In my last post, Sales Productivity And The Tower of Babel, I discussed Sales Managers that believe they should only hire candidates with experience because it relieves them of the need to train. In this post I'd like to visit the Sales Managers at the other end of the spectrum that are so frustrated with training seasoned professionals that they will only hire inexperienced sales candidates.
They tell me, "I never hire someone with experience, because they have too many bad habits to unlearn. It's easer to train someone from scratch."
Is that true? Is it really easer to train someone with no experience than someone with experience?
Lets think about this.
The new hire with no sales experience has to develop the following knowledge and/or skills in order to become productive and effective:
- the industry
- the products
- competitors and their products
- value proposition(s)
- sales terminology
- sales process
- buying process
- sales methodology
- prospecting/marketing
- setting appointments
- opening the initial meeting with prospect
- evaluating the prospects situation
- asking high impact business questions
- the decision-making process
- who has power and influence
- what's the sense of urgency
- prioritizing the objectives
- putting together the solution
- constructing the presentation
- presentation and demonstration skills
- handling objections
- negotiating
- preparing the proposal
- preparing the contract
- following up to build satisfaction
- obtaining referrals
- managing the pipeline
- managing their opportunities
- managing the territory
- managing existing accounts
- organizing their day
- sales metrics and what they mean
- using sales tools
- navigating your companies internal departments and systems
- completing administrative requirements
Depending on your industry and how complex the solutions you're selling are, it may take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years to become a high-performance sales professional. Is this easier than training and developing a seasoned sales professional? More importantly, is this even a question we should be focused on?
Lets extend this logic into the future a bit further. So now its 2-5 years down the road. You have this crack hand picked sales team trained and developed by you. They're consistent quota busters and every year the company reserves a seat for you and most of your team at President's Club.
This year the national sales team is assembled in Orlando, Florida for the annual national sales meeting. The President/CEO walks on stage and thanks everyone for a good year in tough times. Then she drops the bomb, the company is shifting its focus to position itself for future growth:
- the target market is changing
- one of the main solutions has reached the end of the product life cycle and is being phased out
- new solutions are being introduced - with a new value proposition
- several divisions are merging, others are being eliminated
- implementing an enterprise CRM
- success metrics and compensation are being realigned with the new strategy
In short, the selling world that you and your team know so well just evaporated in a blink of an eye.
Now what?
Lets stop and think about the original premise that experienced sales professionals have too many bad habits (which were the good habits just a few short months ago) and its easer to train new inexperienced candidates. The solution to achieving the previous level of sales productivity and effectiveness in the face of this massive disruptive change, is to fire the sales team and start over.
The chances of senior management buying that strategy is slim to none. In fact, if you presented that idea the only one getting fired would be you.
If neither of the two hiring extremes (only hire experienced sales professionals so you don't have to train or only hire inexperienced sales professionals because they don't have bad habits and are easer to train) is not the answer to building a high-performance sales team, then what is?
Think long and hard about your answer, because the next person you hire is the future of your company and your career.
11 comments:
Having recently been through this problem at work, I can honestly say that we have tried it both ways. As a small business owner I have found that my "Sales Department" is the sales person that I hire. Hiring someone with no experience was my plan so that I could train to our way of doing things. Well over 10 years I've learned that this method only works when I can TEAM that NEWBIE up with a SEASONED Sales Professional.
Yes, I agree. Sales is hard to get into :P
Hi Martice,
Many interesting points, I would go further in saying that together with all the technical and theoretical elements of training there are some people that are naturally more adept than others. My partner is a photography and art teacher and she teaches theory and practice to numerous students but only a few have the natural ability, inclination and personality to perform at high standard.
The same can be said for sales people, you may have to go through a conveyor belt of many people to find that person that has the right character to accept the challenge in a sales environment. If the odds of finding a new talent out of raw materials would be 1 in 20 people, how many weeks of training in the 19 others would you go through in finding out whether these people were up to the challenge?
Great post and I think it depends on the person that you hire.
It depends really on the the industry and their vision/mission.
But I think, unexperienced applicants must also be given fair chance during job application, especially if he/she has potentials.
How can these unexperienced people become experienced if we don't give them the chance?
Great post Martice. As someone who works with both Boomers and Gen Yers, I truly appreciate the experience that someone in the trenches can bring to the table.
Martice,
This is one of the best posts I've see in a year.
By the way, we've researched the managers that say it's easier to train someone from scratch. You know what? They generally do a lousy job of training. So much so that only one in five newbies are still with their first company after a year.
GREAT post! There are so many cliches in hiring sales professionals. Only hire people with industry experience, only hire experienced managers, only hire inexperienced sales people. Its a wonder anyone gets hired!
I have found that the best sales people are usually where you least expect to find them. The simple answer is to hire the best people you can afford and be prepared to train them to be better.
I am also a firm believer that truly talented sales professionals can easily transition from field to field with few problems given that they are properly trained. When hiring sales people and sales managers it is really people skills you should be looking for. the technical stuff can easily be learned bu most intelligent people.
-Brad
Martice,
This is a very thought provoking post. It applies to more than just sales people. The same thoughts are used when hiring other employees.
I'm glad I'm not in human resource management.
Interesting point of view. It probably depends a great deal on what you are trying to sell. If the field is very technical, you're going to need to hire someone with at least some technical expertise. Otherwise, a newbie who shows good people skills might be worth taking a chance on.
Nice Post, I agree with u
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