As somebody that has, over the last 3 years, seen in excess of 4000 applicants for the circa 350 jobs I’ve been assigned to recruit for though, I have to tell you, most salespeople seem to subscribe to taking the path of least resistance – the easy, or lazy, way out. And it speaks volumes as to their likely work ethic. They’re not very competitive in their efforts.

In exactly the same way as the business you currently, or, used to work for needs to cut through the noise and stand out in a market where buyers are increasingly more informed, as a candidate you need to do the same thing. Especially as a sales candidate! If you can’t or won’t go to the effort of distinguishing yourself to a future employer… well it kinda suggests that you can’t/won’t in the job either.

80% of roles get filled by organisations without needing to use a recruiter or advertise

When you’re in job-search mode, you need to think and act like a marketer – in order to get in front of your ‘prospect’ – and then act like a sales professional. (And here’s a hint… 80% of roles get filled by organisations without needing to use a recruiter or advertise their role. It’s called the ‘hidden job market’ and it’s one of those ‘somebody who knows somebody, who knows somebody’ kind of things. Which means having a good looking resume will only work for 20% of the opportunities out there).

So, what does marketing yourself look like?

Well, there’s this platform. Maybe you’ve heard of it? Called LinkedIn?

Let me digress. I’m sure you’ll be quite familiar with the Coca-Cola sign which sits in place of pride at the top of William Street, in Sydney. Right at the gateway to the equally as renowned Kings Cross? That sign has been there since the 1970s. It has seen various iterations from its original clapperboard version, to neon lighting, to LCD and now LED. Coca-Cola Amatil reportedly pay a six-figure sum to the City of Sydney to be able to display the sign.

So what?

The fact is, your LinkedIn profile has the capacity, if managed properly to act just like that famous Coca-Cola sign. This iconic billboard has tens of thousands of vehicles – and occupants, more importantly – driving past it every day. And hundreds of thousands of tourists every year. They are treated to a dose of ‘top of mind’ advertising as they drive or walk by. Your LinkedIn profile has the same, if not greater, potential. What do people – possible hiring decision-makers – see when they come across your ‘Coca-Cola’ sign? Something minimalist or fading like the 1970’s version of the sign? Or something compelling, that stands out and causes them to put the brakes on and investigate further?

Here are five practical tips you can do to both stand out and grab attention – and better market the value proposition you represent to potential employers.

1. Practical Tip #1– use a descriptive headline that positions what you are professionally, rather than your current job title. Eg.
   
   “I drive revenue growth in Cloud-Enabled Technology Solutions. Challenger sales black belt.”
   
   or
   
   “Prospector | Lead Generator | Opportunity Creator | Revenue Maximiser | In B2B Services”
   
   
2. Practical Tip #2 – the next place a hiring manager is most likely to look is at your ‘Experience’ section. What I see here, time and time again is the job title (which is OK) followed by either a beautiful promotion piece on the company you work/worked for, or, a list of your routine duties. Don’t do that…
   
   Instead, write about your accomplishments! Tell us what you’ve achieved! Things like % revenue growth; %market share gained; % of annual target achieved; sales awards; Consider describing your core attributes…
   
   ► High-energy and fearless — I do whatever it takes to deliver value to clients and partners
   ► Self-starter — I have a bias towards action, appreciate cut-through, and prefer a fast-paced, constantly changing work environment
   ► Natural leader — I pride myself on the ability to lead and motivate teams
   ► Self-motivated — I work with minimal supervision while achieving daily, weekly, and monthly goals
   ► Problem solver — I independently translate high-level goals into actionable plans
   ► 10+ years — business development experience (B2B), plus some enterprise sales experience
   
   
3. Practical Tip #3 – get to work on getting endorsed.
   
   If you have 500+ connections on LinkedIn and for your top 3 Skills you’ve only been endorsed by 15, or 27, or 44 people… that doesn’t really say what you want it to say about your skills, right? However, if I see “99+” against the top 3 then you continue to be of interest and worth potentially exploring/meeting.
   
   
4. Practical Tip #4 – if you can add to all of that a consistent level of posting of thought-provoking content; content which is insightful and valuable which clearly positions you as somebody who knows what they’re talking about in their field, that’s gold. Now I’m really interested to meet you. And if you don’t have time to do all that posting yourself, then at least be commenting on others’ content with consistency. As a hiring manager I can see that stuff on your profile. It sets you apart, believe me.
   
