In our work with clients, sales managers frequently report that coaching is a key responsibility of their role and something that they enjoy doing. They derive important job satisfaction from their coaching interactions, specifically those interactions in which they feel able to shape, develop and encourage performance. Coloured by this glow of good feeling, it…
As a teenager I had a heck of a time learning this lesson and I wasn’t different than any of the guys that I knew. We often tripped over ourselves to get the attention of, or accommodate, the girls we liked. I was a slow learner… I married at 29. Recruitment, we have defined in…
Great sales managers are worth their weight in Gold. What they get done through others is the lifeblood of the organization – sales. The formula for sales management is simple not easy. 1. Recruit, Recruit, Recruit We like to say that 90% of the nasty attitudinal issues that we see on dysfunctional sales teams ca…
We love to incorporate testing into the Selection Processes that we build. The addition of tests can be very easy – not really time consuming – and the benefits are significant. Tests can help you gain valuable insights into aptitudes and personal preferences, but most of all they offer a chance to check your biases.…
Don’t we all wish that we could see into the future at times? In sales, the attempt to look into the future is a constant – and consistent – practice among top performers. Call it what you will, anticipation, projection or calculated guess, top performers do it intuitively, frequently and accurately. The dividend forecasts pay…
I’m not sure that this article relates to all jobs, but in my experience in sales and sales management , I say optimism is essential to the success of a salesperson. Ok, optimism is not the silver bullet. It can’t stand in for brains. It can’t be a substitute for hard work. It can’t be…
Most of the top sales performers that we have ever met are maniacal about their focus. They don’t waste time. But the curious thing is that the intensity of this focus is often masked by what comes across as great “people” skills. They just seem to make everything happen so smoothly. We see four simple…
If you have managed sales for more than a month, you are familiar with the desire to know about what your salespeople are doing. This desire is most likely bread not of the interest in knowing what your top producers are doing, only the interest confirming your suspicions about what the bottom producers are not…
In a previous entry relating to the Screening Interview I described what I feel are the only two objectives for this meeting: Determine whether or not a candidate has the basic capacity to do the job; Determine if the “chemistry” you and the team would have with the candidate The right capacity and chemistry means…
The first step of our seven step selection process begins with screening. This initial part of the process offers a transition where your “recruits” become “candidates”. This first step has only two objectives: Determine whether or not a candidate has the basic capacity to do the job; Determine the “chemistry” you and the team would…