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HIRING THE RIGHT SALES PEOPLE

Written by: Andy Marken

Article Overview: Checklist and guidelines to hiring sales people only once!!

HIRING THE RIGHT SALES PEOPLE

The job of training channel sales people is a never-ending task.
But the real challenge for dealers comes in hiring the right people to
represent your organization, your products and you.

The difference between the right and wrong choice is more
than the few thousand dollars it will cost to hire and train new
people. The real cost is the impact on your operation's image and
sales.

At the store level, it takes at least three months to hire
and evaluate someone. At the sales territory level, it can take
six to nine months. Meanwhile, you can lose a year's worth of
sales.

Although you can never be assured that every person you
hire will be right for a particular job, you can increase your
probability of success by following a few simple rules. First,
you need to know exactly what kind of person you want. Then
follow a series of logical steps in your search. And finally,
measure the individual against your needs.
The Job Description
Before you start the hiring process, write a detailed
description of the job. Make a list as detailed as necessary to
ensure that you and the people you interview understand the
position and what will be expected of them.

Determine the level you want your salesperson to work at:
senior management; technical management; Fortune 1000
organizations; small businesses; or walk-in traffic.

Decide how you want them to sell: work closely with a
small number of customers; train sales people; set up
promotional efforts; handle item selling; use phone extensively;
make many calls to produce few sales; or perform missionary work.

As you already realize, there's more to sales than simply
selling your wide range of systems and solutions. You may be expecting people to handle
these functions without ever really spelling them out. But if
all the parties involved understand the company's needs from the
beginning, you can interview people more effectively and make a
better selection.

The Person

Now that you've defined the job to be done, make a mental
and written description of the person you want. Weigh the
attributes that you are looking for.

What to Look for in a Person
1. Ability to spot essentials 16. Imagination
2. Adaptability 17. Knowledge of market
3. Aggressiveness 18. Knowledge of competition
4. Ambition 19. Maturity
5. Appearance 20. Motivation
6. Community standing 21. Planning ability
7. Cooperation 22. Poise
8. Detailed product knowledge 23. Quick learner
9. Energy 24. Quick thinker
10. Enthusiasm 25. Self-confidence
11. Experience with intangibles 26. Self-starter
12. Flexible 27. Speaking experience
13. Good diction 28. Stability
14. Gregariousness 29. Technical experience
15. Personality

Compare the qualities of the job with the qualities of the
individual. Certain attributes and needs will appear more
frequently. These are the aspects of the job and the individual
you should focus on during the hiring cycle.

At this point, you will have a weighted sheet for the sales job
and the individual. Now focus on your particular needs:

* A fully seasoned individual with years of experience

* A person with a strong sales background

* A very technical-oriented individual

* A person who already knows your product(s)/solutions

* A person who is active and enthusiastic

* A person with a college degree

* A high powered, high-income-oriented individual

* An individual with a following

* A bright, young individual with potential

The Search
By analyzing the job, the person and your needs, you
should be able to determine if you must look locally, regionally,
or nationally.

There are several options open to you to help find the
individual ... some formal, others informal. You can:

* Hire a search firm. By supplying your guidelines, they should
present only those people who meet your requirements.

* Talk to your customers and manufacturers representatives about your needs.
Since they contact others, they may be able to direct the
right person to you.

* Talk to manufacturer representatives. They're good sources of people
and know their availability.

* Advertise in local papers, regional magazines and trade press.

* Post job openings on the numerous available position sites on the Web.

In each instance, put the description of the job and the
individual in writing so everyone fully understands (especially
you) what and who you are seeking.

The Hiring Process
Now you're ready to bring the hiring process to a
successful conclusion.

You've been analytical so far, so don't blow it now. Set
up a new selection guide and use it for all of the people you
interview. It will become a yardstick to measure and evaluate
each job candidate.

List the desired qualities in the order of priority that
you feel is most desirable for success. The list may include
maturity, detailed product knowledge, tact, etc.

You will find that you have three or four lists of
qualities ... qualities the successful candidate must have,
qualities that are highly desirable, and other considerations.
With these lists you can give a weighted value to every person
you interview, giving each attribute or quality a 1, 2, or 3
rating.

Don't use your evaluation sheets during the interview.
Following the interview, mark down your weighted evaluations.
The result will be a hiring quotient for each individual.

The quotient will be based on qualities you have selected
as a key to job performance.

A Joint Decision
It is best not to make the total evaluation yourself, even
though the final decision lies completely on your shoulders.
Have the individual interview with one or more members of your
organization.

Compare the evaluation sheets. One individual should rise
above the others.

By having the person talk with others, you can determine
if:

* They rate the individual's attributes the same way you do.

* They see any shortcomings you may have overlooked. They feel
that the company "chemistry" is right.

* They pick attributes or traits which will round out or
strengthen your total organization.
Ultimately, the hiring decision will be yours and yours
alone.

Interviewing Tips
Put the person you are interviewing at ease. Establish a
rapport with him or her and spend a little time getting
acquainted.

During the early stages of the interview, concentrate on
the individual's personality. Certain attributes that will
qualify or disqualify the person will emerge immediately. Be
alert for these attributes.

Use your selection guide as a mental road map to make
certain you have covered all of the bases.

Examine their past experience closely. What has their
income growth been ... their ability to turn situations around
... their ability to recover from negative situations?

There are a lot of these types of questions you can't ask
directly today. But you can tailor your questions to make the
potential employee reveal their past, present and plans for the
future. This will give you the information you need.

Don't ask a series of questions. Instead, use indirect
questions, skip back and forth over areas, and don't follow any
specific chronological order.

List the areas you want to cover and spell out specific
questions in each area. Then, during the course of the
interview, cover these areas in a random manner.

While you're not trying to trick the interviewee, you also
don't want rote answers. You want to be able to evaluate the
individual as quickly and effectively as possible as to his or
her total personality and capabilities.

This random approach will also permit you to cross-
correlate answers so that a true evaluation will emerge.

The Final Decision
You may feel that the hiring situation is critical, but
keep in mind you don't want to be in a similar situation three to
six months from now.

After you've been as thorough and as analytical as
possible, it boils down to one item--the gut-level feeling--that
something inside you that says this person is going to be right
for your organization.

There's nothing that can be written that will quantify or
qualify that deciding factor.

That's what makes hiring people such a challenge.

Related Articles
  Free Sales Hiring Mistake Calculator
  A Reliable Predictor of Job Performance
  Three Interviewing Mistakes - And How To Avoid Them
  Surprising Statistics from the Sales Force Grader
  The Job Market is Tough – Does Your Cover Letter Stand Out?

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