   
5. Practical Tip #5 – whether you’ve already applied via the usual channels (responding to an ad), or, whether you’re wanting to get yourself noticed by an employer that hasn’t advertised a role but you’d love to work there… connect with them on LinkedIn – but don’t just hit the ‘Connect’ button and pray. Hit ‘Connect’, add a note… and a link to a video you’ve shot, introducing yourself! (It doesn’t have to be up on YouTube – you can use a link from your personal Google Drive). In particular, add some insights on their business in your video. What are some trends you are seeing in their market right now that you can help them capitalise on?
   
   We use this to connect with potential candidates for jobs we are looking to fill and acceptance rates are as high as 66%, with individuals routinely commenting on how much they enjoyed the 3-minute video intro.

So, these are the fundamental things that you can manage and refine which will see you more effectively marketing yourself as somebody who is worthwhile considering. Remember, marketing don’t make the sale. But they do create the interest and that’s what you need to do first and foremost if you want to land that next ideal sales role.

If you need any advice as a candidate or as a hiring manager, please connect with me via LinkedIn.

The post 5 Ways Sales Candidates Can Stand Out From The Crowd appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Because it’s a donkey.

Sure, it kinda looks like a race horse. It eats what race horses eat. It dumps like a race horse dumps. And it may even be truly committed to being the best race horse it can possibly be. “No, honestly! Just give me a chance to show you what I’m capable of!” But it’s not going to happen. Because to do so will require it to behave in a manner which is at odds with who and what it really, naturally, is.

And in so many cases I have seen way too many businesses hire what they have convinced themselves is a race horse… only to find months later they hired a donkey.

Let’s take a look at sales managers…

In my Sales Managers Australia business we help mid-size, privately-owned businesses to recruit their first sales managers. And as with each of my recruitment brands we utilise a number of highly effective assessments to discern whether the people who apply for the role are made of ‘the right stuff’. We do that using behavioural science. And here’s what we’ve learned about those folks who have been seen, and go on to be seen, as highly effective sales leaders.

We use the Profiles Sales Assessment from Wiley, which measures the combination of a person’s cognitive ability, behavioural attributes and occupational interests. The tool enjoys one of the highest predictive reliability ratings in the world. The system takes the data from the assessments of these high-performers and identifies the common traits which are contributing to their success. It creates a benchmark to compare against.

Over the last 15 years I have assessed thousands of people in various ‘head of sales’ roles (defined in this instance as: any person with responsibility for delivering sales results through and with others). More recently we approached a good number of our mid-tier clients and, providing them with some definitions, asked them to indicate whether they felt their ‘head of sales’ was an effective sales leader. For those who were, we then invited that sales leader to sit the assessment again to verify the benchmark.

The results are interesting to contemplate.

And suggest ways for you to discern the race horse from the donkey…

As far as cognitive ability is concerned what we saw in the high-performers was a very high capacity for taking in, analysing, interpreting and correlating information and learning new things. Their ‘Learning Index’ is at a level only found in 5% – 40% of the population (so, the right hand side of the bell-curve).

 In Behavioural Traits:

