Tool Box
Issue No. 34 - April/May 2007
Four more ways to better sales results
by Craig Stubing
Frequently I meet business-owners who are frustrated by the poor results that are being achieved by one or more members of their sales team. This has happened often enough for me to spend some time in quiet review – trying to identify any not-so-obvious threads that contribute to poor sales performance.
As a result of this review I offer the following suggestions to business-owners who want to avoid disappointment and get better sales results in the future.
Don’t make staff appointments on the grounds of expediency
Sound staff appointments require the investment of time and effort; they reflect a good decision made for the right reasons. An expedient appointment reflects an easy decision made for the wrong reasons.
(The adage ‘Marry in haste, repent at leisure’ comes to mind.)
The problem with expedient appointments is that they almost always result in the wrong person being hired. The business owner is then tempted to try to fix the problem with training (and more training!). This doesn’t work; training will make a right person better but it will never make a wrong person right.
The best way to work out whether a person is right is to have previously written a ‘person description’ which lists the attributes required.
These attributes should include education and experience; they should also include other attributes like presentation, people skills, coachability and team orientation.
Some of these attributes will be ‘must haves’ others will be ‘nice to haves’ they represent a silhouette against which potential candidates can be compared, using information from their CVs and interviews that you conduct.
Visualise each candidate alongside the silhouette – see how good the fit is. You may not get a 100% fit; an 80% candidate may be worth pursuing but a 20% candidate should be rejected.
Make your judgement knowing that the further away from ...
