When you have openings on your staff, it's easy to get enamored with a candidate and jump to the finish line. That will always cost you in the long run. Every organization I know takes longer than they should to remove non-performing salespeople. It's just a fact. So you need to hire tough, so you can manage easy. If you hire easy, then you have to manage tough (threaten, push, and poke to get them to do what they should be doing).
Here are two specific ways to hire tough, so you can manage easy.
- Screen for talent early and often. Don't get distracted by skills and experiences. Those are important, but you need natural sales talent. It's great if they have experience doing the job before, but you also want someone who is curious, competitive, and caring. The world is changing fast, and those with strong talent will be able to adapt to what is changing. Those who have been relying on experience only will struggle to perform as new behaviors are needed.
- Have your candidates demonstrate or role play so you can see them in action. One example of this would be to sit with them and give them a scenario of a prospect you will be playing and give them two different objections you will throw at them. Give them a few minutes to think about this and then role play the scenario. Some examples of objections you might use:
- Our business is booming. I don't have time to explore new solutions and I don't need any more business.
- I checked out your offering several months back and determined it was too expensive.
Hire tough, manage easy.