• Quite surprisingly at first consideration, the most effective sales leaders are less ‘driven’ than their mid-performing peers. Up to 30% less psychological energy is placed in the pursuit of goals/outcomes. Their energy is more moderated, with a focus on process rather than inspiration or motivation. They are motivated but this is NOT the prime hardwired behaviour that leads to their success.
• High performing sales leaders are naturally comfortable asserting themselves. With levels of assertiveness found in the top 10-40 percentile band. Only 5%-10% of the population are more naturally assertive. This was not the case with mid-performing managers whose natural Assertiveness scored in the middle of the bell-curve;
• The exemplars have less need to socialise. They can and will, as required but they do not need to do so. Mid-level performers display a higher level of Sociability (pushing well into the top quartile of the population) and a need to be part of a social cohesion. The exemplars are not the charismatic style of leader. The exemplars are, comparatively, somewhat more considered – erring more towards being naturally ‘ambiverted’. They socialise as needed, returning to the task at hand quite readily;
• The leader group present as rule-breakers (5-10% band) or rule-benders (20-40% band) (so definitely on the left side of the bell-curve) in the Manageability scale. They are more inclined to depart from ‘standard operating procedure’ than mid-performers who show a preference to be adherents. They are natural risk-takers. The mid-performers do desire some level of autonomy but they from 40% to 80% more risk averse than their high-performing contemporaries. This seems to be viewed by direct-reports as ‘career protection’ on behalf of the middle performing group;
• On the ‘Attitude’ scale which measures optimism and pessimism, whilst neither group is at the extreme, mid-performers do demonstrate a greater degree of cynicism and fault-finding than the leader group. The leaders evidence somewhat more resilience and a healthy (so, not ‘blind’) optimism and are more inclined to be opportunistic. They are 30-40% more naturally optimistic and self-confident than the middle-performers;
• The leaders are significantly more naturally decisive – almost 50% more so. Mid-performing sales managers are not ‘paralysed’ but they are notably less inclined to make decisions or take action. Again there is a correlation here to risk-aversion. This is a significant area for concern in our opinion as the need to act, once appropriate due diligence has been performed, seems to be imperative today;
• The high-performing sales leaders rate slightly lower on the ‘Accommodating’ scale, with a stronger natural inclination toward standing firm, holding people accountable and not tolerating excuses. They are 10-30% less willing to flex from their agenda or expectations than the general population. Mid-performers were more naturally tolerant and inclined to give people ‘one more chance’;
• High performing sales leaders are naturally Independent. Their scores place them in the 40%-5% band (right side of the bell curve). Taking the lead comes naturally to them;
• Of particular surprise was the degree of polarity when it comes to Objective Judgement. The middle-performing group has a greater inclination (and preference) for subjective decision-making, with greater reliance on gut feel. The leader group is quite clearly more inclined towards data-driven and objective decision-making.

We didn’t expect there to be any particular common differences as far as Occupational Interests was concerned, as this area is often affected by the nature of the industry the individual is working in – which for most people is aligned with what they enjoy doing or being associated with. However, there was one discernible difference – the leader group tended to have People Service as their first or second preference. Leaders like people. Even in mechanical or technical type organisations. The middle-performing sales managers tended to place People Service third or lower, in level of interest.

“Leaders like people.”

So, how should your next sales leader be naturally hardwired in order to improve the odds of them being the ‘race horse’ you want and need?

• Above average intellect
• Motivated but not so focused on the goal they can’t see anything else
• Assertive but not dominant. Iron fist, velvet glove
• Ambiverted. Happy to socialise but not in need of doing so
• Risk-tolerant, questioners of the status-quo, creative ‘on their feet’
• Healthily optimistic and naturally resilient
• Decisive once they have sufficient facts. Action-oriented
• Firm but fair. Open to input but will not need consensus. Equally comfortable holding people accountable
• A natural leader. Someone who takes the initiative and gives energy to action
• View the world primarily through facts, evidence and data
• They love being in the sales environment
• They truly love building capability in others

I hope you’ve found this interesting. If anybody has any questions I’d be delighted… and of course if you’re interested in having an ‘inventory’ done on your sales management folks please connect with me via LinkedIn. (PS. If you’re not in sales but what you’ve read resonates, please consider sharing this article with your organisation’s Sales Director.)

The post How Are High-Impact Sales Leaders Hardwired? appeared first on Head Of Sales.

For years now we’ve all been told that best-practice in the ‘selection’ piece of recruitment looks like:

Review cover letters – to see the highlights of the applicants’ rationale for applying

Review resumes or curriculum-vitae – to see that the applicant has the requisite skills and experience in our field

Conduct structured interviews – quite possibly a ‘behavioural event interview’ – to confirm that the applicant can indeed do the things they said in the cover letter or resume – and of course to tell if they’re a ‘fit’ to our culture

In the more enlightened age and businesses, maybe do a personality test – to get insights into their preferred style at work

Conduct reference checks – to again confirm that they can and did do what they said they did at the interview

Go to that length and do it all thoroughly and you’re sure to pick the winner! Right? Well in the current Australian vernacular – “Yeah, nah.” – You see… A recent revelation in Harvard Business Review shows that that exhausting list of time-consuming activities only has a .26 level of predictive reliability! (Where the ideal number is 1)

What the…!

