The Center for Sales Strategy Blog

We have all heard the expression, “As impossible as trying to fit a round peg into a square hole.” A simple statement yet one that perfectly captures the challenge of making a match where there isn’t one.

Ask the leader of any organization about what keeps them up at night, and one answer is certain to be, “How can I make sure I have the right people in the right roles for the success of our business?”

NBA Coach Phil Jackson once said, “The strength of the team is each individual member.” His thought holds true within your sales teams.

Each person on your team needs to have the right combination of talent and fit to be successful. But in this competitive job market, how can you attract top talent to your organization?

Candidates are in and out of the job market quickly, particularly those with superstar talent. If you’ve adopted a “we’re always hiring” mentality to help you build and fill your talent bank, you’re likely conducting interviews more frequently.

According to LinkedIn, 83% of talent say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked.

Selection is a two-way street. You’re interviewing the candidate, and at the same time, the candidate is interviewing your company. It’s important to maximize your opportunity to interview candidates while giving them a solid understanding of the job role and your company culture.

Selection is defined as the action or fact of carefully choosing someone or something as being the best or most suitable.

It's Monday morning, and a seller has just told you that they are resigning. Maybe that's a good thing, or maybe it isn’t, but either way, you find yourself with the need to fill a position.

But before you do that, you need to know what you are looking for in order to find it. The first step should be to have a job analysis process that clearly defines exactly what you need in your open position. To determine that, you may ask yourself these kinds of questions.

Finding talented salespeople has never been easy.

Finding naturally talented salespeople has always been more difficult than finding successful sellers. Far too often, we confuse success with talent. We go after the big name at the big competitor who has some big sales numbers. Experienced salespeople tend to have bad habits that follow them.

We default to looking and hiring experienced salespeople over inexperienced talented salespeople because it's easier.

72% of the population wants hybrid work for the future, so more businesses are forced to adjust to this new setup. But finding a balance between working from home and being social can be challenging. 

For instance, you still need to conduct regular team meetings and manage different personality types. Thankfully attracting sales talent is only one part of the puzzle when shifting to a remote staff management strategy. 

Here's how to ensure everyone's voice is heard at work, even through a screen.

Would you manage your people differently if you had your next Sales Superstar sitting on the bench, ready to jump in?

What if you had a Talent Bank full of these talented people?

If you are like most leaders, you would probably hold your people more accountable for meeting expectations, and you would refuse to tolerate poor performance.

In a tight job market, finding candidates, qualifying them, conducting interviews, and hiring are all rushed and stressful.

Many managers are in the position of having open positions on their teams that they're desperate to fill and having candidates enter and leave the job market quickly, so having a well-thought-out interviewing plan is vital. Equally important is learning to look and listen for the talents necessary for success in sales.

Every business needs a skilled sales team to generate a positive ROI, but on-the-job performance is rarely the product of training alone. In fact, a marketing novice could keep up with an unengaged expert provided they use the right motivation and productivity strategies.

However, it’s much harder to motivate staff than it is to train them. There’s no one size fits all approach to motivational tactics, as every employee is unique and requires wildly different incentives to sell. Understanding these differences will allow you to use your talent effectively.

On a coaching call last week, a manager and I were discussing a seller new to his team. On pulling up this person’s sales assessment, all I could think was, “WOW! Look at all that talent!” This person was strong across the board.

So much potential.

Unfortunately, this seller was definitely not reaching their potential. Struggling, not making budget, not willing to learn, and a poor attitude. So, what was happening? Why was this highly talented person struggling, and is coaching them worth the effort?