The price of bad sales hiring

Many small to mid-sized companies live in La La Land when it comes to hiring salespeople. They hire from the gut until they are forced by competition or frustration to hire quality sales talent on a consistent basis. The result is reduced revenue growth and mediocrity. Being average as a salesperson is unacceptable and it has an adverse effect on the company.

It is difficult to make a real change until a catalyst rocks your world. What I am about to share with you is what is needed to spearhead that change in your company.

A note about hiring losers

On a philosophical note, let's be clear about one thing. No one is a born loser. Every human being, after all, has potential. Most just do not belong in sales. Unfortunately, CEOs, sales VPs, and HR professionals put people into roles that they are unsuited for. The management who hire people, many of whom are unfit for the job, are then termed rudely as 'losers'. The unfortunate reality is when you hire someone who does not fit the job, three things happen sooner or later.

Firstly, when you hire someone to do something that is completely against his nature, you become, believe it or not, morally wrong. Secondly, you are distracting that person from what his or her core competence is, almost forcing him or her to do something that is unsuitable to the person. Again, it is morally wrong. Thirdly, you sentence your company to reduced sales because of the weak salesperson's poor performance with your shareholders losing value. Again, this is wrong.

What's the lesson here? Stop hiring from the gut. Use a hiring scorecard. Use a multi-science sales personality and aptitude test with a benchmark.

Don't be the proverbial frog

You know the old adage - if you throw a frog in boiling water it will jump out quickly. But if you put a frog in a pot of cool water and gradually raise the temperature, it will make the frog sleepy and it will not jump out. You are the frog whether you like it or not. You have your business model figured out. Revenues are coming in quarter after quarter - perhaps with even a little growth. You are "fat and happy" - you are making more money than you thought you ever would.

Fat and happy syndrome is a dangerous mindset. When you are fat and happy, you change nothing. Your competitors sneak up on you, they innovate, and they take away your best customers.

Don't be the proverbial frog. Remember, unless you aggressively raise the bar for yourself through increased sales goals and real accountability for meeting or not meeting them, you are destined to become obsolete.

The five costs of bad sales hiring decisions:

• Damage to your sales culture
• Damage to your brand reputation
• Damage to your own reputation
• Turnover costs
• Missed sales opportunities

When you hire salespeople who lose your culture loses. No one wants a losing sales culture yet many hire people who cannot sell. The result -you get precisely what you do not want, a losing sales culture. Weak salesmen are like "kryptonite" to sales wolves (high performers) who in turn start dwindling and don't stay motivated.

No company can afford that.

Once the damage is done, it is difficult to turn around a losing sales culture. When you have a salesman with a poor track record representing your brand in the marketplace, your brand soon becomes tarnished. Your prospects and customers essentially get robbed. Your prospects and customers want more than just a product and/or service. They want your ideas. They want to be engaged. They want "iron to sharpen iron".

The author is Vikas Chawla, co-founder, Social Beat. Re-printed with permission.
Link: http:// www.socialbeat.in/2015/01/12/advanced-facebook-advertising-techniques-implement-2015/