You see ‘the game’ has changed. Try typing “Resumé writing services” into the Google search bar. I did that just now and I was presented with over 408 million – yes million – responses to that query. So quite possibly, many of the resumés (and cover letters) you are reviewing and being impressed by, in response to your job ad, may have been written by a professional resumé writer. In terms of its reliability as a means of predicting likely success in the role you are advertising for – well that’s questionable.

But that’s ok, because you have a structured interview process, right? Hmmm…

Choose just one of 200,000,000+ tutorial videos of about 2-3 minutes length, watched on the applicant’s device just before they step into reception at your office and one of the best sales of their life will be made right there!

According to Richard Nesbitt, Professor of Social Psychology at the University of Michigan:

“When it comes to choosing a candidate, (traditional) interviews are as much use as flipping a coin.”

And in fact, even LinkedIn are now advising:

“Studies show the traditional job interview predicts job performance as well as no interview at all. Interviewees can give rehearsed answers and interviewers are unconsciously biased to pick candidates whom they like rather than those with the most potential.”

Now I’m not saying don’t do interviews. You do need to do them in order to get any understanding of the person. But understand that you cannot and should not rely on these alone as having any kind of predictive validity. And that’s what the selection phase is all about! Predicting whether this person can do and will do the things you intend to hire them for. And do them well. But Caveat Emptor my dear friends! Especially you DIY die-hards… your mind plays tricks on you.

Because we human beings fall victim to our subconscious (or, unconscious) biases – especially those who do not conduct interviews for a living. And as a consequence we use erroneous ‘data’ (sometimes incorrectly positive and sometimes incorrectly negative) to make hire/don’t hire decisions. And research is now revealing that because of these biases, the traditional interview process is quite ineffective at discerning people-skills (aka ‘soft’ skills – I hate that term) or an applicant’s inherent weaknesses. And these areas are showing to have at least equal importance in the success of an individual in almost every role in the business. Especially for my clients – the small and medium size enterprises where the impact of a bad hiring decision can be catastrophic.

“the traditional interview process is quite ineffective at discerning people-skills”

I find it fascinating that with all of the advancements in technology that have occurred in the last 10 years alone, when it comes to recruitment, the methodology still remains incredibly analogue and absolutely prey to the vagaries of the human mind.

It’s time for data to be playing a much bigger role in recruitment decision-making.

As I’ve written elsewhere, this thing we call recruitment is one part marketing – attracting talented individuals to show an interest in your job opening – and then one part crystal-balling  – predicting which applicants have the highest likelihood of future success in the role.

As we take a closer look at the predictive piece, what are the facts that will tell us this person is a strong contender?

(I’ll be writing on this subsequently but let me tell you that it’s not past-performance…)

Quite simply the data we need to evidence is:

1) do they possess sufficient competence to perform the routine tasks associated with the role. Do they possess the competencies of (21^st Century) selling?

2) do they possess the intellect required to comprehend, analyse, interpret and respond to the sort of information which forms an everyday part of the role? (and to be able to learn all of the new things which will surely come along)? (BTW, IQ still remains one of the strongest predictors of success in ANY role)

3) are they naturally hardwired so that the way we need them to behave and conduct themselves, in order to be successful in the role comes naturally to them? (Eg. How naturally assertive are they… and what does success in this role require? What if they’re too assertive?)

4) how effectively do they deal with the stresses that come with the role? (There’s almost no other role in the business that has the level of everyday performance expectation (“Have you dialled 50 suspects today?”), coupled with the levels of potential rejection, that sales does).

For an overwhelming majority of businesses those 4 areas are assessed using analogue methodologies, which date back to the 1950’s or more. But it’s the 2020’s now and each can be measured via online assessments which will produce rich and vastly more reliable data.

By way of example, Objective Management Group is the provider of its OMG Sales Assessment, which is rated as enjoying a 95% success rate in predicting sales high performers. The assessment not only identifies which skills (competencies) a candidate has relating to different aspects of the sales process, it goes deeper to understand what are the underlying psychological beliefs that may stop a candidate from executing on those skills. The third aspect it measures is the Will to Sell – desire, commitment, outlook and responsibility. This tool has been voted as the most effective sales capability assessment in the world, each year, for the last 9 years, with in excess of two million respondents.

