Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/63983
SALES MANAGEMENT Recruiting, Teaching,Management & Compensation of Salespeople BYGRAYSON SCHWEPFINGER With signs that the industry is slowly starting to come back I have decided to write a series of arti- cles covering the 4 topics mentioned in the title of the series. If you are amanager, or planning on being one, even if you are not planning on hiring right now I would suggestmaking copies of this series and keep it somewhere safe for use when you do decide to hire! I will share with you over 50 years of expe- rience in finding quality salespeople and how to make sure they are most productive and stay with you. Every company turns over the most precious commodity it has customers to salespeople! Despite the critical nature of their role, the num- ber one problem of every sales organization in the USAis finding and hiring good salespeople!Why? We go about it incorrectly! What should we do instead? First, realizing the finding and hiring profes- sional salespeople is not easy. What I'm going to suggest will take a lot of work. Before I go any fur- ther letme give you 10 reasons why I think the ef- fort is worth it. 1. Enhances reputation of your business. Peo- ple view your business through the experience they have with your people. The better the people ex- perience the better they feel about doing business with you. 2. More customer satisfaction. Professional salespeople don't make promises they know they can't keep just to make the sale. 3. Enthusiasm becomes contagious. Profes- sionals are fun to be around. They make you feel good about yourself and where you work. 4. Professionals are teachable and eager to learn more. Professionals know they are never too old to learn, so they do. 5. Understand selling conceptually. They not only know what works in selling, they know why it works so they can maximize the use of the tech- nique. MAY 2012 28 THE JOURNAL 6. Self disciplined and require less supervision. You don't have to kick start professionals every morning in order to get them to work. You also don't have to look over their shoulder to see if they are being productive, they do that to them- selves. 7.Higher closing ratios. Because they are pro- fessionals they will use the proper selling program and therefore close more of the people they talk to. You don't waste money advertising only to have the prospect show up and walk away not sold. 8. Less discounting. Professionals don't have to give your profits away in order to sell. They know how to justify the price! 9.More prospecting. When traffic is slow they will prospect to create some. They also will follow up prospects and not let them buy from a com- petitor. 10. Less turnover. Professionals that are mak- ing a top dollar are less likely to job hop. The cardinal rule for finding professional sales- people is recruit, recruit, and then recruit some more. However, do not actively recruit con- stantly. You don't have time. Instead set re- cruiting periods... quarterly or semiannually. Consider recruiting right before your busy seasons so you are prepared for them with a full staff. Do everything at once to draw the largest pool of prospects possible, play the odds! Which is your best chance of finding the right person, 1 out of 25 applications or 1 out of 2? The information in this series will work whether you are considering hiring one salesperson or a dozen. Following are 6 rules for successful prospecting. 1. Don't wait until the last minute when you have a vacancy and need a salesperson right away. You will end up hiring somebody just because they breath and then 90 days later have to go through the whole process again! Take the time to do it right! 2. Take the time to make a list of what you are looking for in a salesperson then set up a rejection system. If they don't qualify, don't hire them. Don't hire the best of the losers. A good time to find a winner, they are out there. 3. Look for sales skills in every person you hire, no matter what the job is, including service peo- ple, secretaries, etc. Everyone in your organiza- tion that has contact with your customers as a sales person whether you and they realize it or not. The way they treat your prospect is selling the way the prospect feels about your company. If you higher- quality sales people don't have their efforts de- stroyed by a secretary or servicemen that offends the prospect. 4. Although you should promote from within whenever possible you should also prospect out- side of your organization or industry for replace- ment people and when growing your sales staff. 5. At the end of any interview taking into con- sideration the prospects appearance, vocabulary, manners, do you trust them, etc. and ask your- self, "Would I buy from this person?" If you won't, chances are neither will your prospect. 6. Put the emphasis on their track record! Peo- ple don't change overnight. What they have done in the past is a good indicator of what they will continue to do in the future. Get a list of every- body they've ever worked for and when you have narrowed down the list to people you are seriously considering hiring their previous employers and ask for their opinion. So much for this article I will continue next month with more details. Until then – GOOD SELLING! T J Grayson Schwepfinger is a nationally known speaker and member of the manufactured home Hall of Fame. He specializes in sales and sales management training and can be reached for comments or more information at his e-mail schwep1@aol.com or his phone 610 533 4969.