment!

Now what? Middle of the roaders? The remaining poor performers? This depends on a few factors. 1) How quickly can you hire someone and get them up to speed where the revenue will exceed the revenue produced by a poor performer? There are a lot of variables here to consider. 2) After your first brush with each rep, are there “mid-performers” who have some good skills but are missing on a few key skills. You may be able to improve their performance faster than hiring, or investing in the poor performer.

Once you have evaluated the team, and tried to decide where you will focus your coaching and development skills, (Your time investment!) Then, check yourself weekly. Is the investment in this rep working out? Is this person “Coachable?” Are there other factors impacting the team’s performance?

The bottom line is that the poor performers on your team, according to this year’s numbers, may not be the first people you fire. Evaluate their skills, put them on a documented plan, and if you see the kind of performance improvement you expect, then keep going. Always keep in mind the cost of hiring and training/development.

Here’s wishing you good selling and good coaching.

Jim Hughes

Sales Leadership Consulting