Back in the day without the Internet and Social Media, companies often hired employees from their network. Friends, families and other people that you trusted were the lucky hired candidates! Yet, even in the dark ages, these lucky candidates were not always the “best” candidates. They were just the most accessible.

Today, business owners and hiring managers are turning to Social Media to expand their network. We are now connected to more people. But just like the old days, it doesn’t necessarily mean that the people in your social media network are the best candidates.

The only way you know if you are hiring the best candidate for your company is to:
1) Define the role clearly.
2) Source candidates based on this criteria.
3) Conduct your due diligence, even if you know them well.
4) Determine if the candidate “can” and “will” do the job.

Social media tools are just that . . . a tool. Use them to expand your sourcing strategy. But, don’t think a candidate is the best candidate just because he/she knows was easy to find and knows 200 of your colleagues on LinkedIn or Facebook.

Have you ever heard the following?

My sales reps can’t sell.  They don’t prospect for new business. They can’t close.  They don’t seem motivated to earn more money. 

When I hear these comments from business owners, I ask 3 simple questions. 

1) Do you have the right sales people?

2) Do you provide the right sales training?

3) Do you have the right sales management?

It takes all three components synergistically working together to have a successful sales process. This 3 legged sales approach is right people, right training, and right management. Just like a 3 legged stool, one weak leg will create wobbly results.

At the core of this 3 legged sales approach is hiring the right people. Hire the right people, then strengthen sales training and management for sales success.

Wrong!  It takes more than “likability” to be effective in sales.   When evaluating sales candidates, one quick and effective way to evaluate successful traits and competencies without being biased by likability is through assessments.  Assessments give objective data, which is a more reliable predictor than “going with your gut.”  Utilize assessments to evaluate the following competencies to gauge someone’s likelihood of sales success.

• Ambition & Drive
• Problem Solving
• Process Orientation
• Relationship Effectiveness
• Control & Close

Safari Solutions recommends and utilizes the Devine Inventory Assessment to evaluate sales candidates.  This assessment provides a quantitative score for each of the above competencies that are essential to success for sales professionals. 

Trusting your gut is not a strategy for hiring sales professionals, unless you want to waste valuable time, money and resources on people who can not sell.  Why wait 6 months to know if a person can or can not close a deal?  Wouldn’t you rather know before you hire the person?

You’ve probably heard the mantra, “Hire for Attitude, Train for Skills.” Of course, if it was that simple, it would be easy for business owners to hire employees.  What this mantra is really prescribing is that soft skills are absolutely essential.

Warren Buffet identifies 3 key criteria for success:

1) Intelligence (Critical thinking skills & Emotional intelligence)

2) High Energy (Initiative, Attitude)

3) High Integrity (Work Ethics)

Intelligence is more than just being book smart.  In my opinion, one of the most important success criteria is “critical thinking skills.”  The second is “communication skills.”

There is actually a trend within corporate America to hire more Liberal Arts majors and less MBAs.  Why?  Because liberal arts schools teach their students to think.

Communication skills are also very important.  This includes verbal, written, and even more important, the ability to understand other people’s behavior, motivators and communications styles.

If you can “think” and ”communicate” effectively . . . you are extremely valuable to your employer.   Add a great outlook on life (attitude) and you can essentially write your own ticket in this world!

Jack Welch says, “. . . hiring people is brutally hard.  New managers are lucky to get it right half the time. And even executives with decades of experience will tell you that they make the right calls 75% of the time at best.”

Are you satisfied with 50/50 odds, similar to flipping a coin?  What steps do you take to improve your odds that your next sales person is above average?  What would you need to do to reach beyond ”average?”  Are you satisfied with “average” or do you really want a sales superstar!

Four simple steps to hire technology sales talent:

1)  Systematize your sourcing strategy.  Move towards a ”proactive” solution rather than a “reactive” solution.

2)  Define success factors.  Be razor sharp on what you want your sales person to do and set clear benchmark goals.

3)  Assess sales candidates.  Use an assessment that identifies if the candidate is “capable” of doing the job.  The assessment should not only identify behavioral style, but also equates these behaviors to relevant competencies to the sales role.  (Recommendation: Devine Inventory.)

4) Evaluate sales candidates.  Use a well-defined behavioral interview process that clearly identifies the candidates “willingness” to do the job based on the job parameters.

Making a bad sales hire is the technology world, can be a costly mistake.  Wouldn’t you rather know before you hire a technology sales professional that they can or can not sell, rather than 6 months later when your time, money and energy have been depleted?

When hiring a sales professional in the technology arena, there are only two essential criteria for evaluating a sales candidate.

1) Can they sell?

AND

2) Will they sell?

I suggest the following strategies to get the answers you need to hire IT sales talent.

First, use a proven sales assessment tool to evaluate a candidate’s natural behavioral style and match the results to the competencies necessary for sales success in your industry and your sales culture. If a candidate’s profile does not match, do not hire. They probably can’t or won’t change. If the risk is high, walk away.

Next, evaluate their willingness to sell through a comprehensive behavioral based interview process. Sales people sell, and that is exactly what they are doing in an interview. They are selling themselves. Without expertise to dig deep below the surface answers provided by many sales candidates, you will be fooled most of the time.

Smooth talkers do not always equate into great sales people. If you are sensing a smoke screen, move on to other candidates, no matter how “likeable” he or she may be.

Setting realistic sales quotas are important to the success of your sales compensation plan.  But, how do you determine the right quota amount ?

Ask yourself the following questions to formulate quotas that work.  

1) What was the amount of your new account sales in the past 12 months?

2) How many properly qualified opportunities can a salesperson manage at one time?

3) What is the length of the average sales cycle?

4) What is the average close ratio?

5) How much is the average sales transaction?

Once a realistic quota is determined, set stretch goals and a commission plan that rewards your sales team for going the extra mile.

Expect 2010 to be the year of musical chairs as employees begin to jump ship for better employment opportunities.  The aftermath of a recession is employee disengagement.  Unfortunately, your key players won’t tell you they are dissatisfied until they are walking out the door.  As well-performing companies start to cherry pick top talent, it begins a chain of employee turnover events that will affect many companies.

72% of employers restructured or laid off employees since the recession began in 2008.  The effect has been a significant drop in employee commitment and loyalty.  Engagement has dropped 23% among top performers.  And, more than 40% of top performing employees reported that pay and benefit cuts have had an adverse impact on work quality and customer service according to a Watson Wyatt survey.

One simple and cost effective way to keep your employees engaged is to offer professional development training. iLearningGlobal is an example of an excellent web-based training tool that offers employees ideas on marketing, sales, service, and business strategy all in a motivational fashion.  Take proactive steps today to foster improved employee engagement.

Do you know what a “hidden paycheck” is? You are in good company if you don’t. According to a study by George S. May International, less than 50% of business owners are aware of the term.

A “hidden paycheck” are expenses you incur as an employer that don’t show up on your employees’ paystubs. These employment costs (benefits) include:

Health benefits
Sick, personal and vacations days
Workers compensation
Social Security and Medicare
Educational reimbursements
Disability insurance

Paul Rauseo, George S. May’s managing director says, ” It is hard for employees to value what they don’t fully know or understand.”

Consider providing your employees with an annual detail statement of all expenses relating to their employment. Once they see the real costs of employment, they may have a better appreciation for the commitment you have made to them.

What would a hidden paycheck reveal in your company?