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Beyond the challenge of establishing an applicant's values
and interaction style - topics we've examined in previous articles -- there
remains, for hiring managers, the key issue of whether or not a given candidate
has the skills to sell as a true superstar, what I call a Titan. If there is a
skills mismatch -- if the person you're interviewing lacks the essential
abilities to sell as a top performer -- then you've got to decide whether or not
the person's existing aptitudes support growth in the key areas.
Old-school selling put the emphasis on prospecting, presenting, influencing, and
closing. Titan selling, on the other hand - the kind I examine at length in my
book The Titan Principle® -- places the emphasis on one's ability to gain a
prospect's time and attention, and to positioning oneself as an invaluable
resource by means of questions posed during the interviewing (or qualifying)
stage.
Good candidates for Titan salespeople, then, are likely to show strong abilities
to leave a superior first impression (and thereby gain time and attention) and
to be adept at the "give-and-take" of the interview. This is not to
say that Titans don't try to close the sale, but that their emphasis on initial
contact and direction-oriented questioning will change the nature of their
relationships with prospects and customers. Influencing and closing are likely
to arise naturally, almost in the form of an invitation from the customer,
because the Titan salesperson has positioned himself or herself as an invaluable
resource from the beginning of the relationship onwards.
Be on the lookout, then, for superior bonding and networking skills early on in
your interview with the salesperson. Beware, in particular, of short, curt
responses to initial questions, extremely long discourses meant to display the
applicant's superior product knowledge, or an unwillingness to engage in
in-depth role playing exercises with you. Each of these behaviors may be a sign
that the person you're interviewing does not (yet) possess aptitudes in the key
areas of first impressions or direction-based questioning. (This applicant may
be adept at prospecting, presenting, influencing, and closing -- but the
relationships he or she initiates with customers are unlikely to be focused on
the "ideal fit," and may result in little long-term loyalty.)
Turning Your Current Staff Into Titans
At
my company, Karr Associates Inc., we always urge our clients to profile their
current sales force in terms of behaviors, values and skills. The information
gleaned from these profiles will answer many of your current questions about
your team's performance, and give you ideas about what kinds of training and
coaching are likely to help you help individual salespeople achieve Titan
results.
The odds are that you've already invested huge amounts of money in hiring and
training your current salespeople. Can a modest change or two deliver
exceptional increases in sales effectiveness? Our experience is that the answer
to that question is often "Yes." Sometimes, the simple act of moving a
salesperson from one area to another - making the change from an inside position
to a territory development position, for instance -- may be all that's necessary
to deliver dramatic increases in sales. To find out more about profiling your
current sales staff, call Karr Associates Inc. at the number you'll find at the
end of this article.
Sometimes, profiling indicates that a given salesperson either isn't cut out to
be successful in sales, or isn't likely to emerge as a Titan performer. What
happens next in this situation, of course, is up to you.
Here's to the Titans waiting to be developed in your organization!
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