Avoid these 5 Common Mistakes when hiring a Sales Manager – Conclusion

To start reading this series from the beginning, please go here.

Hiring the right sales manager is a key growth strategy. However, the shocking fact is that according to research conducted by Objective Management Group, only 8% of Sales Managers are top performers. Statistics also show us that 18% of Sales Managers should never have ended up in that position.

According to Dr John Sullivan,(1) a well-known leader in HR, most informal assessments peg the cost of a bad hire to be 150-300% of their annual salary each year they remain employed. So, what can you do to ensure you hit a bull’s eye when you appoint your new Sales Manager?

In the previous postings, we’ve looked at five of the most common mistakes that companies make when they appoint a sales manager. We’ve also looked at some of the character traits, skills and values your sales manager should have.

• We understand what role our Sales Manager should play in our business strategy.
• We’ve ensured that he/she will be a perfect fit for our selling environment.
• We’ve identified a candidate who will be able to execute our sales strategy.
• We’ve used intensive interviewing techniques to ensure that there is no culture clash.
• We have pre-determined on-boarding metrics to let us know whether our Sales Manager is on track or off track.

I know it sounds like I’m stating the obvious, but just think about this for a minute: the sales activity of a company is the only activity that brings in revenue.

The job of the sales manager is the one position in a company where numbers speak for themselves. A Right Fit sales manager can grow sales by a minimum of 20-30%.

Do you have the right sales manager on your team?

Sales Growth Question: How is your Sales Manager contributing to the growth of your company?

Sales Growth Lesson: The right Sales Manager is the person who fits in perfectly with your unique selling environment, sales strategy and company culture.

NOTE:
1. Dr. John Sullivan is a well-known thought leader in HR. He is a frequent speaker and advisor to Fortune 500 and Silicon Valley firms. Formerly the chief talent officer for Agilent Technologies (the 43,000-employee HP spin-off), he is now a professor of management at San Francisco State University. He was called the “Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company magazine.

For the full webinar that I did for EcSell Institute, go to 5 Mistakes Webinar.

PPT Slides can be viewed at 5 Mistakes Presentation.

December 5, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

Avoid these 5 Common Mistakes when hiring a Sales Manager – Mistake 5

NOTES: To start reading this series from the beginning, please go here.

Mistake #5: Not understanding the role of on-boarding metrics

Another mistake that companies often make when hiring a Sales Manager is overlooking or not understanding the role of the on-boarding process. Companies usually have clearly defined metrics for the sales people, but it’s almost like a black hole when it comes to the Sales Management function. Due to the lack of concrete expectations, you then don’t have the insight to know if your Sales Manager is indeed on track or off track.

On-boarding metrics for the Sales Manager play an important role. The on-boarding process goes well beyond the orientation process, which is typically a one day event that focuses on the organization’s structure, mission and policies and deals with the administrative part of completing the appointment. However, the Sales Manager’s on-boarding should be a systematic process which can last up to 18 months, depending on the position. This process includes the cultivation of a long term relationship.

INTERVIEWING TIPS:

Establishing very specific guidelines about your expectations for the Sales Manager will make future judgment of his performance a very clear and measurable process. Another advantage of setting these standards beforehand and discussing it with a candidate during the interviewing phase is that the presentation of the metrics will result in some candidates disqualifying themselves before they could be appointed. Imagine the saving in time and revenue!

Keep your metrics clear and measurable with activities and goals linked to specific dates. Some examples of what your Sales Manager On-boarding metrics could look like are:

Raise the activity level of the team from 35 per day to 40 per day by ____ (set a date)
Increase the Sales pipeline from $1 million level to 1.3 million by ____ (set a date)
Increase the year-to-year comparison of monthly sales with at least 5% by _____ (set a date)
Meet with each salesperson 1/2 hour per week at a regularly scheduled time.
Meet with 2 key accounts weekly for the first 3 months.
Have a weekly sales meeting with the entire sales team.
Travel with 2 members of the sales team 1/2 day per week for first 3 months.

You don’t want to play guessing games when you measure your sales manager’s performance. When you set up metrics in such specific detail as we have shown in our examples above, it will make your future communication with your Sales Manager that much easier and effective. Determining his or her performance will not be linked to emotions or feelings, but to a specific number that can be measured.

Sales Growth Question: What processes are you using to determine how closely the Sales Manager is fulfilling his role in your business?

Sales Growth Lesson: When you appoint a Sales Manager without proper processes in place to measure his or her performance, you might as well be throwing darts with a blindfold on.

