Wanted: A Few Good…Salespeople

March 26th, 2008 by Jerry Hocutt · 357 views · No Comments

I tell the recruits we don’t have any safe jobs.

This from the colonel in charge of recruiting for the National Guard. He was asked during a recent television interview why the Guard consistently surpasses its recruiting quotas during this time of war and multiple deployments to the Middle East.

“I’m brutally honest with our recruits,” the colonel said. Only the committed answer the call.

One of the biggest complaints I hear from business owners and sales managers is their inability to attract the few good salespeople they need. Maybe they shouldn’t beat around the bush with their recruiting efforts.

Quit appealing to the masses thinking you’ll make salespeople out of them. IBM, Xerox, GE and their ilk are the only ones who have deep pockets and superior training to take people off the street and mold them into their images. But your time, budgets, and training are scarce. Your job – your business – is on the line. You need sales now. Hand holding is for the big guys.

Sterile salespeople don’t produce
America has 25 million companies. 95% are classified as small business. Most are running on borrowed time and money. They need to find qualified salespeople who can deliver. They need salespeople who are low-maintenance and show the gumption to carve out their own piece of the pie.

Saw this want-ad in my business journal where the journal itself is recruiting for salespeople: “Advertising Sales Career. Are you an experienced sales professional who needs to be the best and work with the best? If you thrive in a fast-paced environment where you can truly deliver value, we invite you to consider our select sales team. Most important is talent, a strong work ethic, goal oriented, positive attitude, customer focus and ability to understand Business to Business clients.”

A sterile appeal for sterile salespeople. Can’t wait to interview those who answer the call. How many bloated resumes will be culled and how many pointless interviews will be conducted before they throw up their hands? “Why can’t we find any good salespeople?”

Why don’t you ask? Why don’t you have the courage to say what you want in the first place? Like the National Guard colonel, quit pussyfootin’ around and cut to the chase.

Wanted: Salespeople Who Can Handle Rejection
If you want to succeed with us – and make tons of money – you’re going to have to get off your “buts…” and cold call, network, have a referral program, cross-sell, and increase customer retention. Rejection is guaranteed because this is a sales job. You’ll be making hundreds of calls each week. Of course, you’re going to be rejected. You’ve got to be able to take a punch. That’s the nature of sales. But we expect even more. At our weekly sales meetings show me five things you learned that have improved your sales skills. Show me what you’ve done to grow your relationships with your customers. Tell me three things you learned about our competitors this week from talking with your prospects and customers. Give me one suggestion for how we can improve our services and products. Show me some curiosity. Show me some initiative. Show me your passion. If you do, the job, the money, and the benefits are yours. Lazy order takers need not apply.

Brutal?
Perhaps. Truthful? Yes. How many resumes will you get from the first ad? The second? If you were a sales manager which applicant is worthy of your time? Which applicant has her act together? Which is a pretender?

Sure, you’ll get fewer responses to the second ad. But look at the time you’re saving on courtesy interviews. The frustration. Imagine the training, motivation, and coercion it’s going to take to deal with the first applicant.

Even then, if you don’t fire the new recruit he’ll quit because the job didn’t live up to “his expectations”. Now you’ve wasted months of trying to get him to do what you really demanded of him in the second ad. How many thousands of dollars did that cost you in training and replacement and new interviews?

You got who you asked for in the first ad. The person you wanted was in the second. The truth is not always pretty. But it’s always honest. Say what you mean. Get what you want. Make the colonel proud.
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