Tweet

Knowing your Next Sales Hire Will Be a Great One

Guest post by: Stephen Blakesley

Article Overview: Many struggle with knowing what to look for when hiring sales people. Struggle no longer. Here are proven sales selection methods that will aid you in building a dynamic sales team

Knowing your Next Sales Hire Will Be a Great One

“Nothing happens until a sale it made.” If that is true, those of us in business would be well served to understand what drives sales. For years, sales managers have been convinced that activity is a major determinate in sales results. Recently, I was impressed by an older man who was standing on the corner of Travis and McKinney in downtown Houston, Texas with a 10 cent black plastic comb in his hand that he sold for a dollar. He would wave it at each passerby repeating the phrase, “Wanna buy? Wanna buy?”, constantly. He wasn’t dressed in any particular way, just average. He wasn’t charismatic or dogmatic, just average. Most who walked by ignored him, but occasionally someone would stop, give him a dollar and take a comb.

I watched for some time and observed him to hear his “pitch.” He didn’t ask any “need questions”, discuss the quality of construction or promote the comb’s value proposition. He just held out the comb and asked the question, “Wanna buy? Wanna buy?” to everyone who passed. In the time I watched (about 30 minutes), 23 people stopped and bought a comb from this guy.

The bottom line is, this guy did nothing but display the comb and ask everyone he encountered to buy it. Most didn’t but some did (23 in the time I watched). If he were to perform this activity for 40 hours a week, fifty weeks a year he would sell $92,000 worth of combs at a profit of $82,800 a year. When he was through that day, I watched a long, black limo stop at the corner about 4: 30 pm. He got in and they sped away, as I wondered if he reported all his cash sales.

My point is just this, people with little or no talent can be just as successful at sales as those extremely talented, if they just ask enough people to buy. Unfortunately most organizations struggle with the task of motivating sales people to ask the question, “Wanna buy?” If you are not willing to ask the question “Wanna buy?” you had better find another career.

There are other factors that determine sales success beyond “cold calling.” One of the most interesting, of late, is Emotional Intelligence. One of our clients, in the land development industry, put together a high performing team of sales people. The average commission earnings of this team were almost 3.5 million annually. Two members of the team earned in excess of $750,000 annually on a consistent basis. If there were a group of sales people more qualified to be deemed “high-performing” I would like to see them. I wanted to understand what it was about this team that made them so successful.

We looked at several possibilities one of which was Emotional Intelligence. We measured fifteen different emotional intelligence competencies and the results were eye-opening, to say the least.

Within this group, we found four competencies in which the team members all scored exceptionally high. These four categories were Emotional Self Awareness, Self Actualization, Interpersonal Relationships, and Happiness. Subsequent, testing of other high performing sales teams confirmed high scores in these four, what I call the “Fabulous Four” emotional strengths, were consistent among top performers.

One of the greatest challenges in corporate America, today, is being able to predict success in a sales role. I believe that sales success is like a lake fed by three great rivers; Emotional Intelligence, Environment, and Activity. If all three are flowing freely sales success will come easy. If one or more of the rivers is obstructed sales and sales people will be less than that for which we had hoped. In the sales selection process, screening for the “Fabulous Four” puts an effective tool in our toolbox and enhances our ability to produce exceptional sales results.

Related Articles
  Don't Search For A Great Sales Leader - Look For The Right One
  What do you owe the IRS? What to do about it?
  TURNING CHAOS INTO ORDER - Strong Business Credit
  How Are You Doing with Hiring?
  Startups and the Dilemma of the First Sales Hire
  Hire A Six, To Consistently Produce Sales Success
  Do you know your why?
  How Many Salespeople Do you Need?
  How to Prevent Discrimination in the Workplace
  Topgrading Pros, Cons, and Sales Assessments
  The 5 “Secrets” of closing the sale
  Hire a Sales Rep - Not a Product Rep
  Need Sales Coaching? Top 7 Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a Sales Coach
  Hiring Salespeople is Like Baseball Expansion
  How to create a great website
  The Importance of Bookkeeping
  Why hire a Sales Coach when I already have a Sales Manager?
  You Can't Hire Great Sales People - So Stop Looking For Them
  Moving Up In Life
  Hire Purchase Financing for Small Business

Article Tags: EI, Emotional Intelligence, Sales, Selling, Success



Related Forum Posts
Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing
Re: Online Sales and Marketing vs Traditional - [quote="ltrahan":31w9r2iz]Hi Evan, I am noticing that many of the posts in the Sales/Marketing section deal with online marketing, SEM and and SEO and Affiliates. I was wondering if it might be a good idea to separate that section into two; 1) Online Sales and Marketing; 2) Traditional Sales and Marketing[/quote:31w9r2iz] I second the request...
Re: Moderators on vacation - Well what happens if you own a store or bar/restaurant? You're up at the crack of dawn to do prep work, and the last one there late at night closing... open 7 days a week... what can such an entrepreneur do for time off? Hire a trusted manager?
Re: How do you maximize your time at business/networking events? - Hy Kevin. I think everyone is focused on those persons who can help business to grow but i consider it necessary to constantly meet new people and make new connections. Knowing more people, means more exposure for your business and you never know when you will need their services.
Hiring good people - Thanks everyone. From the PROFIT companies the success formula seems to be: - Give employees responsibilities that make them stretch themselves - Provide them with a good work environment and happy co-workers - Invest in them by giving them training - Build projects with them to give them some ownership of the idea - Make sure they fit your company culture And almost all of them say: Hire slow, fire fast.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

The Importance of Master Data Management (MDM)

Business Coach Explains To You How To Add Value

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.