Many sales managers, particularly new sales managers, have trouble striking the right balance between managing reps and letting them do their jobs. Too often there is micromanagement and not enough of the right kind of management. Poor Sales Management and Micromanagement Early in my own career as a sales manager, I would spend a lot
It is well known that you have to pay at, or more likely a bit above market levels in order to attract the best sales talent in the business. There are numerous surveys that indicate what sales reps are getting paid and there is always anecdotal feedback that comes to an employer either via its
For a lot of people hoping to land a new sales job, it is a priority to create a resume that is search engine friendly. Unfortunately, this often leads to resumes that are less succinct and are jammed with keywords which distract from the accomplishments and abilities of a salesperson. To those of us that
After many years of answering all sorts of sales management, recruiting and performance questions, I decided to put together an FAQ for hiring amazing sales people. These lessons have been learned from decades spent in the trenches building and managing successful sales teams as an entrepreneur and sales leader, as well as recruiting, investing and
We have written about the linkage between money and sales rep behavior (see links below), but money is not the only way to motivate your sales team members and there may be times when you need to motivate using additional methods or alternatives to financial rewards. Here are some of the key ways to motivate
We hear this story a lot. I recently hired a new sales person. During the interview process they seemed like a great hunter. They pursued me during the hiring process and actively closed me during our final interview. Now that the rep is on-board, it seems they won’t pick up the phone to save their
How do you bring your new hires onboard your business? Leading corporations often have an orientation and indoctrination program that matches the multi-stage recruiting process they implement to ensure they get the people they believe are best suited for the roles they will fill within the company and the best fit for the company culture.
One of the biggest challenges faced by hiring managers and sales leaders looking to hire is how to get exposure to top sales talent. Creating more sales candidate flow won’t necessary get the right person to show up at your door, but the more people you are exposed to certainly increases the chances that you
Dana Lewis is the Director of Human Resources at the Tomlinson Group of companies and has almost 20 years of experience as an HR professional, hiring top talent and building high performance teams. We recently had a chance to speak to her about hiring sales people. Peak: How has hiring sales people changed over your career? Dana: In the
Sales people always face objections. Selling for a start up means facing objections and a tremendous amount of resistance. The customer is unfamiliar with the business and has no reason to trust you. You have few (if any) references, no proven merchandise, reputation, or extended track record. The product is usually more expensive and buyers
