Let’s face it: Finding a topnotch salesperson is difficult. Because they are in short supply, the demand is high.
If you are running a smaller business, you must compete with larger companies that can offer a generous benefit package, paid expenses, and a comfortable salary. If you want to keep a good salesperson, you will need to treat them right and give them the opportunity to make a great living.
In conducting an interview, you need to make judgments about the personality of your prospective employee. Fortunately there are some characteristics to look for during this process:
Charisma. Some people have a naturally charming, likeable, and charismatic personality. These qualities are difficult to define and certainly cannot be quantified. They are, however, easy to recognize when you encounter someone with these characteristics.
Confidence. Selling is not for snowflakes. Great salespeople believe in themselves, their company, and their abilities to provide prospective customers with unique business solutions and value.
I can instruct salespeople about the technical aspects of vinyl graphics design, manufacturing, and installation. I can teach them how to conduct a fleet graphics survey or needs appraisal. Yet I can’t teach confidence. It is an inherent personality characteristic.
The best that you can do is to provide your employees with encouragement. In interviewing sales candidates, the type of personality that you should look for in a salesperson is one that is self-assured without being arrogant, pushy, or obnoxious.
Perseverance. Salespeople usually experience a great deal of rejection. Successful salespeople don’t take rejection personally and can get up off the ground after losing a sale to a competitor and move on to the next opportunity. Great salespeople also discipline themselves to follow up on opportunities.
If a candidate hasn’t developed a good follow-up procedure for himself, they’ll likely let several opportunities slip between the cracks.
Competitiveness. Successful sales people generally have Type-A personalities versus the laid-back Type-Bs. They usually have a very competitive nature.
Generally assertive people have participated in team sports rather than being the type of person that sits in the stands observing. What activities does your sales candidate participate in? What awards has he or she achieved? Successful salespeople are goal-oriented, motivated by commissions, and want to win sales contests.
Commitment. Effective salespeople feel that sales is their calling. Too many apply for a sales job because they desperately need a job or view it as a stepping stone in their climb to a management position. These people ultimately want to be someone’s boss rather than being on the streets in the thick of the fray. In their heart of hearts, they’re just going through the motions until something better comes along.
On the Job
When a salesperson fails, it’s usually as much of your failure as an employer as it is theirs as an employee.
In some cases, you may have hired someone who is just not cut out for sales. More likely than not, an employer has not provided a salesperson with the right training, the right guidance, or the right marketing support for them to be successful.
When I was hired for my first vinyl graphics sales job, the training was extensive. For three weeks, I worked in each of the departments in the shop. During the fourth week, my hands-on training continued at a trailer manufacturer, where I installed vinyl graphics.
The final phase of training involved joint sales calls with several veteran salesmen. Obviously this initial indoctrination to the business of printed graphics didn’t make me an expert in the field. It did, however, serve as an invaluable foundation upon which I could build on my industry knowledge.
Most young salespeople do receive the benefit of this type of education from their employer. Generally, after a few days in the shop, many are set loose on the streets to fend for themselves. Should you be surprised when they fail to make the grade?
Whether you hire experienced salespeople or newbies, you must devote a considerable amount of time, early in their employment, travelling with them until they get up and running.
No matter how experienced your salespeople are, you cannot provide any meaningful training or guidance from behind a desk. It just doesn’t work! This holds true even if you form an agreement with an independent rep who has years of experience.
Conclusion
The graphics market is a business of details. To get new salespeople up and running, you’ll need to spend a significant amount of time with them out in the field.
If they have never sold graphics before, they will need to see how to conduct a vehicle or site survey and listen to you as you interview a prospect.
If you have hired well, they’ll pick up on the questions that you ask and the words that you use, and eventually they’ll make your sales techniques their own sales techniques.
—Jim Hingst
