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Y'all come down!"
"We have the best prices in town!"
"Act now! Don't delay!"
"I'm so damn charming/pretty/well-dressed that you'll buy anything!"
Yes, the life of an organization is often heavily dependent on the effectiveness of just a few people in the sales force. These days a 15% cost of sales and a million dollars quota is common. In other words, $150,000 in sales expense generates about $850,000 in cash, which pays for cost of goods, overhead and return to investors.
So, if 20 of those salespeople hold the economic welfare of a 20 to 50-million-dollar company in their hands, why don’t we ask job applicants to prove both their ability to acquire new business as well as serve customers? Instead, we:
- Ask questions about past experience
- Watch a sales pitch about a pencil, ashtray or marker
- Ask a few hypothetical questions about what the salesperson “would” would not” do
- Ask for a tax return
- Assume physically impressive people can sell
Selling Products or Solving Problems?
There is a major problem with this kind of screen…it only measures the surface …not critical skills associated with sales success. Here are a few facts that should come as no surprise:
- While a salesperson might be a skilled presenter, customers and prospects have a different agenda…they want to feel understood and have their problems solved. Imagine that!
- Salespeople are generally the only people impressed by sales presentations; clients and prospects are generally turned-off.
- When salespeople talk more than they ask, they seldom understand the client’s situation. As a result, their presentation is off-target and they are forced into a defensive posture processing objections.
- Incessant talking is a sign of insecurity…what prospect wants to purchase from an insecure salesperson?
Back to the Future
Failed salespeople – often throwbacks to the old-school, fast-talking, used-car salesman stereotype – tend to share the following characteristics:
- They put their own welfare ahead of clients.
- They talk more than they ask.
- They put more energy into impressing prospects than understanding needs.
- They believe that “anyone can be sold anything”.
- Every interaction for them is a win-lose contest.
- They impress each other more than they impress prospects and clients.
- They put more emphasis on “schmoozing skills” than acquiring problem-solving knowledge.
Hidden and Not So Hidden Costs
Right or wrong, clients and prospects judge an organization by its high-visibility employees. Fast-talkers make the company seem conniving and manipulative; over-committers create service problems for delivery and service employees; selling to financially unqualified buyers generates bad debts; and, failing to solve problems leads to product dissatisfaction.
Why do many organizations put more money into advertising programs than sales hiring? Because it provides a feeling of “empty” satisfaction. For example, our 5th and 6th century ancestors consumed plenty of calories each day (6000 to 9000)…but ate very few foods containing essential vitamins and minerals. They got sick a lot and tended to die in their mid 30’s. Likewise, organizations consume abundant advertising calories, but seldom do enough to ensure their salespeople have essential skills.
Conclusion
The last time I checked, clients and prospects were a limited resource. Few organizations can afford to burn through a territory or lose customers because a major percentage of salespeople are inept. So, what can be done?
- Effectively evaluate applicants’ hidden attitudes, interests and motivations. Learn if they are hunters or farmers; if they value substance or fluff; if they value follow-up and organizational guidelines; and, so forth.
- Forget about using self-reported sales-type tests. They are too easy to fake. Customers and prospects come in all types. So should salespeople. If you want to evaluate fact-finding skills, have the prospect fact-find; if you need customer service, evaluate their ability to solve a difficult service issue; if they need presentation skills, ask them to make presentations; and so forth. Create highly controlled simulations with behavioral observation guides.
- If your product is technical, test to see if the salesperson is smart enough to deal with clients and solve problems. Can (and will) they learn details about the product? Are they skilled at planning and organizing? Don’t ask. Have them demonstrate the skills.
- Be absolutely sure to follow the 1999 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing and the 1978 Uniform Guidelines on Employee Selection Procedures.
Oh. You don’t do tests? Sorry. Unless your organization hires everyone who applies, it is using some form of “test” …the only choice is accuracy and legality.
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