Congratulations! You are expanding, business is going well, almost too well. Time to hire someone into the business to help with sales. Maybe this is the first time you’ve done that. Finally you’ll be able to off-load the selling bit to someone else, leaving you to run the business.
But how can you be sure the person you are hiring is going to do well for you? Their CV looks great. Their answers to your carefully-crafted interview questions were masterful. They’ve shown initiative in keeping in touch during the interview process. You know why they want to work for you. Their psychometric assessment hasn’t been a disaster area.
The answer is, you can’t be totally sure. So long as you have found evidence of the Skills, Experience, Attitude, Results, Cognitive abilities and Habits (SEARCH) you’ve been looking for, and they are someone you feel will fit your team and culture, then you have to take the gamble.
But here’s the thing. Having hired slowly, be prepared to fire fast. Work out a detailed on-boarding programme with them, keep a close eye on them, support them as best you can (through supervising, training and coaching). But if they come back with excuses instead of following the minimum agreed plan (MAP), then you have to be prepared to accept that they are not in the right place. They might do well somewhere else, just not with you. I’ve seen so many business owners hang on to awful salespeople for way too long. More than a year sometimes. The directors just haven’t wanted to face up to the mistake. They didn’t want to go through all that hiring process over again, preferring to hope the salesperson would come good and the promises being made to them were not pure fiction.
So, well done, you’ve got your new salesperson. Now the hard work begins. Look after them, but remember what they are there for- to bring you business and solve problems for your clients and prospects.
If you’d like help in recruiting, hiring, on-boarding, managing or training your next salesperson and your HQ is in Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Hampshire or Kent, contact me at pglynn@sandler.com
Paul Glynn
Sandler trainer
