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Psssst... hire the quiet one...

Written by: Gregory Deming

Article Overview: So which candidate is going to get the job offer? The quiet one that answered all your questions very well, or that incredibly outgoing candidate that could barely stay seated? Leaning towards the firecracker? After all, who doesn't prefer the smiley super enthusiastic candidate?

Psssst... hire the quiet one...

So which candidate iswill you givethe job offer? The quiet one that answered all your questions very well, or that incredibly outgoing candidate that could barely stay seated? Leaning towards the firecracker? After all, whodoesn't preferthe smiley super enthusiastic candidate? Besides everyone else on the interviewing team is going to have the same preference. Right?

Don't click that back button yet, let's think this through. Enthusiasm, defined by dictionary.com has an interesting definition for this word. Enthusiasm is "a source or cause of great excitement or interest." So when someone shows a great deal of enthusiasm are they showing you a personality trait or are they revealing a very strong interest in the subject? I'm all for great excitement as long as that emotion transfers to the prospect. And just to throw a damper on this prospect... how long will that enthusiasm hold up under pressure?

However, if you want to be happy with this decision twelve months from now, you need to find out more about this enthusiasm, and I would beg you to consider "will" first. Okay then, what is will? One definition is "purpose or determination, often hearty or stubborn determination; willfulness: to have the will to succeed." Where does this will come from? Strong will is a product of desire, incentive, security and confidence. Interestingly security and confidence only come about once someone learns how to do a task well, and then repeats the act often enough for it to become second nature.

Just so you don't think this is a semantics discussion let's put the comparison to practical use. Let's say that you have decided that the four most important skills for this sales job are prospecting, presenting, probing and closing.

The enthusiastic candidate tells youhe loves prospecting.He can't wait to learn more about your lead generation programs. Your "composed" candidate tells you abouther four favorite sources for generating target lists.She tells you abouther system of emails, sourcing for networking introductions, and finally about howshe sets aside a full day each week to make old fashioned appointment setting phone calls.

Your enthusiastic candidate can't wait to tell you howhe likesassembling just the right team to make client presentations. For weeks ahead of timehe works internally to get the team excited about the prospect and the role they will each take in the meeting. The other candidate makes it clearshe hasgoals of making no less than three presentations each week to new prospects.She works from a preset presentation format becauseshe wants to ensure thatshe isable to focus on finding out current practices.She reveals that if the prospect does less than half of the talking thenshe failed.

Your firecracker tells you howhe likesfinding out as much as possible abouthis prospects.He can't wait to learn of prospect needs sohe can reveal how their company can satisfy those needs. The other candidate tells you thatshe feels the questionsshe asks, and the timing of those questions areher secrets to success.She talks about open ended questions, qualifying probes, directional probes,and using closed probes to confirm needs and trial close.

Finally, the more enthusiastic candidate tells youhis closing ratio is the best inhis current company.He tellsyouhe NEVER gives up, thathis pipeline is filled with prospects who simply haven't said yes yet! The more reserved candidate tells you howshe ensuresshe has enlisted a coach within the prospect company.She tellsyou how important it is to ensure thather coach is highly credible with the decision maker. Finallyshe tells you that if the final presentation with the decision maker has not occurred with four monthsshe seeks out a new coach.

So it's decision time. Which candidate get's the job? High enthusiasm or high will?

Okay, I will make two admissions.

First I have never been accused of being over exciteable.

Second, if it were my decision...I would keep interviewing until I found a very high skill, high will sales person with a good level of enthusiasm. However, if these were my only two candidates, I would choose high will every time!

Related Articles
  Are You On The Verge Of Quitting
  100 Ways to Succeed #104
  The quiet voice speaks loudly - when you listen
  Time Management – Time for Quiet Reflection
  Stress Management = Sales Confidence

Article Tags: confidence, damper, desire, dictionary, emotion, enthusiastic candidate, excitement, firecracker, interviewing, job offer, nbsp, personality trait, preference, quiet one, sales job, second nature, semantics, stubborn determination, twelve months



Related Forum Posts
Re: Should you hire ambitious workers or employees with no goals - According to Guy Kawasaki, he says "you should only hire and keep people that you'd hustle over to and engage in a conversation...Life is too short to work with people you don't naturally like-especially in a young, small organization" ("The Art of the Start" pg 112). I think the reverse is also true and I wouldn't want to work for anyone I didn't like or want to talk to if I saw him/her outside of the office. In addition, Kawasaki also says "Steve Jobs has a saying that A players hire A players; B players hire C players; and C players hire D players...This trickle-down effect causes bozo explosions in companies. If there is one thing a CEO must do, it's hire a management team that is better than he is" ("The Art of the Start" pg 101). Kawasaki's quote is definitely in favor of hiring the ambitious worker, but do most CEO's even have the humility to admit that someone is better than them?
A regular employee or a contracted employee? - Is it more valuable to hire a regular employee or a contracted employee? When taking into account wages, unemployment insurance and training in a company, which is better to hire?
Re: Where do you meet with clients? - I've used a library once to meet with a client because it was his recommendation. The environment was calm and good for a quiet chat and demo.
What holds people back? - I'm reading an interesting book that focuses on helping already up and running business owners take their companies to the next level. One of the ideas behind the book is that the people you hire is who hold you back. You can only do so much yourself so you have to delegate. Most people are fine doing this - but they hire people at entry level positions. The challenge comes when those entry level employees can't help you grow to the next level - you need to hire people who are more senior and can take on full projects instead of simple tasks. It's something I have been thinking about for my business as well - how to delegate out entire projects instead of tasks. I would love to hear your thoughts / experiences on this!
Re: Politeness! - [quote="Alan Mater":2azwy72a][quote="mbrand2222":2azwy72a][quote="Alan Mater":2azwy72a] All we can do is be a light in this dark world and lead by example. Alan[/quote:2azwy72a] Providing an incentive is a great way to teach children manners and politeness. I remember back when I was in 4th grade our teacher gave us prizes for sitting still and being quiet right before the end of school. Throughout the year it was just out of control, so she decided to reward those that behaved. Eventually you had every kid sitting still and being quiet. There's something about earning something that makes kids listen. This is the same basic idea, and it's great to see how you used it to teach kids to say please and thank you. Those two phrases will get them very far in life.[/quote:2azwy72a][/quote:2azwy72a] I used to have a system called Brand Bucks that would allow them to earn tokens that they could buy prizes with. I gave them out for positive actions and took some back for negative. It worked really well. They hated giving them up because they each had a prize they were saving for.


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