Last week, I was at the Dallas Vistage International Conference.  When I checked into the hotel, there was a group of little girls dressed in performance dance attire.  We got onto the elevator together with several of the moms.  Now I hate to admit this, but by somewhere between the first floor and their floor, they reminded me of the shows like Dance Moms or Toddlers & Tiaras.  I was in the elevator with those kinds of moms and kids.  They weren't particularly modeling upright characters.

On Thursday morning, a dance troupe performed as a demonstration of Innovation, one of the categories for which Vistage gives annual member awards.  The Silhouettes, a Colorado dance company performing in silhouette format, was simply amazing and received a standing ovation.

That afternoon, I went back to the hotel and ran into a couple of the kids with their Silhouettes-logoed jackets.  When they turned around, I realized these were the same people from the elevator.  So which was it, those people or the nationally-recognized Silhouettes who'd performed that morning?  I made a very quick, yet strong, judgment based on no more than thirty seconds.

This isn’t surprising since research shows how quickly first impressions are formed, but it highlights one reason why sales recruiting so frequently backfires.

Judgment can work both ways.  I could have seen the girls in the elevator and thought, “What loving and committed parents. It’s wonderful seeing young girls doing something they love and having fun.”

Salespeople are successful not simply because they're presentable, articulate, engaging and people are comfortable being around them.  They're successful because they're highly-skilled listeners, ask great questions, follow a well-defined, structured process, are unburdened by sales-specific weaknesses and receive ongoing behavior-based coaching.  Most importantly, they may not be anyone like you or other successful salespeople in your company.  This is not to say that you should hire people who don’t share your vision, support the organizational culture nor interact well with employees.

The problem is that we often quickly judge sales candidates based on their presentation and posture.  Most successful salespeople are effective in these areas, but this doesn’t mean they have great hunting skills, are capable of engaging in a comprehensive business discussion and are skilled at helping people understand the complexity and importance of the challenges which they face.

Let me illustrate this by way of a question.  Have you ever hired a salesperson who had all the right stuff during the interviewing process, yet was not successful once you hired them?  The answer is almost always "yes".  Why does this so frequently happen to sales managers, executives, human resources and sales operations professionals?  My experience is that judgment is a significant factor.  Other contributors are lack of testing, using the wrong testing (data gathered in a non-sales context), following poorly-defined sales interviewing process and pressures to hire.  Hiring managers must be highly-skilled at seeing past first impressions, avoid emotional attachment with candidates and finally, practiced and trained on behavioral-based interviewing designed specifically for sales recruiting. 

How is judgment affecting your sales recruiting success?  Does your organization have the right stuff when it comes to hiring salespeople and sales leaders?

Find out how you can improve your sales recruiting.

Cost of Sales is a critical KPI, particularly when you operate on thin margins.  Influencing factors include attrition, training, travel, equipment, compensation, recruiting and administrative costs.  Some of these are generally fixed while others can vary widely.

If 100% of your salespeople consistently make their quota or budget at the desired margin, much of the concern about Cost of Sales would evaporate.

So why worry about it? I was speaking with an SVP of a brand-name company with thousands of salespeople.  He told me that most all of their sales teams have only a few (2-3) salespeople achieving quota while the rest consistently struggle.  Let's take a look at a typical sales team of 8 people.

The net gap in margin, $210,000 in this example, replicated 6 times to account for the 5 similarly performing teams in the organization, has a direct impact of $1,260,000 on the Cost of Sales.  You don’t need to be a financial wiz to see that even a small drop in margin has a significant effect on profitability.

My experience is that when salespeople consistently do the things which they don’t want to do (healthy behaviors), good things happen.  Highly-effective people do the hardest and least desirable things first, assuring greater productivity.

In this light, the SVP’s comments illustrate both a huge problem and an amazing opportunity.  Yet most senior executives assume the 80/20 rule will be true, but simply leads to more unacceptable behaviors and outcomes.

Consider what would happen if your financial people were able to account for only 92% of your money or if operations shipped only 92% of your product.  It’s virtually certain that things would change quickly.

Let's put aside the impact on profit and look only at the salespeople.  Self-limiting thinking impacts everything.  For example:

• I can’t help a prospect who's happy with their current supplier.
• The economy is hurting our business.
• It’s OK if I miss my quota as long as I come close.
• I’m not an executive.
• I wish that I didn’t have to deal with being rejected.
• People are under pressure to buy the lowest priced products.

These thoughts influence bravery, execution, adherence to sales process, motivation, outlook and most importantly whether the salesperson can execute the call strategy.

What are your salespeople thinking when management isn’t looking?  Is sales management skilled enough to address this challenge?  What don’t you know about your sales force that’s costing you 8% or more of your margin dollars?  Are you accepting the 80/20 rule, the one which says that 80% of your sales organization is underperforming?

HBO’s 24/7 chronicles the pre-fight training camp for significant upcoming bouts.  This Saturday, Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez square off in Las Vegas.  It’s the fourth time that they’ve met.  Pacquiao leads the series 2-1, but Marquez defeated Pacquiao in their last bout.  Expectations and excitement levels are high as the boxing experts see these two being incredibly closely-matched.  We definitely can expect a great fight on Saturday.