For the full webinar that I did for EcSell Institute, go to 5 Mistakes Webinar.

PPT Slides can be viewed at 5 Mistakes Presentation.

November 28, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

Avoid these 5 Common Mistakes when hiring a Sales Manager – Mistake 3

To start reading this series from the beginning, please go here.

Mistake #3: Hiring someone who can’t execute your sales strategy

From our previous postings you have learned the importance of understanding the role of the sales manager position and finding the exact right fit for your selling environment. But if your best candidate isn’t able to execute your sales strategy, he or she is still not the right person for the position.

Again, it is important that you know exactly what it is that you require, before you can find the person who will be able to meet those needs.

So the next mistake to avoid is not being clear on your sales strategy. As a sales leader, you know that your product or service requires a unique sales strategy. Here are some examples of the areas you that you could consider:

Are you volume or profit focused? A volume driven sales person focuses on high growth whereas a profit driven salesperson will be focusing on a different metric.
Is your recruiting strategy to hire ‘A Players’, ‘first available’ or ‘best available’ candidates?

Different thought processes are applied in the search for ‘A Players’ than when you are going to compare three ‘first available’ candidates against each other.

When you define your requirements very specifically beforehand you avoid conflict at a later stage.
Is your key growth strategy to find or grow new business?

INTERVIEWING TIPS:
During an interview, remember that sales people are usually very good talkers, so don’t just accept everything they say at face value. Drill down deep and ask for specifics, steps taken during stages and metrics, where applicable.

Remember that a shift in your sales strategy, will require a different set of metrics, and would therefore require a different type of Sales Manager. Your sales strategies shouldn’t remain stagnant so search for coachable candidates. Look for signs that they will be able to grow and change with your business, as the new market conditions may call for these shifts on a regular basis.

Ask your prospective new Sales Manager these questions:

How did you manage the volume vs. margins of your sales team?
How do you determine whether to hire an A player, the best available candidate or the first available candidate?
What strategies did you execute to grow sales?
Which of your roles were focused on growing, defending or maintaining your margin?

Sales Growth Question: How will a shift in your sales strategy influence your decision to hire a specific type of candidate?

Sales Growth Lesson: We need to continue to learn and rise above the pack. Status quo is the kiss of death for any company.

NOTES:

For the full webinar that I did for EcSell Institute, go to 5 Mistakes Webinar.

PPT Slides can be viewed at 5 Mistakes Presentation.

November 26, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

Avoid these 5 Common Mistakes when hiring a Sales Manager – Mistake 4

To start reading this series from the beginning, please go here.

Mistake #4: Hiring someone who is not a right fit for your values (cultural clash)

In the previous postings we have identified four critical and all too common mistakes that companies make when hiring a Sales Manager. Another piece of the puzzle that will help you to complete the picture of the ideal candidate is that of your company culture.

Each company has their own set of traits and attitudes that they regard as non-negotiable values necessary to perform the required tasks within the organizational structures.

Using a values grid can be critical in establishing your deal breakers which will help you set up interviewing questions to point out character or personality traits that will not fit in with your organization’s values and cause a cultural clash.

Here is the values grid for Sales Growth Specialists:

A can-do attitude
Commitment to excellence
Being a continuous learner
Openness and Honesty
Accountability

INTERVIEWING TIPS:

During this part of the Interviewing process you want to find out if your candidate has the backbone and tenacity to overcome obstacles – which you are guaranteed to encounter in the world of sales wherever you operate.

Here are some examples of questions that we ask prospective Sales Managers to see if there is a cultural match:

With regards to a “can-do attitude”
Tell me about a time that you failed.
Tell me about a time when your best shot wasn’t enough?
Interviewer’s Note: If your candidate can’t think of any situation where he was less than perfect, he is probably not being honest. So look past his confidence and drill down to the heart of the matter.

Excellence in learning
What have you done in the last 3-6 months to improve your skills as a manager?
Interviewer’s Note: This will indicate your candidate’s willingness to be a continuous learner or lack thereof.

Honesty
Tell me about a time when you were confronted by someone.

In the new market conditions we are experiencing, you need to continually improve and update your skills otherwise you will quickly be left in the dust. If your sales manager does not show the potential to fit in with your company culture and commitment to excellence, failure is almost guaranteed. Use an efficiency tool like the SGS Values grid to establish which candidates will fit in with your culture best, it will save you valuable time and money.

Sales Growth Question: How can you make sure that you really get the full picture when you are conducting an interview?

Sales Growth Lesson: Don’t just accept first answers but drill down deeper when conducting an interview.

