There is a fable about a scorpion hoping to cross a river and a frog agreeing to help him. The frog is afraid of being stung during the trip, but the scorpion smoothly explains away his past and points out that if he were to sting the frog, they both would sink and drown. The frog accepts the scorpion's word and begins carrying the scorpion across the river. Midway across, the scorpion does indeed sting the frog. When asked why he would sting the frog, the scorpion points out that this is his nature.
As I talk to business owners and hear how they want to hire new salespeople and regain momentum in the marketplace, I get to see this same story played out over and over. Too often the salespeople they are interviewing have washed out of other companies or job hopped away from positions as draws and guarantees expired. In other words, their history has proven that they will not prospect or cannot close. Perhaps they cannot uphold margins or will never shorten their sales cycle.
Now all decent salespeople can look good in an interview and, with some smoke and mirrors, can make themselves seem like unfortunate victims of tough situations. And sometimes they are. Too often though, these salespeople get hired, repeat their prior sales behavior, and end up sinking and failing in their new positions because, like the scorpion, that is just their nature.
Our clients have the opportunity to short circuit the cycle of bad sales hires. They learn a structure to model the ideal candidate. They get the tools to screen for both sales strengths and weaknesses. And they have techniques to fully discover a salesperson's true nature before they make a bad and expensive hire that will sting the business and sink the owner's hopes of finally finding the person who can really allow the company to grow.
Ready to hire, but do not want to rely on a simple interview to find the right person?
We should talk.
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Contact: Matt Nettleton, Sandler Training, DTB at matt.nettleton@sandler.com or 317-695-8549.
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