Behind the fighters are two of the greatest cornermen in the game, Freddie Roach and the legendary Nacho Beristan.  Nacho’s fighters have won an amazing 25 world championships.  Freddie Roach has trained some of the best fighters in the world and has a storybook following.

What struck me was the nature of the relationship between the fighters and their coaches.  To say they trust and respect each other is a huge understatement.  And, the personal rivalry between Nacho and Freddie is perhaps greater than that of the fighters.  In short, there is a tremendous amount at stake including pride, history and legacy.

Putting the chemistry between the cornermen and fighters aside for a moment, Freddie and Nacho can teach us a lot about being world-class coaches and mentors. 

• They are creatures of routine and habit.
• Their workdays start early and end very late.
• Details are never missed.
• They will do whatever it takes to win.
• The emphasis is on fundamentals.
• Conditioning is paramount to success (behavior).
• Mental toughness trumps everything.
• They are masters at diagnosing the situation.
• Changes are made incrementally and build on each other.

Listening to Manny and Juan talk about their coaches was similar to hearing grandchildren laud praise, honor, respect and unconditional love on their most adored grandparent.  It was a thing of beauty and a wonderful illustration of people helping people for all the right reasons.  My sense is that it’s almost more important to the fighters that they win for their coach than for themselves.

How committed to your salespeople are you?  Would they walk through walls if you asked them?  Is your relationship based on deep respect and trust?  Which elements of a cornerman’s approach are you missing and what are you going to do next?  A sales force evaluation would be a great first step into the ring!  Why not contact me directly?

Quantum physics has shown that matter vibrates at a specific and measurable frequency.  Of course, this includes human beings.  What’s really interesting is that frequency changes based on our emotional state and we attract energy vibrating at similar frequency.

This law of nature, like gravity or cause and effect, is termed The Law of Attraction.  It means that our emotional state attracts people and circumstances consistent with what we are feeling. 

Think about salespeople who are on a roll.  Success fosters the opportunity for more success.  When they get in a slump, it's very hard for them to get back on track.  Whether you want to believe it or not, this dynamic affects us in every aspect of our lives, whether we are in sales or not.  It also greatly contributes to our happiness.

When a salesperson is in a slump, the following thoughts could manifest: 

• Business is hard right now.
• I can't seem to get anything closed.
• If I don't fix this soon, I'll be in trouble.
• This isn't fun anymore.
• I must be doing something wrong.

Imagine how this thinking might affect them.  What happens to their mood and attitude?  Are they more or less likely to conjure up bravery and passion?  And how does this affect how prospects and clients perceive them?

Consider the impact of a CEO who may exude negative energy compared to another executive who radiates passion for success, commitment to excellence, personal improvement and enormous commitment to their employees’ well-being.  My belief is that the difference, between highly successful companies and underperforming ones, is determined by the nature and consistency of its employees’ energy.

Integrating this principal into your organization isn't easy.  Witness the effort and challenges of culture change resulting from mergers and acquisitions.  It can have a profound impact on your team, company and you.  Identifying the specific non-supportive beliefs, by which your sales force is affected, is critical to the coaching and development process.  For example, a salesperson who is uncomfortable talking about money will avoid this conversation despite the agreed-upon call strategy.  Of course it all starts with the individual.  We need to bring the right attitude, state of mind, passion and energy, which our companies and teams need.

My challenge to you is to implement the following for the next month and see what happens: 

• Focus and talk about positive things and avoid the negative.
• Give people your undivided attention.  Listen to them, not about what you’re thinking.
• Keep a gratitude journal and read it daily.
• Acknowledge people as human beings, not employees.

In a recent article from Management Association, Mary Lynn Fayoumi talks about the importance of HR professionals having good sales skills.  She speaks about the necessity of “selling” great talent on coming to work for you. 

In a competitive marketplace, where specialized skills and experience are increasingly important, the ability of hiring managers to differentiate themselves and their company is critical.

If we surveyed HR professionals, asking them to define what a successful salesperson must do well, I suspect that articulating the company’s value proposition would rank very high.  The question is how?  The best salespeople help the client to discover that core business issues and unforeseen consequences make the value proposition important.

Salespeople often start off in the right direction, but then quickly find themselves in presentation mode.  The result is a loss of control and differentiation.  I believe that HR professionals suffer from the same problem.

My experience is that far too many HR executives underappreciate the science, art and difficulty of professional selling.  They can articulate the business case, cost and impact of underperforming salespeople.  They understand the opportunity cost of turnover, but they really don’t “get” salespeople and, in too many cases, underappreciate the difficulty of the sales job.  This probably isn’t surprising since most CEO’s have the same challenge because they’re from the finance, operations and/or technical side.  HR professionals also happen to spend a lot of time interacting with vendors who often don’t live up to expectations.

What makes salespeople different? 

• They are usually highly emotional and sometimes volatile people.
• They are not good at being introspective.
• Asking for help is typically a weakness.
• Compliance is not in their vocabulary.
• Most are fairly self-absorbed.
• They love teamwork when they are in control of the team.
• They should ask questions which make prospects uncomfortable.
• Details are not that important.
• The good ones fight when prospects say no.

What percentage of these traits do you think HR professionals possess?  More importantly, how many look for these attributes when hiring great employees and how does this affect the sales talent recruitment?