Accompanying this is a tool known as the Profiles Sales Assessment, from Wiley. It’s a multi-construct psychometric assessment which discerns the respondents’ cognitive abilities, hardwired behavioural traits and occupational interests. The individuals’ results are then compared with a benchmark that has been created by profiling known high-performers in that role. The predictive reliability of this tool is rated at .82 – and unlike so many other poorly constructed ‘personality’ assessments, if you sit this test again in 3 years there will be a .95 correlation to the original results.

Using a high-performance cohort including 180-degree input from their managers, it is also possible to develop an ‘Expert Benchmark’ which shows the Interpersonal Strategies (aka emotional range) that high-performers draw upon when facing increased pressure/stress. This tool forms part of the Australian-owned Expr3ss predictive-hiring platform.

This combination of approaches alone means you can decide to hire a future sales star with 300%+ more reliable data, than the ole resume and “If you were an animal, what kind of animal would you be?” or, “Where do you see yourself in 3 years?” bullshit interview questions.

Look, the list goes on and is growing by the day, of ways in which as a hiring manager you can much more cleverly discern, using data and behavioural science which candidates have got ‘the right stuff’ for your sales vacancy.

It’s time to stop recruiting with your fingers crossed on one hand behind your back. It’s time to start leveraging data-driven recruitment.

The post How Data Changes The Recruitment Game appeared first on Head Of Sales.

I can’t quite remember how early in the piece I uttered those words. But I did. To my then business partner, Glenn Dobson, as we joined forces and began to build what would become known as The KONA Group. The irony of that statement was that our business… was a sales and sales management, training consultancy! My title was Director of Quality and I developed what would become some very well regarded training programmes – which delivered outcomes the likes of which our corporate clients had never seen before, consistently, over a 15-year period.

Our particular distinction was that of building scenarios which allowed our participants to practice the techniques and methodologies we were teaching them, on ‘real’ clients. Well, when I say ‘real’ – in the design phase of the programme for any client we would spend days out on the road, with multiple members of their sales force, often all around the country, observing both their techniques but also gaining insights into the reality of their clients’ environments. As we did this, not only were we assessing the current levels of competence and seeing the current sales methodology, we were seeing their clients’ worlds too. We would get to understand what the various sets of circumstances were for our clients’ clients – their operating environments, business objectives, their blockages, their concerns, their business drivers, their decision-making processes etc. and with this intelligence, we would then write “adaptive-fiction” scenarios based on these client realities, ‘changing names to protect the innocent’.

In our ‘live-action’ workshops our students would then meet a new bunch of ‘prospects’, who seemed somewhat familiar to them and they’d practice using the new methodologies we were teaching them, to develop a stronger understanding of the real drivers that would lead to a successful sale. They got to practice, rehearse and refine their newfound skills and techniques in an environment which was safe (no deals were harmed in the making of this skill set) yet were incredibly realistic. The learning was often described as ‘profound’ and certainly ‘the most realistic’ scenario-based training they’d ever experienced. People left our workshops, most definitely, armed with real skills which would help them increase their sales capabilities and enhance their sales careers.

Yet, I had developed a phobia of sorts about actually selling our solutions…

As it turns out, I wasn’t alone. It seems that a great swathe of small business owners also dislike the idea of being in sales. “I didn’t get into business to sell.” I hear. Or, “I’m the CEO, I’m not in sales.” Or worse than these, I see small business owners who subscribe to the old “Build it and they shall come!” Well, I’ve got news for you… yes you did, yes you are and no they won’t. I call these perspectives the S-Myth.  The myth that suggests that as a business owner, (aka Founder, aka Managing Director, aka CEO, aka Director of Quality) sales is somebody else’s concern.

Sales, is absolutely your concern. It always will be your concern. Even when you become a global juggernaut – sales will always be a pressing concern. Let me assure you that Alan Joyce (Qantas CEO), Gerry Harvey (Harvey Norman, Executive Chairman) and Janine Allis (Boost Juice founder and Executive Director) have always got their finger on the pulse of sales in their hugely successful and long-enduring businesses. They may not be out on the hustings but they absolutely understand that ongoing sales are never guaranteed and that, in my words, if you’re not selling shit, you’re gonna be in the shit.

So why is it that so many of us small business-owners are resistant to selling?

20 years of experience, in both selling the various services that my 7 different businesses have offered, in concert with observing, coaching and mentoring in-excess of 10,000 sales professionals, sales managers and business owners suggests that while the reasons have subtle variation, there are some central themes:

• FEAR – the prime suspect. Primarily fear of rejection;
• Misconception – an unhealthy view of what the art and science of sales actually is;
• Limited knowledge of the methodologies of selling;
• All resulting in a deficit in ‘the 3Cs’ – competence, confidence and commitment.

