Is it relationship-based? If a commission-based
position, I’d like to know up front how the
commission structure works? What is your turnover
rate?
Other big picture questions: If I want to grow, how
do I grow with you and your company? Do you
promote from within? What’s your process? The
applicant should treat a job interview like a sales
call - you just happen to be selling yourself. The
bottom line is that most applicants are doing the
exact same thing that the recruiters are doing:
recruiters are saying, “It’s awesome, it’s awesome,
it’s awesome.” The applicants are saying, “I’m great,
I’m great, I’m great.” And nothing of substance ever
gets discussed. Avoid this trap.
SMM: Can you offer some tips to create a sales
environment that would attract the right
candidate?
DM: Your company should have a coaching
culture, and a playbook for success. Tell new hires,
we’re going to give this to you on day one; here are
your scripts and your qualifying questions; here’s
what you should be doing, and how you should do
it; here’s how we train you. That is a fantastic sales
environment. You make the assumption applicants
are leaving their other positions because they’re
unhappy with something - money, lack of support?
So when you outline the ways your company
supports new hires, you’re creating a culture. I
always ask a prospective employee, aside from
money, what is the number one reason you’re
leaving.
The most common answers are, I don’t respect my
manager; I’m not being paid attention to; or I don’t
have the tools to succeed. The training culture, the
coaching culture, providing playbooks - that’s a
huge draw for people, especially when you’re 40+.
Explain how they can help your company grow.
People want to contribute, they want to become part
of a bigger thing.
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5 Strictly Marketing Magazine September/October 2014
SMM: If you’re hiring a sales manager what tips
would you offer to choose the right candidate?
DM: Sales managers are often the least-trained
group of people in a company. They were promoted
to the position, but never trained on how to be a
great coach – something integral to being a great
sales manager. 8 out of 10 companies can’t write
down the sales process, from the time they prospect
to the time that they sell additional products and
services. If you think about that for a second, how
is a sales manager supposed to manage a team when
everyone’s doing things differently? It’s impossible.
We set up most of our sales managers to fail, and we
don’t even know it.
Do you have the right processes in place, to get
clients, take them through the sales process, to do all
the things necessary? Are you supporting your
people properly? Do you have the right people on
the bus? (There are a variety of assessment tools out
there to determine that).
I talk to sales managers all the time. They say, “Well,
my people call me when they need me.” That’s so
untrue. Get your processes in place and then create
your own cookbook (a list of things that you should
be doing as a manager every single day.) This will
be benefit your own job and, more importantly, help
you to grow your people. Here are the questions
that I ask my sales people all the time: What should
we be doing more of? What should we be better at?
What should we be doing differently? If you have
that quick conversation on every call, you’re going
to increase effectiveness. If you have to train
anybody in your company, train your sales
managers.
David Mattson is President and CEO of Sandler
Training. To learn more about Sandler, visit their site at
www.sandler.com.
To find out if you are hiring the right talent get our
complimentary e-book.
http://reports.sandler.com/new-hires-social/