The CEO’s Secret To Hiring Sales People- Stop That!

by | June 24, 2014

Blog written by Dave Mantel, ACME Sales Development


Just Stop That! Yes… THAT! Cut it out already!

I’m talking about falling in love – falling in love with people who appear to be able to sell. You do it over and over and aren’t getting results. You meet them, begin the dance, fall in love, bring them into your company and they don’t sell anything for you. It’s expensive and it wastes a bunch of time.

It happens this way” You get approached by someone with a great brand. Perhaps you already know the person’s name and the person says they want to come to work for you. It’s very flattering and the person will be very convincing. They have clients representing a substantial increase in revenue. It’s a slam dunk.

…until you hire the person.

This is when you find out the salesperson (now YOUR salesperson) doesn’t seem to be able to bring those clients to you. Your salesperson also can’t seem to bring new business. About 9 months in you’re wondering what the heck happened and you begin to question all sorts of things, not only about your salesperson, but about your company as well.

What happened? You fell in love and before you were able to determine if that person could do the job you needed, you hired them.

My suggestion? Make the last time the last time once and for all. Put in place a world-class, sales-specific recruiting program which helps you identify and source the candidates who will do the job – first and foremost. Add to that the right tools which will hold you accountable to interviewing only the kind of candidate you indicate you want to hire.

Once you have the facts in place, feel free to fall in love, get married and travel the world together… as long as it’s with a person you know will sell for you.

Mozel Tov!