So, here comes the long awaited (?) gossip.
For monday i just had one job interview scheduled. It was a woman in her thirties with a few years of sales experience and good references. I was really excited over the interview, but i have to say that i was pretty unsatisfied when she left my office. I just couldn't see any spirit, not that glow that i love to see in the eyes of people in my team. Maybe she was nervous, maybe she just had a bad day - i don't know.
Right now i have two spots to fill and more than ten interviews this week - and right now it feels like this woman isn't what i'm looking for. Anyway, i have to go through with all interviews, and then i can make up my mind. Maybe i won't hire anyone from this weeks interviews, but - as i said before - i really hope i will find some good people (of course...).
Two more interviews today, and an important business lunch. Really looking forward to this day and i hope that it will satisfy me more than yesterday.
Stay tuned!
Monday, September 22, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Finding the right people and creating a dynamic team
One of the hardest things when coming to a new office as a sales manager is to find the right sales people. I've been at this office for a few months, trying to build up a new team of approx. ten sales people. I've had about 100 interviews, and had around fifteen of them in for a trial period. Right now the team consist of three people i feel i really want to work with (what i would like to call key people), and that i also believe will bring the team good results. I also have a handful of people in that i haven't really decided about, but i can't say that I'm overwhelmed.
In an interview i want to know that the person applying for the job is competitive and willing to work hard to make good money (our sellers can make a really good buck at this company, so the motivation should not be a problem). An interview is like any sales meeting, the person should sell them self to me and the company - but it's scary to see how many people that fail just that! I mean, if you want to work in sales, the least you should be able to do is to sell me why you should have the position.
We all know that sales people often are a little bit "special". They are usually money-driven and competitive, and normally they are not the best team players. This makes it a real challenge (sales people usually likes challenges too by the way...) to build a good team, but of course nothing that stops me.
One of my favorite things is to employ young money hungry people with no real experience in sales, and then form them the way i want. People with a lot of experience are often convinced that they know it all and have a hard time listening to my advices and coaching, but of course there are exceptions.
Right now we're in a new period of interviews, the next week my schedule is fully booked with meetings with both fresh young people and older experienced sellers. I really look forward to it, and i hope to find some of my future key people next week.
"Understanding success is simple. So, why do some people succeed while others don't? The reason is that they all understand the fundamentals of success;
- You are either100% dedicated or nothing."
-Unknown
In an interview i want to know that the person applying for the job is competitive and willing to work hard to make good money (our sellers can make a really good buck at this company, so the motivation should not be a problem). An interview is like any sales meeting, the person should sell them self to me and the company - but it's scary to see how many people that fail just that! I mean, if you want to work in sales, the least you should be able to do is to sell me why you should have the position.
We all know that sales people often are a little bit "special". They are usually money-driven and competitive, and normally they are not the best team players. This makes it a real challenge (sales people usually likes challenges too by the way...) to build a good team, but of course nothing that stops me.
One of my favorite things is to employ young money hungry people with no real experience in sales, and then form them the way i want. People with a lot of experience are often convinced that they know it all and have a hard time listening to my advices and coaching, but of course there are exceptions.
Right now we're in a new period of interviews, the next week my schedule is fully booked with meetings with both fresh young people and older experienced sellers. I really look forward to it, and i hope to find some of my future key people next week.
"Understanding success is simple. So, why do some people succeed while others don't? The reason is that they all understand the fundamentals of success;
- You are either100% dedicated or nothing."
-Unknown
Monday, September 15, 2008
Lame excuses? I don't buy them!
Everyone who've worked in sales, and probably in many other places too, know that people always try to find excuses to why they are failing. Either they have the wrong leads, it's the wrong day, it's to close to vacation time or any other lame reason to why they don't sell when they are supposed too. Maybe the worst thing is when they start blaming the product, because a seller who lost confidence about the product will never sell as good as a seller that is passionate about and really believes in the product.
Today one of my sales people told me that her lack of result the last two weeks could be blamed on - hold it - the weather! I looked at her with a questioning face and at first i thought she was kidding me. I knew what was her problem - she didn't make enough calls! A quick look through her statistics (she works mainly on the phone and call to cold customers) shows that she doesn't even put in half of the effort that my best people on the same position does.
No, the reason she couldn't close the customers, wich are medium size businesses, was the cold weather the last weeks. How that would affect the product, an IT-solution, i never really understod.
Anyway, i made it clear to her that the weather didn't affect the selling, and i also pointed out that the other people working with the same product were still selling as good as they did two weeks ago. She became quiet, and didn't talk much more about the weather after that.
People must understand that when it comes to selling, it's all in your own hands. If you do a good job and give it your best, then you will probably sell. Of course, some people will never sell, but this particular women has been selling for twenty years or so. She's not new in the business, and i'm sure bad weather hasn't stopped her before.
On (somewhat) the same topic:
Sales 2.0: Simple Sales Solution to a Common TeleSales Dilemma
Today one of my sales people told me that her lack of result the last two weeks could be blamed on - hold it - the weather! I looked at her with a questioning face and at first i thought she was kidding me. I knew what was her problem - she didn't make enough calls! A quick look through her statistics (she works mainly on the phone and call to cold customers) shows that she doesn't even put in half of the effort that my best people on the same position does.
No, the reason she couldn't close the customers, wich are medium size businesses, was the cold weather the last weeks. How that would affect the product, an IT-solution, i never really understod.
Anyway, i made it clear to her that the weather didn't affect the selling, and i also pointed out that the other people working with the same product were still selling as good as they did two weeks ago. She became quiet, and didn't talk much more about the weather after that.
People must understand that when it comes to selling, it's all in your own hands. If you do a good job and give it your best, then you will probably sell. Of course, some people will never sell, but this particular women has been selling for twenty years or so. She's not new in the business, and i'm sure bad weather hasn't stopped her before.
On (somewhat) the same topic:
Sales 2.0: Simple Sales Solution to a Common TeleSales Dilemma
Why this blog?
Welcome to "Life of a Sales Manager" - the blog that will give you an inside look of a big international sales office.
After almost fifteen years in sales, most of them in different kinds of manager positions, i want to share my thoughts. I have to remain anonymous, as some of the things i will tell you about on this blog is probably classified in one way or another. It is also highly possible that some of my sales people will read this blog, and i really don't want them to know that they are the ones i'm writing about. That is also the reason why i will have to "twist" some things, but i will never lie.
Except from gossip, i will also try to share my thoughts on selling and managing, as it still (after "all theese years") is one of my main passions. I consider selling an artform, and not many people can do it well. When
English is not my native language, but i hope that you won't have any problems reading my posts. To get in touch with me, leave a comment on the blog or send an e-mail to lifeofasalesmanager(at)gmail.com.
After almost fifteen years in sales, most of them in different kinds of manager positions, i want to share my thoughts. I have to remain anonymous, as some of the things i will tell you about on this blog is probably classified in one way or another. It is also highly possible that some of my sales people will read this blog, and i really don't want them to know that they are the ones i'm writing about. That is also the reason why i will have to "twist" some things, but i will never lie.
Except from gossip, i will also try to share my thoughts on selling and managing, as it still (after "all theese years") is one of my main passions. I consider selling an artform, and not many people can do it well. When
English is not my native language, but i hope that you won't have any problems reading my posts. To get in touch with me, leave a comment on the blog or send an e-mail to lifeofasalesmanager(at)gmail.com.
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