There is almost a universal belief by business owners, marketing and sales executives, and sales managers, that there is a specific time frame in which a new sales representative must see sales success or they should be fired to cut their losses. Most companies set arbitrary sales success time periods at about two and no more than three months. Big mistake! This is definitely a myth you can't afford to buy into.
Admittedly, you can assess the "work ethic" of a new hire in a short period of time. If a new hire won't do the work, of course you should let the employee go as soon as you discover the problem. However, if you've done a proper screening, can set up and measure a series of sales activity benchmarks (cold calls, sales presentations, telephone contacts, client meetings, etc.) that will tell you early on about the work ethic of a new hire. But, measuring a new sales staff member's true worth to your organization, simply based on his or her sales success in the early stages of employment, is nothing more than faulty thinking.
Some of the most successful sales representatives I've coached over the last few years, have been what can only be described as spacially ignorant. Learning the road systems in their new territory has taken many months to master, due to a difficulty in reading maps and remembering routes. This, in turn, in the early stages of employment, dampened their ability to produce regular sales success. Representatives having to master a new product line or new service offerings, depending on the complexity of what you sell, may also take more than several months to master for consistent sales success. Building rapport with customers usually takes more than one meeting and may take more than two or three visits to build the trust that is needed to secure additional business. These issues or a combination of them make having an arbitrary cut off point for new sales professionals an expensive proposition.
Hiring costs can be reduced significantly, if employers just give new sale staff members the amount of time it really takes to acclimate to their new surroundings and situation. From my experience working with literally hundreds of sales organizations, I'm convinced that it takes between six to eight months and in some cases even longer, before management can accurately assess a sales representative's true worth to the organization. Six to eight months for management to accurately assess a new sales staff member is an expensive investment. However, I'm convinced that the time/costs are why the early cut off mind sets in sales management exists. Therefore, it is vital that sales managers learn how to screen and hire people that are worth the investment. Even with the high cost of giving new people more time, from my observations, it is usually less expensive than rehiring two or three people over the same period, just to find the right person for your sales position.
For More Sales And Management Myths Go To: http://TheSellingEdge.com/manual1.htm
The You Can Tell If A New Hire Will Succeed In The First Two Months Myth - To learn more about this author, visit Virden Thornton's Website.
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Virden Thornton
(Visit Virden's Website)
VIRDEN J. THORNTON is the founder and
President of The $elling Edge®, Inc. a 23
year old firm specializing in sales,
customer relations, personal coaching and
management training and development.
Clients have included Sears Optical,
Eastman Kodak, IBM, Deloitte & Touché,
Bank One, Jefferson Pilot, and Wal-Mart to
name a few. Virden is the author of
Prospecting: The Key To Sales Success,
Organizing For Sales Success, 101 Sales
Management Myths, A Realtor's Success
Formula, and two best sellers 101 Sales
Myths and Building & Closing The Sale. He
also has a video/audio tape training
program entitled Close That Sale,
published by Thompson Learning. He has
also authored a Self-Directed Learning
series of sales, coaching & team
development, telemarketing and personal
productivity training guides. To obtain a
substantial discount on two of Virden's
new manuals, 101 Sales Myths and
Organizing For Sales Success, just go to
www.TheSellingEdge.com/book1.htm
Note: You can contact Virden at vi
rden@TheSellingEdge.com. You can also
see an expanded biography at: www.TheSellingEdge.com/bio.htm
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