Let’s take a look at each of those in a bit more detail.

Chances are you’ve heard the use of fear as an acronym – F.E.A.R. It stands for False Expectations Appearing Real. In other words, the suggestion is that fear is a product of a vivid imagination, which presents the possibility of negative outcomes/consequences, in such a powerful and compelling way, they end up paralysing the person experiencing those thoughts.

I often see fear coupled with a mantra of “the best way to not fail… is to not try!”

It’s a fair enough apprehension. Most rational people know that when it comes to selling, you are more likely to hear people say no to you than say yes. Anybody who has been anywhere near any kind of sales training in the last 50 years will have heard, at some stage and probably more than once that “it’s a numbers game!”. We get told that “another ‘no’ is one step closer to a ‘yes’!” So when it comes to selling we have read, heard, seen and/or been told that we’re going to be rejected. A lot. And of course, if you’re not a black belt in this mystery called selling, you’re going to be rejected a hell of a lot! Who on Earth wants to step up to that on a daily basis? Right?

This little monster absolutely sat in the dark corners of my mind for, I’d say, the first 15 years of business ownership for me. I’d start to think about the idea of picking up a phone or going on a sales call, or following up to see if they were ready to buy yet and instead of envisaging a positive outcome I’d feel that fear that comes when you look down into a drain grate built into the kerb and there’s one of those evil clown dolls grinning back at you.

OK, I’m probably exaggerating here but you get the gist right? The fear of being rejected and the subsequent feelings I might experience, of being incompetent, inarticulate, lacking in gravitas enough to be compelling to my prospect, intellectually inferior, an impostor – all of that was often enough to cause me to find ‘better things to do’. Things, which, I would kid myself, would lead to an easier way of selling. Perhaps I could devise a way of selling that didn’t involve actually selling! The perfect thing to waste time on.

Which helps us also understand that a misconception of what sales actually is can be a major obstacle to engaging in it. It had never really, consciously occurred to me until quite recently, that my subconscious perspective of ‘selling’ was that it was something you did to people, as opposed to for them. Selling seemed to be some sort of slight of hand where you used clever techniques and words, which eventually brought people to a place where they found themselves buying.  I knew, because I had been taught a number of moves, like a series of judo-throws of sorts, called ‘objection handlers’. Apparently people would try to resist the techniques and words and not buy from me. And so I had these moves in my arsenal to counter their resistance. So I learned quite early in the piece that people didn’t like being sold to. Therefore selling was something which was undesirable. I learned to ‘trial close’, to ‘always be closing’, to use the ‘hamburger close’, the ‘alternative close’, the ‘assumptive close’. These felt like techniques where, as a salesperson, I might be tackling an opponent down to the mat and putting them in a lock which ultimately resulted in them ‘tapping out’ – “Alright! Alright! I’ll buy!!” That just didn’t sit well with me. It felt like selling was really the art of manipulating somebody to do something I wanted them to do. That was a really good reason for me to not be in sales.

But I was fortunate, in comparison to so many start up founders and small business owners. I’d actually received an education in this called selling, as an employee of a global sales training business. And then, as I’ve shared I went on to create and deliver all sorts of sales training to thousands of people hired to sell for their companies. So at least I’d had exposure to this ‘dark art’ when it came to going it alone. Scores of business owners get their first exposure… when they start their business. Which means they really have very little understanding of professional selling. And in particular, professional selling in this ‘new’ era of internet, Google, Google My Business, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn – to name a few.

