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.

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.

The post 7 Considerations For Sales Recruitment During COVID. appeared first on Head Of Sales.