Hiring and Training of New Sales Staff
How do you train your sales personnel? Perhaps a better question would be…Do you train your sales personnel? As silly as this may sound a lot of organizations hire a salesperson and tell them to go get it. I have personally dealt with such an organization and this was considered the norm. Why? Because they have always done it this way! I suspect a lot of individuals have heard this comment from other organizations.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
How do you train your sales personnel? Perhaps a better question would be…Do you train your sales personnel? As silly as this may sound a lot of organizations hire a salesperson and tell them to go get it. I have personally dealt with such an organization and this was considered the norm. Why? Because they have always done it this way! I suspect a lot of individuals have heard this comment from other organizations.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
Past experience has shown me that the normal way a lot of small companies hire salespeople is by word of mouth or recommendation from a friend or customer. More times than not this method is flawed from the beginning. Depending upon your industry or product offering you may have experienced something like the following dialogue.
Question: “Do you know anyone you would recommend for a job”?
Answer: “Yeah, Joe has been with me forever and he needs to make more money and I cannot afford to pay him. He would be great for your job. OR
Question: I need to hire a new salesperson to call on your account and several others in this area. Do you know anyone who would be a good fit?
Answer: Why yes, my son (Daughter) is looking for a job and they know this business well. They will make a great salesperson.(Watch out for this landmine)
There are many more examples but hopefully, you get the picture. Why do we as business owners or managers spend so little time hiring the individuals who will represent us in the marketplace? Keep in mind I am not speaking of Fortune 500 organizations because companies in this arena spend a lot of money and hours interviewing and investigating. Small or medium sized businesses sometimes do not believe they have the time or money to recruit and hire properly. This is a tragic mistake.
The mistake is compounded when after hiring a warm body for the position the owner, sales manager or whoever is available may train the new employee for at least 2 days. Sometimes this training takes place in a distribution center where the new employee may be subjected to negative comments from various individuals. Perhaps if the new employee is lucky he will be placed with a marginal salesperson and told to ride around with him or her for a few days. The marginal salesperson is chosen because the top performers do not want to be bothered nor do they want to give away any “secrets.” The marginal salesperson knows all of the right language to use on a sales call and he will be everyone’s best friend. A lot of coffee may be consumed and a lot of the world’s problems may be solved but your products will not be sold and the new employee will learn quickly how to perform bad habits.
Should the new employee be astute enough to ask he or she may inquire as to sales manuals, product sheets, account information sheets etc. A typical organization will have some of these items but not all. New employees may receive all manner of explanations as to why the territory has not much available information. The employee may even be told that the lack of information and performance is the reason he was hired. He has to turn this train wreck around. Not wanting to appear timid the new salesperson will gather up as much bravado as possible and shout to the rooftops how he will be the savior for whom the company has been looking. All the while he may be thinking, what kind of mess have I gotten myself into?
The owner or sales manager most likely will sit back and wait for the rain to fall from the sky because this new salesperson told everyone he is the best thing since sliced bread and he will show the existing sales force how to make hay when the sun shines. ( Pardon the use of metaphors.) Reality will set in around the 60th day of employment when the new salesperson has done very little to earn his keep (with good reason) and the owner or manager will begin to get a little nervous. At this point the owner of my old company used to tell me to “put them on the get well program.” Translated this meant to reduce their draw from a living wage to starvation wages. This move usually achieved the desired result. The new salesperson quit and the process began anew. By the way, at this juncture the adage defining madness as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, needs to be stamped on a decision maker’s forehead.
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