Right now, I’m in the throes of writing a book. I’ve named it “The S-Myth” in a nod to Michael Gerber’s best seller from over 30 years ago, The E-Myth, aka the entrepreneurial myth which is the mistaken belief that most businesses are started by people with tangible business skills, when in fact most are started by “technicians” who know nothing about running a business. Hence most fail. 30 years on and access to information, know-how and ‘hacks’ are readily available in the arena of entrepreneurialism. There’s no shortage of ‘how to sell’ tutorials on YouTube either – yet I see very few business owners who make that sort of educative investment in themselves. Certainly, few could classify themselves as masters of the profession of selling. So, the ‘technician’ still prevails. The person who is, invariably, incredibly emotionally attached to their product or service. They can see all of its beauty and possibility. They know and hold dear to their hearts why their offering is superior to the competitions’. They know exactly why customers/clients should be buying what they have to sell… but as it transpires they know very little, if anything about how to actually sell. (And by ‘sell’, I’m not just referring to the face-to-face interaction that occurs at the moment of purchase decision – I’m referring to the entire process of product/service positioning, creating market awareness – including your website, SEO, SEM, Google and Facebook ads – lead generation, qualifying ideal prospects, qualifying opportunities, defining solutions, understanding and then navigating the clients’ buying decision-making process, presenting solutions, securing the purchase – and after fulfilment, garnering the much vaunted ‘customer review’, in order to sharpen the cycle for the next prospective buyer).

Ultimately, all of the rationale I’ve shared so far can be distilled into a model that I have been teaching to managers and business-owners for nearly 15 years, known as TC3.  TC3 posits that a person’s performance in their role is a direct outcome of their level of competence in performing their routine tasks, their confidence in performing their routine tasks and their commitment to performing their routine tasks. Task competence, confidence and commitment – TC3. Wherever there is a deficit or shortfall in any of a person’s competence, confidence and/or commitment there will always be a corresponding shortfall in performance or results. There are actually six stages of evolution that we all go through in order to become highly competent, confident and committed at a particular field of endeavour – including selling.

So, on reflection, as I consider all of the thoughts, feelings and emotions I experienced when it came to the idea of being a sales person – especially a successful sales person, it’s not hard to rationalise why running for the hills seemed like a smarter move for the better part of 15 years.

Can you relate to any of this? Have I described anything here that you’ve experienced in the journey of getting your small business off the ground, or perhaps, to move from start-up to scale-up?

If you’re a business owner and the sales-voodoo thing is something you grapple with, connect with me on LinkedIn or visit my website where I share more insights.

The post I don’t want to be in sales! appeared first on Head Of Sales.

Well for some.

Australia, like most parts of the world, finds itself in the midst of one the greatest economic downturns in our lifetime. The pressure of that is most definitely being felt by small to medium-sized enterprises, with many having had to shed staff over the weeks and months since March of this year.

However, there are signs of a resurgence – albeit small and tentative. Announcements will be delivered by both State and Federal governments in the next few weeks, intended to kick-start our economy and to begin to rebuild confidence. My own experience in recent weeks, as a recruiter of sales professionals for SMEs, has been that many small business owners have bounced back from the initial shock of shutdowns due to the pandemic and realised A) there’s lost ground to be made and B) conditions are going to be tough and so bringing on expertise, in the guise of a sales professional, is probably a smart thing to do.

Like almost everything in life, of course, there’s no one perfect answer or way forward, so there are a number of things that we should each be considering, when it comes to hiring (or, re-hiring) sales staff in the coming weeks and months.

There’s a fine line between being ‘trim’, or even ‘lean and mean’… and becoming anorexic. In downturns and recessions past, I have witnessed businesses that became so ‘skinny’, they were in fact unhealthy. They had bandwidth and therefore fulfilment challenges because they had cut back on their staffing numbers, too deeply. Whether we like it or not, customers/clients (even if there are fewer of them) still have an expectation about quality and timeliness of service/product, regardless of the economy. So, undertaking a proper analysis of the balance between anticipated demand and workforce planning, to be able to meet that demand is really important right now. Now, more than ever, we need to strike what I describe as ‘A Goldilocks Balance’. Where there’s not too many staff draining the bank account for not enough return… nor too few staff, resulting in dissatisfied customers/clients or vital sales opportunities being missed. It needs to be ‘juuust right.’

For those that have shed sales staff in weeks past, it seems obvious that if we’re ready to grow again that they would be the first port of call. To re-hire them. Better the Devil you know and all that, right? In principle that’s a sound move. However, now is also a good time for you to assess your method of working. Are there revenue generation activities you used to do inhouse that could be outsourced and paid for on a piece-by-piece basis? Also worth thinking about is whether the previous incumbent really was performing to the standard you’d hoped? Or were you living in hope that they’d come good?

