Recruitment is not my speciality, but then recruitment isn't the speciality of any sales professional or sales manager. Isn't it? I thought that HR was meant to be in charge of recruiting, but then who am I to say, I only help in selling products and services, why should I care? ......
Well perhaps you should. After reading "Topgrading for Sales", one of the realities that I was faced with was the absolute calamity that recruiting the wrong people could mean for a business. To summarise the book, "Topgrading for Sales" is a manual for sales managers who wish to improve their sales figures by hiring the best people or "A players" to achieve them. Not perhaps an altogether new idea you may wonder, but what struck me upon reading this book was the inefficiency in most hiring processes today.
I could write more on what this book offers, but I felt that to get a better idea of where "Topgrading for Sales" works, I would have to go to the source. So, I asked a few questions of Greg Alexander, one of the authors of the book and CEO of Sales Benchmark Index.
A. A recession provides a sales manager the opportunity to zig while others zag. Companies will look to control selling expenses and therefore cut back on compensation, rewards, and promotion opportunities for their top sales people. This is the time to proactively reach out to the best in your field and take their temperature. Position your company as being unique in that, regardless of the economy, A players are always welcomed and rewarded at your firm.
A. There is an old saying in sales management "bad breath is better than no breath". Sales managers are rewarded on the sum total of their team's production. Therefore, if a territory is open, they want to fill it as quickly as possible and often compromise on the quality of the interview. A warm body in the seat is thought to be a better solution than waiting for the A player. As you can see in the book, this is not true. The cost of a mis-hire is very severe.
A. According to Sales Benchmark Index's database of over 12,000 companies, 52% of the sales expense budget is tied up in direct staffing costs. Therefore, hiring the right people has a disproportionate affect on Return on Sales, the ultimate measure of sales effectiveness. Topgrading for Sales was published to help sales managers be successful at the most important component of sales execution -- talent selection. There are other important sales processes (territory design, account planning, compensation design, quota setting, etc) in which sales managers need to strive for world class status. However, the low hanging fruit is in stacking the team with the best talent.
I thank Greg for taking the time to answer these questions and recommend you take a look at his book at www.topgradingforsales.com.
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