When I was interviewing for my first sales leadership role, I will always remember one question the VP asked me in the final interview. "What do you think is the #1 focus area in this role?"
"Activity," I answered, thinking I had it nailed. Everyone knew sales was all about activity.
"No," he said. I starred back in shock. "Sh*t!" I thought to myself, "I f*cked this up."
"Development" I said quickly looking for a mulligan. "Wrong again" he said.
He went on to tell me the that #1 priority for any sales leader in his organization was recruiting. "You can spend all of your time and energy trying to coach C players into B players, or you can go build a team of A players."
As I would learn over the next two years in the role, he could not be more right. This was over 10 years ago, it is even more true today. Top sales people are in high demand with huge comp plans and stock packages thrown at them every month from your top competitors and startups, while the C players on your team can drain your energy and patience as you try to coach them up to meet your minimum expectations.
"Always Be Recruiting" became my mantra, but the next hurdle was learning how to source and evaluate talent. With this goal in mind, I would highly recommend the book "Who: The A Method for Hiring." The main takeaway is that you need to have a defined process and system for your recruiting, which eliminates the emotional pressures that leaders often feel victim to during the process.
A critical component to this process is creating your "scorecard" to ensure you are evaluating all of your candidates based on the same criteria that you have determined to be necessary to be successful in the role. Here is peak into my mindset and the criteria I use to evaluate candidates.
When I interview Sales Reps, I write down these 6 words on their resume and go to work.
Messaging
Can they passionately message a value prop? I ask all late stage candidates to submit a short video pitch, the results can be eye opening
Activity
Do their expectations align with yours? If you expect 5 new meetings/wk and they do 2 in their current role, are they up for the change of pace?
Performance:
Top Reps overachieve consistently. The Club Trip winner from 2014 who got the “bad patch” at his last 3 stops is not your guy.
Loyalty:
Sales is hard, does this person bail at the first sign of adversity? I need to see consistent 3yr+ stints. You invest a lot in your people before they fully contribute.
Operational Command:
Do they manage their territory like a franchise owner with keen awareness into the weekly metrics needed to be successful?
Champions:
Do they build meaningful relationships? I am not talking about getting the CIO drunk on the golf course. I am talking tangible relationships that transcend employers and deliver mutual value. Candidates who succeed here have plenty of stories.
It’s tough to find good people, but don’t get lazy when you hire. Know what good looks like for your organization and stick to a process.
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