NOTES:

For the full webinar that I did for EcSell Institute, go to 5 Mistakes Webinar.

PPT Slides can be viewed at 5 Mistakes Presentation.

November 21, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

Avoid these 5 Common Mistakes when hiring a Sales Manager – Mistake 2

To start reading this series from the beginning, please go here.

Hiring Mistake #2: Hiring someone who isn’t the right fit for your selling environment

Hiring the Right Sales Manager

In our previous postings, you’ve discovered how important it is to understand the role of your Sales Manager in your growth strategy. This standard is then matched up against the information that you gather during your screening process.

However, this is the beginning. Your selling environment is vastly different from that of your competitors or from any other business where your prospective candidates come from. Therefore, it is extremely important that you find the sales manager that is right for your specific sales environment.

Here are a few examples of your strategic sales initiative that you need to consider:

List the type of companies that you are selling to. Ask yourself if you are selling to specific company types exclusively or a combination of companies. Examples of the company types can include corporate, industrial, residential, professional or small business.

Find out at what level buying decisions are made, eg. management, owner or even consumers. With this knowledge you can make informed decisions of what type of sales management acumen will fit.
Ask how much competition your sales team will face. If your product or service is unique, pressure will be very different than selling a commodity where there’s severe competitive pressure.
Know your stand regarding your pricing. Comparative studies should clearly indicate whether your pricing is in line with or higher than that of your competitors. It’s critical that you have a sales manager who has had successful experience executing your pricing strategy.

If your prospective candidate does not have the specific experience that you require for your selling environment, they are bound to struggle. Plus, we have 15 other critical areas to ensure alignment.

INTERVIEWING TIPS:
Ask your prospective new Sales Manager these questions:

Tell me about the typical companies that your teams have sold into.
Describe your experience with a specific sale from the beginning to the end. Ask for detail about how they put the sale together – you don’t only want to hear about the sale result.
Tell me about the typical order and account size that you have previously handled.

In our next posting we’ll look at another common mistake made when hiring a sales manager – hiring someone who can’t execute your sales strategy.

Sales Growth Question: What makes your selling environment different from that of your competitors?

Sales Growth Lesson: Understanding the unique challenges of your selling environment can help you to appoint the right sales manager.

NOTES:

For the full webinar that I did for EcSell Institute, go to 5 Mistakes Webinar.

PPT Slides can be viewed at 5 Mistakes Presentation.

November 10, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

Avoid these 5 Common Mistakes when hiring a Sales Manager – Mistake 1

To start reading this series from the beginning, please go here.

Hiring Mistake 1: Not Understanding the Role of the Sales Manager

Over the next few weeks, we are discussing five of the most common mistakes that are made when hiring for the sales manager position, and how you can avoid them.

When recruiting a new Sales Manager, it is imperative that you understand exactly what you require from this position. Not so long ago, it was still OK for a Sales Manager to be … well, just a manager. It would have been good enough for this position to supervise the staff; ensure assignments meet established standards and deadlines; and get the sales team to respond to customers’ needs in a way that meets their expectations. Nothing is wrong with all this, but the fast paced, technology driven and mostly unpredictable business environment that we operate in today calls for a special Sales Manager with unique skills who can drive a key element of your sales growth strategy. They must be able to drive and build your sales team’s capacity to win new accounts.

Here are some of the key functions that you want your Sales Manager to perform:

Create and actively promote a performance-based sales culture by managing behavior, activities, pipeline and results.
Coach regularly via pre-call planning, post-call debriefing and joint calls.
Guide each team member in developing motivational goals with a corresponding implementation plan.
Implement a consistent recruiting plan to grow the capacity of the sales team.

INTERVIEWING TIPS:

Ask your prospective new Sales Manager these questions:

What steps do you take to deal with substandard performance?
After you’ve had two one-on-one meetings with a poor performing salesperson and there has been no improvement, what do you do next?
When your sales people tell you that they didn’t hit their numbers because the economy is still flat, how do you respond?
Tell me about your process for helping your team create alignment between personal and professional goals?
What does your recruiting plan look like?

In our next posting, we’ll look at another common mistake made when hiring a Sales Manager – not getting the right fit for your selling environment.

Sales Growth Question: What steps are you taking to ensure that you know exactly what role your Sales Manager should play in your growth strategy?

Sales Growth Lesson: The unpredictable business environment that we operate in today calls for a unique Sales Manager that can help your company win new accounts.

NOTES:

For the full webinar that I did for EcSell Institute, go to 5 Mistakes Webinar.

