September 17, 2009

BE DiFFERENT Sales Recruitment

Much has been written about Sales Recruitment and how to attract and keep the best sales people. Human Resource experts will tell you that there are certain competencies and skills one must possess to be a great sales professional. And much is written on the experience levels necessary to predict whether or not someone will be effective. All good stuff.

The issue I have with the Sales pedantics when it comes to recruiting is the absence of strategic context from a BE DiFFERENT point of view. Effective sales recruitment for YOUR organization cannot be done in isolation of your strategy. You can’t look at skills, competencies and experience in absolute terms to discover who will do the right thing for you in front of your customers.

Before you know what to look for in a salesperson, you need a solid Strategic Game Plan for your organization. One that clearly articulates your only claim in compelling terms. HOW you intend to compete and WIN in an environment with numerous competitors is surely an antecedent to determining what you need to look for in your sales warriors.

In addition, you need to break down your Strategic Game Plan into your Sales Brand and further into the Sales Behavior Charter that defines precisely what behaviors the organization wants expressed when dealing with your most precious asset - the customer. This Charter will tell you exactly what type of person to look for in Sales in terms of experience, skills and competencies.

Develop your recruitment guide from the Charter. Devise the specific interview questions with the behaviors you want to see in mind. It may not fit the HR stereotypical way of looking for sales people, but who cares? The point is it is relevant to YOUR organization and YOUR BE DiFFERENT Strategic Game Plan.

And, remember to look for Relationship Builders not product floggers. Floggers may produce short term gain but relationship builders will get you loyal customers who will produce a steady stream of revenue for the long haul. Which do you prefer?

Reinforce your sales choice with the organization to drive home the strategic decision making principles you used and how the person fits within your strategy and expected behaviors. This isn’t about hiring a sales person with ‘classic’ sales potential. Its about acquiring an asset that possesses the requisites to live your strategy in front of customers every moment of the day and every day of the year.

Cheers, Roy Osing

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Posted 9.17.09 at 09:14 am by Roy Osing | Read Comments (0) | Leave a Comment