- February 24, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Do you prefer to see movies when the previews are awesome or dull?
Do you get more excited about your entree after a delicious or unspectacular appetizer?
Are you more likely to buy a car after an exciting test drive or one that left you unimpressed?
If you are using our sales recruiting process (STAR), then your sales candidates receive an email after submitting a resume. They are informed about the five steps of the process and instructed to complete an online application and the OMG sales assessment. When the online application is not included, about 35% of the candidates take the assessment. When the online application is included in the process, the assessment rate jumps to better than 50%.
At this point in the process, the candidate is the appetizer, movie trailer, and test drive – all rolled into one. If they don’t complete the application and assessment, then why do sales managers and HR managers try so hard to get them to do it? Haven’t these candidates already shown you all you need to know about their follow-through, follow-up, attention to detail, ability to work a sales process, ability to take direction, and commitment to the result? These candidates might even be thinking, “Not if I have to work this hard…”
Sales managers and sales leaders repeat another big mistake during the first interview when they prematurely sell the sales opportunity to the candidates. Why aren’t they challenging the candidates about their capabilities and fit instead? Selling the job to the candidate positions you as the seller rather than the buyer, placing you in a position of weakness rather than strength. That makes it much more difficult to land the candidate you want, for the role you have in mind, and with your ideal compensation plan.
The consultative approach required for sales is the same approach that you should be using in the interview.
If you are interested in learning about OMG’s Sales Candidate Analyzer, a free tool that is included when you use OMG’s Sales Candidate Assessment, I’ll be leading a webinar this Wednesday, February 26 at 11:00 AM ET.