PPT Slides can be viewed at 5 Mistakes Presentation.

October 31, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

5 Common Mistakes when hiring a Sales Manager – Introduction

Puzzle Pieces

At a recent economic summit, global economist-turned-strategist, Roger Martin-Fagg, author of the book, ‘Making sense of the economy’ made these conclusions:

Companies that lack a clear value proposition WILL fail in the coming economic malaise.
Companies with a clear value proposition but without strong finances WILL also fail.

However, he also made this conclusion about those who will succeed:

Companies that WILL SUCCEED do not only have a strong value proposition and strong financial health, but they will also place great emphasis on selecting and growing talent, their greatest competitive resource.

Roger’s comments helped me realize once again the importance of making the right selection for the position of sales manager. Why is this so important? Because your sales manager is responsible for growing your sales talent – a critical competitive resource.

Studies show that hiring the right sales manager can be a key growth strategy and some even indicate that a sales manager can increase the sales performance of a team by at least 26%. My experience is that the right sales manager, who is committed to building a high performance sales culture, can produce even greater results.

However, this is a high stakes venture because the opposite is also true—the wrong sales manager can sap valuable resources, being a restrictive factor that sabotages growth. These are five tell-tale signs that you don’t have the right sales manager:

–Weak Performance Management

–Lack of Motivation

–Ineffective Coaching

–Misguided Recruiting

–Poor Mentoring

In assisting companies with their sales growth efforts, I’ve noticed that the hiring of the right Sales Manager is often an area where business owners struggle. So, for the next 5 postings, we’ll examine the five common mistakes that companies make in hiring a sales manager and what you can do to avoid those mistakes.

Sales Growth Question: What can you do to ensure that you avoid the cost of a bad hire for your Sales Manager Position?

Sales Growth Lesson: Hiring the right Sales Manager for your unique circumstances can form the foundation for your sales team’s future success.

NOTE: To listen to the entire EcSELL Institute webinar, go to http://bit.ly/uwFu6t

PPT Slides can be viewed at http://bit.ly/tTux5g

October 26, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

How can hiring a sales manager be a growth strategy? (Part 2)

We invite you to complete this Hiring Sales Manager Best Practice Survey. It will take 2-3 minutes to complete. We’ll be interacting with the insights gathered at EcSELL Institute’s next webinar on September 23rd, “When Hiring a Sales Manager, Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes.”

In a recent report, CSO Insights revealed some telling statistics that relate to the sales management function. More than 90% of companies have raised revenue targets – in many cases by over 25%. This requires sales reps to be fully engaged in the extra effort that it will take to make successful sales. It also requires that the VP of Sales from growth-oriented companies know how to hire sales managers that can grow a sales team that will flourish during these economic conditions.

Yet, studies continually show that only 1 in 4 employees of the average company are fully engaged. We would like to think that this malaise doesn’t impact the sales team. However, in many sales teams, a status-quo approach is tolerated. The result? A rollercoaster sales team that rides the ups and downs of the economic and market whims. As the studies indicate, 75% of the sales team is often putting in the time – but with little or no passion or even undermining the positive effort of engaged employees.

So what does it mean to your company when an employee is fully engaged? At its core, it indicates the level of commitment that your team members have to the success of the organization and how hard they will work in future to take care of customers and revenue production.

As CEO’s and business leaders, you already realize the competitive advantage that a fully engaged employee can bring to your company growth. An Acceleration Team, that’s 100% engaged can take market share. How is an Acceleration Team created? It starts with a strong Sales Manager. Marcus Buckingham in The One Great Thing, concurs. He concludes that the process of guiding individual team members to the top level of engagement is in the hands of the immediate supervisor, the Sales Manager.

Getting your entire sales team to perform at this top level of engagement will require dedicated guidance and motivation from an exceptional Sales Manager. This is one of the reasons why the hiring of the right Sales Manager is so critical to your continued success and future revenue growth. In an ideal skill set, the right Sales Manager should be a motivator, mentor, performance master, recruiter and coach.

Sales Growth Question: Is your sales manager bringing out the best in every team member?

Sales Growth Lesson: Ensure your sales manager has the right skill set combination to inspire financial growth in your company.

We’ll be interacting with the insights gathered at EcSELL Institute’s next webinar on September 23rd, “When Hiring a Sales Manager, Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes.” Hope you can attend. If not, let me know and I’ll share the results to the national survey with you. Or, you might be interested in doing your own analysis of your sales systems, processes and people. Check out Sales-Centric Assessments.

September 20, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Coaching, Sales Leadership, Sales Management, Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

How can hiring a sales manager be a growth strategy?

