Another challenge is taking transactional salespeople and putting them in a long sales cycle. Some salespeople are better at more frequent sales rhythms, whereas others are better at working on bigger deals over long periods of time.
Are Great Salespeople Born or Made?
I am often asked if great selling ability is something that people are born with or whether training is necessary. Without a doubt, there are great intuitive salespeople with innate abilities (see Figure 4–2).
Dave Sample, a long-time client of ours, now at Blackboard, summed up the problem like this: “Heroics don’t scale.” Yes, there are people who can do this intuitively, but there aren’t enough of them. You have to find them and you have to grow them.
Not only that, but intuitive salespeople are unconscious about their competence. If your sales model is different from their experience, they may not be able to adapt because often they are good but don’t know why.
So both hiring and training are important. But what can we change in a person, and what is in a person that is too difficult or time-consuming to try to change?
The nature versus nurture question has been the subject of many stories over the years, as in the movies Wall Street and The Firm, for example. In both stories, the main character was tempted to actions outside their basic principles, with grave consequences, only to find their true character in the end.
In Figure 4–2, it can be seen that there are things in a person’s DNA and in their early development—intelligence, personality, core values—that are very hard to change. And a person may change behavior a little for a little while. But if that change is at odds with the person’s inner fiber, eventually, they will snap back or be ineffective because their heart is really not in their actions. Thus these inner core traits are what you should really focus on in your hiring. In my experience, people usually have to bring these things with them.
The next layer out—goals, habits, and principles — are drivers of action and daily choices. If these are to be changed in a person, they need to be changed within the first 90 days of when the person is hired. The company may set a goal or principle for a person on the outer ring of the figure, but if that goal or principle is not owned in the person’s heart, the result is usually a weak or false effort and ultimately, replacement.
Heroics don’t scale.There are people who do this intuitively, but there aren’t enough of them. You have to find them and you have to grow them.
Knowledge, skills, experience, and attitude are the things that enable a person to accomplish his or her goals or job. Obviously, these can be trained and managed by rewards. The rest of the figure includes the many areas management can address to direct short-term behaviors.
Notice how far inside we have placed habits. This is where the subconscious overrides the conscious. Changing organizational behavior often means changing individual behavior, which often takes time and consistency.
It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse anything but the best, you very often get it.
Based on experience, I have identified 10 different elements that need to be considered when hiring a successful salesperson, sales manager, or anybody for that matter. Most of my first interviews last either 30 minutes or two hours. Before I hire a salesperson or principal for our firm, I meet with him or her for at least eight hours—two of which are outside the office at dinner.
In the United States, HR managers are very nervous about the types of questions asked in interviews for fear of litigation. In reality, lawsuits probably are cheaper than bad hires. (A statement such as this usually sends HR managers right through the roof.) The problem is that the cost of bad hires is invisible and the cost of litigation is very visible. The truth is that bad hire costs, as we have discussed, are very expensive.
Each one of these elements has a number of questions that will help you to drill down past the standard questions to find the right things you’re looking for. We have to get through what they’ve done and what they seem to be to who they really are.
Personal Accountability
As you would blame others, blame yourself; As you would forgive yourself, forgive others.
This may be the single most important element in hiring successful people. Some people would rather fix the blame than fix the problem. How do you uncover this tendency? First, it’s always “them,” never “me.” “It’s the product”; “It’s my manager”; “It’s support resources”; and so on. In all behavior modification—from 12-stepping to weight loss—you have to own the problem. Some people find an excuse, whereas others find a way.
Life is a grindstone. Whether it sharpens you up or wears you down depends on what you are made of.
One researcher asked a set of twins—one a successful physician and the other a derelict—the same question: “What contributed most to where you are in life?”
Both answered,“Well, what would you expect from the son of an alcoholic?”
One used his background as an excuse.The other used it as a driver.
Life is a grindstone. Whether it sharpens you up or wears you down depends on what you are made of.
My favorite interview question is, “When did you become an adult and how did you know?” This will tell you when the person took personal accountability for their life.
Most successful people have an answer for this question. For some, it was a memorable event, such as the death of a parent. For others, it was a series of events, such as when they went away to college, when they got married, or when they had their first child. Or it may have been when they got their first job or when they took charge of their spiritual life.
Joe Terry is one of our principals and one of the top 10 salespeople I have ever known. I interviewed him for over eight hours, including dinner. About halfway through a bottle of wine, I asked him the “when did you become an adult” question.
He knew the answer very clearly.
He said, “I was orphaned at an early age and was raised by an aunt and uncle. They sent me off to military school when I was a teenager. The first night there, the other kids ganged up on me and beat me with ramrods. I knew then and there that I could only look to myself.”
My friend, Rusty Gordon, CEO of Knowlagent, grew up in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. He was so poor that they didn’t even have a well for drinking water.
While bailing hay for horses with his father one day, his dad said, “You know, son, our plan has always been to pay for your upbringing, pay for your college, and then you would be on your own for a while and eventually we would probably have to count on you when we are older.”
“Yes Dad.”
“Well, son, your part of the plan is going to need to kick in a little earlier than we thought.”
That meant not only was Rusty to go to college, but he had to support himself while there and prepare to help others.
He got himself into the Naval Academy and has since started — and run — several successful hightech companies, never forgetting that personal accountability is a requirement for personal success.
Purpose
The secret of success is constancy of purpose.
Some people are driven by sibling rivalry, others by the threat of poverty, and others by achievement. Still others are seeking a parent’s approval or are driven by their own insecurity or self-image. What does this individual consider to be his purpose in life? How does this individual’s purpose align with the goals of the organization? What plans has he made to accomplish these goals and fulfill this purpose? Or is the person drifting through life like the feather in the movie Forrest Gump?
The point is that successful people are driven by something. And it’s usually not just the money — it’s what the money brings. The point is that they are driven by a purpose and that it aligns with the job.