In my business and for many of my clients, I use and have taught managers to use a simple formula to weigh this question out. I call it the Hope Index. Quite simply reflect on their past (and you can use this with current team members too) performance and rate them as:

1. Exceeds expectations
2. Meets expectations
3. Below expectations

Then, consider how much effort they put into their work. Do they:

1. Strive to deliver on expectations
2. Cruise – you know they’ve always got ‘gas left in the tank’
3. Minimal – they do the least they can get away with to stay off your radar

And then, how teachable/coachable were/are they?

Green: A Seeker – they’re always coming to you wanting to learn new things

Orange: Open – when you want them to adopt new methods, they run with them, without resistance

Red: Resistant – Always pushing back or finding reasons to not take up the new way

Anybody you rate as having been 3 C Red, you probably don’t want them back in the business. Even a 2 B Red might be a question mark.

With those that you do re-hire, what will be important now, is for you to give them absolute crystal clarity on the outcomes you expect them to be delivering in their role. You don’t pay people a wage to perform tasks. You pay them to deliver outcomes to the business. You’re not a freight-forwarding business (unless you actually are!), so, you don’t carry baggage. You’re not an airline (unless you actually are!), so, you don’t want to be carrying passengers. Get very clear on what success looks like for each of the revenue generation roles you have in your business and then be very clear about communicating that to your new or re-hired sales team members. Imagine they were a contractor that you only paid if they delivered a result. What would that result look like? How would you define success?

For those of you looking to hire sales staff afresh, 7 things to consider…

#1 Recruitment is a marketing exercise.

So many small business owners fall foul of an arrogance where they believe they’re doing the potential new employee a favour if they employ them. In our experience the truth is quite the reverse. As a small or medium business you have a fraction (at best) of the stability, financial backing, resources and ‘door-opening power’ of much larger businesses – what that can mean is you really are a risk to work for, by comparison. So, getting good quality applicants is as much of a marketing exercise as getting new customers or clients. Boring, arrogant, lazy job ads which portray you as unimaginative, uncaring and possibly demanding are highly unlikely to get you the result you want.

#2 You are not Google, or Virgin, or Apple, or… Gary V Enterprises Inc…

You’re a SMALL business with great aspirations (as yet, unrealised). So, stop kicking your ad’s off with rubbish like “We’re the market leader in…” – “We’re the number 1 in…” It means absolutely nothing to any potential new-hire with even an ounce of social-savvy.

#3 Humans like resonance and belonging

Most job ads list a bunch of required skills, experiences, competencies (we call it the ‘ransom note of demands’). 9 times out of 10 – especially when recruiting for someone with experience – the right applicant knows, without you listing them, what’s required to be able to perform the role. Far more effective is to describe the nature, the characteristics, the way the ideal person is likely to naturally conduct themselves. If I see me described in the ad, I’m far more likely to apply.

#4 Humans love human stories of aspiration

Most job ads, for the last 50 years have been an exercise in chest thumping, followed by a list of ‘demands’ (aka “The ideal candidate will possess…”). They’re inhuman. Robotic and just a tad arrogant. Instead, try telling the story of your business. Not the brag story – but the ‘journey story’. Give your business a personality, bring it to life.

#5 Don’t rely on job boards

A) Boooring! B) You need to be where your best candidates are – which might be job boards… and Facebook and LinkedIn and your company website and your company LinkedIn page and YouTube and even Twitter. Today’s ‘social’ world means you need to build and publish ads that are dynamic stories about your business, about the role and about you! And they need to be found wherever your best likely future employee hangs out. Most job ads bore people to death – and they don’t attract the best. Get creative with them – and definitely add video today…

#6 We join organisations… and leave bad bosses. Right?

Chances are you’ve done this already in your own working life. So, your next new sales hire, is far more interested in who YOU are than your company’s brand stuff. So, consider telling your story in the ad. Your journey, your passion, your ‘why’. Who are you? What do you value? Why did you start this business? A really powerful way of conveying this piece is via a 3-minute video – talking to camera. (You can add these on Seek).

#7 A picture paints a thousand words

You’ve heard that saying dozens of times- and it’s true. Depending on the limitations of the various platforms you might be posting on, include colourful, or, thought-provoking, or humorous images that add to your story line – and catch the eye.

Like it or not, even in this economy the ‘War For Talent’ is raging and at the small end of town we’re the combatants trying to defend our turf. Getting creative and human with your recruitment ad’ campaign is ‘mission-critical’ in 2020.

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