I invite you to complete this Hiring Sales Manager Best Practice Survey. It will take 2-3 minutes to complete. We’ll be interacting with the insights gathered at EcSELL Institute’s next webinar on Sept 23rd, “When Hiring a Sales Manager, Avoid These 5 Common Mistakes.”

With the DOW falling 2.2% last week, consumer confidence dropping to the lowest level since 2009, and growing fears of a double dip recession, it’s more important than ever for owners, CEOs and president to assess every role in their sales organizations. Each sales position must be laser focused on revenue production so that you can thrive in these unpredictable conditions, especially the sales management role.

The right sales manager can increase the capacity of your sales team by 26%. When you’re committed to becoming a market dominator, you must also be prepared to get the right people in the right seats on the bus. Getting the sales manager for your business is a critical decision that impacts the trajectory of sales revenues.

In the 2011 Strategic Sales Survey conducted by Sales Growth Specialists, we discovered two important findings:

Growth companies are nearly 85% more likely to consistently hire top performers. So, companies committed to growth see hiring, especially the sales manager position, as a key strategic move that enhances their competitive position.
Growth companies are 60% more likely to score themselves high on staff motivation. Interestingly, motivation of the sales staff is a key responsibility of the sales manager.

Sales Growth Question: What value is your sales manager bringing to the company?

Sales Growth Lesson: Ensure every sales position is focused on revenue generation.

Hope you can attend the webinar. If not, let me know and I’ll share the results to the national survey with you. Or, you might be interested in doing your own analysis of your sales systems, processes and people. Check out Sales-Centric Assessments.

September 13, 2011 | Filed Under Sales Recruiting | Leave a Comment

Client Interview – Bob Lamoreaux on Sales Recruiting

Bob Lamoreaux, President, Waytek

Sourcing for Sales Leader to Lead Expansion Initiative

The Challenge:
The company wanted to resume its 12 percent annual growth rate after three years of stagnating and declining revenue. It determined that fortifying its sales effort required a proactive initiative.

What did you want help with?

“We wanted to reverse three years of flat or lower revenues. Waytek is a catalog and web-based organization, providing outstanding customer service, but only dabbling in sales. We didn’t have a truly organized effort. In order to restructure and reinforce our sales initiative, we understood we needed to establish accountability.

“I realized we needed outside help, beyond what a recruiter offered and looked to SGS. I had heard Danita speak and was impressed with her insight and I had several professional recommendations about SGS.”

How did SGS help you?

In three words—assessment, recruiting, hiring. They recommended an assessment of the current sales staff to help us reorganize sales and train staff and determine if we needed to look outside of the company for a director of sales. No one on our sales team had sales management acumen for building the kind of sales environment we wanted.

“SGS helped us drill down to all the requirements we needed for a sales manager who would be successful in our environment, and understand what we could expect from a hire. With their help, we created new job descriptions for account managers and a new customer acquisition position.

“They led the way in helping us create a sales culture of accountability, systematizing our effort by setting up measurements and goals for all sales activities. Their suggestions were right on for helping us create a compensation structure that would incentivize for growth.

“Assessing candidates to pre-qualify them was extremely helpful and saved me from wasting my time interviewing candidates who couldn’t possibly execute the company’s sales strategy.”

How would you describe the advantages of working with SGS?

“SGS brought us fresh, new perspectives. One of those was the assessment tool and how it exposed weaknesses that are connected with potential problems and areas that require additional coaching, which they are also helping us with.

“In contrast to recruiters we’ve previously worked with, SGS tests all worthy candidates before the interview. Really, why interview them if their weaknesses will make them unsuccessful. They demonstrated sensitivity to our particular needs with a mix of candidates and detailed follow-up. I would recommend SGS to anyone looking for recruiting help.”

Are you pleased with the outcomes?

“This quarter was our sales manager’s first, and quarterly revenues are up 25 percent over the same quarter last year. Honestly though, it’s too early to really judge his performance. He has realigned our current staff, revised compensation, and is still working on establishing the new sales culture of accountability.

“However, I will say that SGS did a nice job of giving us a broad base of candidates to evaluate. We chose someone from a call center environment, but we had excellent choices.”

Sales Growth Question: What recruiting process are you following to move your business to the next level?

Sales Growth Lesson: The SGS team is trained in sales force development to identify your company’s shortcomings and put a process and solution together to fix it permanently.

Get this complimentary sales recruiting white paper to learn about Sales Growth Specialists’ 6 step process to consistently hire top-performers.