As a small business owner or CEO, you're given the challenge of trying to hire great salespeople. Actually, the word 'great' is probably not the adjective you would use to describe the ideal sales candidate. How about 'rock
star salesperson?' Without the sex, drugs and rock and roll of course.
All you want is for them to simply provide the best ROI for your
small business as quickly as possible.
CHALLENGES OF HIRING SALES PEOPLE FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Small Business Owners have little to no training in sales management
Entrepreneurs
are experts at creating and seizing opportunities that lie before them.
However, successful ongoing sales management requires a special skill
set that likely needs to be acquired through proper training from a
sales force development professional.
Most
Business owners do not have a hiring process, thus they make critical
mis-steps during the hiring process they pay for down the road. The
effectiveness of a company's recruiting process determines the
effectiveness and consistency of the sales organization. Sales
processes must include (but are not limited to):
- A Formal Recruiting Process
- Candidate Pipeline (Bench Strength)
- Sales Specific Pre-Employment Assessment (highly recommend www.objectivemanagement.com)
- Use of Automation in the Sales Recruitment Process
- Time Specific Start-Up Plan (60 days, 90 days, etc)
They have not defined the role of the salesperson in terms of daily, weekly and monthly expectations.
Most do not have good systems for accountability, coaching, and motivation in place, etc.
Rather
than just holding salespeople accountable for their revenue targets,
it's also your responsibility to make sure they are doing what is
necessary on a daily basis to achieve your business objectives. I'm not
referring to the negative connotation of 'micromanagement,' but the
simple truth is, if you cannot measure the activity, it doesn't exist.
Most Have Not Defined What They are Looking For....Herein Lies the Problem
Instead
of advertising the responsibilities of the sales position in which you
are hiring, you should describe the traits of the person you are
looking to fill this coveted position. For example, you could ask
questions in your job posting such as:
- Are you consistently above your sales objectives month after month?
- Has
it become the norm that your family knows you take off for a few days a
year to attend this thing called 'The Chairman's Club?
It's
been said you can't teach an old dog new tricks. But it's also true you
can't teach someone to love the process of selling. It's either in in
their blood, or it's not. You are the one that needs to make this
determination, and if you miss the mark too often, your ROI could
suffer greatly.
If you are not managing your sales team, you're sabotaging the rate at which you can see a return on your investment. Individual talent is not enough for you sales people to be effective.
Click Here if you would like to build a high performance sales team!
Focus To Grow HERE’S WHAT CEO’s...SEE AFTER USING US (HINT: 10x their investment):
- We have experience revamping 100's of companies. We see PATTERNS. This means instead of a long review process, we have a short review of your company...and then jump straight to work. This means it’s cheaper AND faster AND we know what we’re doing. Pay as you go. If we don’t return your investment, cancel at any time with no strings attached.