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Those Lyin’ CandidatesSales candidates have a propensity for…expanding the truth. That fact could be stated differently, but let’s stick with this wording. Elon Musk has accepted this fact, according to this Entrepreneur article. His approach:
This approach is effective and revealing. We use a similar approach in our interviewing activities as we know the details are the key. A true story has vivid details and specifics (in sales, dollars are key). One noticeable approach from sales candidates is the tendency to speak in the theoretical. You will notice the candidate uses few, if any, details. Instead they speak in generalities, possibilities, and in a passive voice. When you encounter a candidate in this mode, the best move is to drill down on their responses. Ask for details, challenge their vagueness and pursue a longer conversation. This approach will help you get to the truth following Elon Musk’s initial question.    
Orientation vs. Onboarding vs. OnrampingOne of the keys to successful sales leadership is getting newly-hired salespeople up-to-speed quickly. The time it takes to move them from wide-eyed new hire to qualifying ninja is critical to any company. High-performing salespeople are the lifeblood of any company.The way I see it, companies employ one of three processes for launching their new salespeople. Orientation
Often in this approach, the sales leader provides scant sales training preferring to let the new sales hire figure out what works best for him or her. New salespeople are expected to show up with a network, pipeline and short sales cycle. To call this approach outdated is an understatement because it never should have been a sales hire training option in the first place. Onboarding
Clearly the basics from orientation are included in this process along with a clear role awareness and defined expectation. Don’t underestimate the importance of role clarity…many companies are woefully deficient in this area. Onboarding has another key level to it – the start of the retention process. Integrating the new salesperson into the company culture quickly creates a connection. If done right, that connection will aid in retaining that salesperson in the future. Onramping
Obviously, this approach includes all of the aspects of onboarding. However, sales requires a concerted effort to “ramp” the salesperson to revenue. The goal here is to invest the time up front to get the new salesperson in the field selling as fast as possible. This training involves knowing their sales strengths and weaknesses, preferred communication style and natural aptitudes. This quantifiable information allows you to tailor the training to the most effective method for that individual. The topics salespeople need to know are your company’s Differentiating Value (DV). They need to understand where you compete on the value scale. The salespeople want to learn the competitive landscape. They have to know the ideal customer and who to target for prospecting. There is more to learn, but this sales-focused approach accelerates your new hire’s ramp while putting down a foundation for promoting them in the future. Speed matters in today’s competitive world. The need for a structured, sales-focused onramping process leads to a faster ramp to revenue amongst all of your new sales hires. Gathering > GivingThis statement is going to sound blunt, but gathering information is always more important than giving information in a selling process. This truth may sound counterintuitive to the stereotypical sales process. However, it is crucial to understand this approach.The stereotypical thought is that good talkers make good salespeople. I hear this conventional wisdom every week when dealing with sourcing sales candidates. It is a well-established belief and it is completely wrong. Strong salespeople are more closely related to adroit investigators -they ask good questions, pursue the right topics, and drill down on ambiguous responses. The ability to understand this approach is to first realize who is running a qualifying conversation. Is it the person talking or the person asking the questions who is controlling the conversation? If you answered the person asking the questions then you are correct. The person asking the questions is controlling the topics, choosing the depth of the topic discussion, and gathering the information needed to determine if they have a real prospect or not. The only way to accomplish these tasks is to allow the potential prospect to share information. Now granted, prospects are not always eager to share all information and, dare I say it, some prospects (all?) don’t always tell the truth. The prospects use stalls, objections, misdirection, commissions, etc. to refrain from telling the salesperson all of the details needed to qualify the opportunity. The prospects’ approach is the reason you must find skilled salespeople to handle qualifying potentially deceptive prospects. The conventional wisdom in sales hiring is to find “good talkers.” I cannot count how many times I have been told that a referred sales candidate would do well in a sales role because they are loquacious in speech. A good conversationalist maybe, a word salad bloviator no. The first trait to locate in a sales candidate is their questioning ability tied to their listening ability. You can see these traits in action if you spend 30 min. on a phone screen with them. You will see their conversational ability in person and, more importantly, you will observe how they question and control a conversation. You can follow up your findings regarding a potentially strong sales candidate with an in-depth assessment. The assessment will tell you how they prefer to communicate, what drives their decision-making and what natural abilities they have for accurate listening. This approach, in concert with an effective phone screen, will help you find stronger, skilled salespeople.
Entrepreneurs vs EmployeesYour employees are not as committed to your company’s success as you are. If you are an entrepreneurial owner, this fact is something you must understand. I have seen this misalignment in many companies and it often leads to turmoil within the culture.This entrepreneur.com article provides 6 important points for entrepreneurs when leading their company. The first point may be the most important:
I have seen this frequently in many privately-owned companies. My thought has always been that this approach has always been a bias from the owner. The belief is that the employees are as committed to the company’s growth to the point of working long hours, not wanting pay raises, etc. The employees must share the same desire as the owner to see the company grow. Yet, the employees are not compensated with any equity. This misalignment in understanding motivations often leads to exaggerated views of the employees’ commitment to the company. Here is another common mistake I see in entrepreneurial companies:
Do not underestimate the importance of defining roles even in a small, entrepreneurial company that is in fast-growth mode. The faster the growth, the more difficult it is to keep your company’s roles defined…and staffed. Recently, I have seen two different companies struggling with growth. The issue seems to be twofold: 1) properly staffing up to meet the new demands and 2) defining the roles and responsibilities of each person.
The entire article is worth a read for any entrepreneur, or any company facing fast growth in this strong market. If you need help in hiring the right people or defining the existing roles, we can help. Bad Hiring Trend-Lack of DecisivenessThis HRE article addresses a worrisome trend in hiring today – slow hiring decisions.Decisiveness is the most important trait of successful hiring managers. Lacking today because people are unsure of who they are hiring. Can use assessments to assuage this fear.
In sales hiring, I suspect this extended time-to-hire is even more pronounced. Hiring salespeople is the most difficult hire for any company. Salespeople, even inept ones, can have enough interpersonal skill to short-circuit your hiring process. There is a way to improve your decision process when hiring. First, why does it matter?
Few tasks have a greater impact on a sales leader’s performance than hiring the right salesperson. The best way to increase your hiring decision process is to incorporate assessments. Objectivity is the strongest friend you can have when hiring. Assessments are completely objective and provide a neutral, unvarnished reading of the person. What motivates them? Do they have the ideal sales motivation? How will they sell? These questions are answered objectively before you ever hire the candidate. The most reliable method for accelerating your hiring process is to incorporate objective measurement to support your instinctive decision. We can help.
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