By Neal Glatt

Without a doubt, the fastest way to grow a business in our industry is to hire an all-star salesperson.  The right one annually adds hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars to a company’s revenue with profitability built in.  But more often than not, managers trust the wrong person to try and sell, leading to poor results.  Here’s what to look for in a salesperson…

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The most important thing in hiring a salesperson is their will to sell.  Do they even like selling?  Does this person believe that they are capable of selling?  That the service we offer is quality?  That our firm is best positioned to meet customer needs?  Salespeople also have to believe that they are in control of their results and take 100% responsibility for their behaviors and outcomes.  When they do, and are personally highly motivated, they are willing to put in the hard work to sell.

Next, successful salespeople have to have “Sales DNA”.  This concept, created by Objective Management Group, incorporates the innate beliefs that enable salespeople to sell.  Things like being comfortable discussing money, ability to handle rejection, wherewithal to handle objections, and practicing behaviors that support sales outcomes.  While these can be developed, they are often deeply-rooted beliefs that take a tremendous amount of effort to change.

Finally, successful salespeople are competent in the behaviors that are required for the job.  They know how to and regularly hunt for business opportunities.  They reach decision-makers.  They uncover budgets.  These people build relationships quickly, ask great questions, and consultatively sell their services in a way that helps people buy.  They follow a process, use sales technology, and know how to close deals.

All together, in these three categories, there are more than 170 distinct things that make salespeople great.  Unfortunately, discovering someone’s aptitude on all these metrics in an interview is impossible.  That’s why we use a sales candidate assessment to make sure candidates have the potential to exceed sales goals.  It’s so good that recommended candidates become top performers within six months of hiring 92% of the time and the process is guaranteed.

If you have a sales person that needs to be better, register today for our two-day Snowfighters Institute Forum For Sales event happening May 22-23 in Milford, MA hosted by Caterpillar.  We’ll be diving deep to improve all aspects of selling and can take your selling skills from good to great nearly overnight.  It’s also an amazing opportunity to orient new salespeople to the industry and get more results faster.

If you’re looking to grow fast by hiring a salesperson or considering promoting someone in your company to the role, don’t risk it on a gut feeling.  Email Neal@GrowTheBench.com or call him at (616) 920-0373 to learn more about implementing the proven assessment process to hire a salesperson that will drive real results.