sales recruiting
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Misleading Statistics and Hiring the Wrong Sales Candidates
- November 3, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The November issue of Fortune Small Business has an article called Entrepreneurial Myth Busters. FSB has Ken Blanchard (consultant )and Scott Shane (academic) go head to head answering questions about small businesses and entrepreneurship. While Blanchard provides insightful answers based on his years of experience working in, consulting to and writing about business, Shane provides surprising answers based on data. I’m sure that if you read the article you’ll agree that Shane’s data lead to some very misleading conclusions. Academics who haven’t been “out there” can fall in love with their data!
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The Sales Assessment as Crystal Ball
- October 16, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Not all sales assessments are created equal.
That’s an understatement.
Yet it’s when a client pushes back – not when they look at the recommendation or prediction and accept it – that we get an opportunity to bring our sales assessment to life.
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Top 5 Reasons Why the OMG Sales Assessment is More Predictive
- October 1, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I was asked why Objective Management Group’s (OMG) assessments are so much more predictive of sales success and future performance than behavioral styles assessments and personality assessments. There is more than one answer to this question and I’ll try to explain the top 5 answers below:
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The Sales Process, Closing More Sales, Raising Expectations
- September 29, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Today I was interviewed by Lee Salz, host of Secrets of Business Gurus, an internet radio talk show. Today’s topic was “Sales Process Home Runs”. (It’s so nice whem my interviewers tie baseball into our interviews!) We talked about the importance of a sales process and what’s involved in building one. We also talked about hiring the right salespeople to sell within that process. Click here to listen to this compelling 30-minute discussion.
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Take Empathy Out of the Sales Hiring and Selection Process
- September 18, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If an applicant is a good candidate for a sales management position, does that make the applicant a good candidate for a sales position?
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Hiring Salespeople is Like Baseball Expansion
- September 15, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Earlier today I was interviewed by Hank Walshak for a white paper on Sales Process, Sales Production and Sales Performance. As we discussed sales production – the concept that more salespeople equals more revenue, I explained dilution as it related to Baseball.
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Top 10 Steps to Recruit Strong Salespeople
- February 18, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you’re tired of hiring salespeople who take too long to achieve mediocrity and more often fail to achieve anything noteworthy, some best practices may be in order.
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Management Resistance to Topgrading the Sales Force
- January 26, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’ve posted often on the middle part of the sales recruiting process, the importance of the process itself, the importance of the phone screen, the importance of the assessment, the candidates’ reactions to the phone screen and the assessment, the first interview, etc. Rarely, if ever, have I posted on the two components I wanted to address today.
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What Do Effective Salespeople Have in Common with College Degrees?
- December 12, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, John Miller, CEO of QBQ and the author of QBQ! and Flipping the Switch, sent out one of his frequent QBQ! Quick Notes and I asked his permission to reprint it here. It’s perfect! As you read it, I’d like you to think about the salespeople you interview…and choose not to interview.
He wrote,
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Can Sales Assessments Actually Predict On the Job Success?
- December 8, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Stathead was hell-bent on learning about the technical nature of how the assessment works, how it was created, how it was validated and its impact on protected minorities. While this is important, it can be very misleading. As you will read below, a test can meet all of those criteria and not help with selection at all!