The NFL draft is coming up soon and the talent identification process of NFL teams is unmatched.  To identify talent for the draft, NFL teams go through countless hours of video, in person game attendance, personal interviews, tests, and of course the NFL combine, where prospective players work out for the coaches and scouts. The combine is a day of physical tests that measure speed, strength, vertical jump, agility, etc of potential draft picks. At the end of all this analysis, NFL teams make their choice and draft the best players available to them. This is the NFL’s talent or player identification process. It’s good.

So what’s your’s?

If it’s like most, it’s a series of interviews; a couple of interviews with you, one with someone from product, one with someone with marketing, maybe one with an HR representative, maybe one with a couple of the team members, and maybe one with CEO, or COO or head of sales, if that’s not you. But, unfortunatley, for most companies and most sales organizations that’s the extent of the process. Making matters worse, the interviews are rarely nothing more than handing the candidates resume to the interviewer and asking them what they think.  The entire approach usually ends up being a rubber stamp process and the hiring manager makes a decision based on their gut.

The traditional approach to finding talent is a matter subtraction not addition. Candidates are sourced and evaluated on what they don’t have. If they don’t have 20 years of experience out. If they do something odd in the interview they are out. If they haven’t been in the industry, they are out. If they haven’t been a manager before, they are out. We subtract then hire who is left. Not the best way to go about things.

The key to finding the best sales talent is to have a process that identifies the best talent for the role you trying to fill.  It’s to figure out who can do what you need the better than anyone else. The key is to focus on what the person does have and how that fits into what you are trying to achieve in the positon.  The NFL is VERY good at this part. Teams know what type of running back or cornerback or lineman they need. The know the difference between a 3 down back vs a blocking back vs. a receiving running back. They know which type of back they need to become a better team.

In order to be as precise as an NFL team you need a process like theirs. You need a measurable, identifiable, repeatable process that gets you the best person to do what you need done, to make your organization better.

There are no rules on what the approach should look like. However, what ever your approach is, it should include the following elements;

1. A clear and documented description of the hard AND soft skills you are looking for and why
2. A clear understanding and documentation of what the role needs to be successful. (Don’t tell me it’s 10 years of success selling software, cause it’s NOT.)
3. A clear understanding of what you will be measuring in the role
4. A clear understanding of how the role fits into the overall sales and go to market strategy
5. A documented approach to scoring and measuring the candidates ability to kill it
6. An interview score card listing EXACTLY what you are scoring the candidate on, so other interviewers know what you are looking to assess, so they can provide feedback in those areas
7. A measurable way to evaluate the skills you are looking for. (It’s important to know HOW you are testing for the skills)
8. Have a list of red flags, things that stand out and could be signs that despite what might be a good candidate, there could be hidden problems

Identifying talent is critical. It’s a leaders job to be able to identify the best talent; not the best resume, not the best interviewer, but the best person for getting the job done.

Be like the NFL and create a comprehensive talent identification process. It will make all the difference.

If you have one, share it. We’d love to see it.  (hit me up if you’d be interested in being doing a guest post on it.)

One of my biggest challenges is hiring strong sales people. I would estimate we probably get it right on in every three candidates. How do you find good reps? What is your process for finding reps?

There have been 129 answers so far. Some are good, some are redundant, and some are just answers. However, it’s definitely a good thread to follow. Check it out. 

This part of a response by Jim jumped out at me and I thought it was great. I wanted to share it with this community.

It is unreasonable to start a newbie off by tossing them into a whirlpool, drown them in information like water from a fire hose, take a laisse faire attitude towards their work habits and then crush them with accountability after 90 days of non-performance.

I’ve seen this happen more times than I could shake a stick out. Newbies, “A” players or “B” players, all have to be given a chance to make it and it’s managements job to do that.

Management has as much responsibility to make sales people successful as the sales people have in making themselves successful.

Don’t toss newbies into the a whilpool! They’re gonna drown

Firing is the most uncomfortable of the 3. Firing is hard. I’ve seen people get fired in more ways than you could imagine and it’s usually not pretty.  It’s done so poorly, the manager is dreading it, the sales person is blindsided, and it leaves a stink on the entire team for days and sometimes weeks.

Getting firing right means being able to do it without creating a stink in the process.  It means making it a seamless, non-event.  Believe it or not, this is possible. It just takes finesse and a process.

The way to fire someone without a stink is to never actually have to fire them. It’s to get to a place where you BOTH agree it’s not working and it’s in everyones best interest to move on. This is done by coaching people up or out.

I learned this phrase a long-time ago and it has been part of my leadership tool bag for years. It goes like this; if you have an employee you think is on the bubble, someone whose ability you question, start engaging them early. Start engaging them before there is a “real” problem. Establish regularly scheduled coaching sessions where you evaluate the employees performance. During the coaching sessions target where the employee is struggling and focus on measurable improvement. If the employee can make improvements and grow, give them more responsibility and support. Keep coaching them up. However, if they aren’t making improvements and they aren’t meeting expectations, convey the failure clearly and reemphasize the importance of meeting the expectations for the next meeting. Each week, as expectations are not met, let the employee know they aren’t meeting expectations and ask them how they feel about their performance and how they feel about not achieving the results they are responsible for. The key here is to move away from telling them what you think and move towards getting them to share what they think. It’s to get the employee to share how they feel about their inability to deliver and what they feel they need to do going forward based on the fact their not getting the results.

The key is to create an environment where they take ownership, not just you.

As more deals slip. As the pipeline shrinks. As quota is missed, the employee will know exactly where they are and what is coming. They will know because they had been talking with you since the first monthly quota was missed, not the 3rd. They will know because the two of you had talked as the pipeline was shrinking. They will know because, you will have told him the deal he was betting on to make quota wasn’t going to close and it didn’t. He will know the job isn’t for him because he wasn’t allowed to hide. Everything has been in the open. You and he addressed his failures as they happened. They weren’t allowed to be become “anomalies” and excuses.  Every failure, missed expectation, failed goal was on the table as it happened, not in a closet piling up, only to be brought out in a giant heep at a later date.

They key to firing a sales person is to let their failures do the firing for you. It’s to let each failure settle in, bringing them closer to the end in a slow roll.  It’s not to stuff all the failures into a closet until the closet is so full it’s bursting at the seems that you have to rip it open letting all the crap fly out. When that happens, firing someone stinks. It’s not good for anyone.

Don’t put the failures in a closet. Give each failure to the sales person as it happens. Overtime, THE SAME AMOUNT OF TIME OR MAYBE EVEN SHORTER than if you stuffed it all in a closet, the salesperson will break under the weight and by then, you will both know it’s time and a gracious exit happens all by itself.

Firing a sales person is NOT an event. Treating it that way creates a stink. Firing is a process. Do it right and not only will it not stink. It may just smell fresh and clean.

Hiring is an extension of our knowledge, our belief systems, our biases, our likes and dislikes. The people we hire are also a reflection of our confidence and self-esteem. The people we hire reflect those things about us we feel good about and those things we don’t.

Is your team more talented than you? Is your team less talented? Does you’re team play to your strengths or offset your weaknesses?  Is your team aggressive or passive. Does your team ask for permission before they make a big move or do they ask for forgiveness if they make a mistake? Is your team risk takers or conservative. Is your team innovative and creative or do they leverage the status quo? Is the team political and bureaucratic?

What does your team say about you?

Do you like what it says?

Let me help you a little on this one. If you are hiring, the goal had better be to upgrade. So then, how do you know if the person you are hiring is a superstar?

There you are, you and the candidate sitting across from each other. Game on! The candidate is slick. They are prepared. Like a typical sales call, they are ready to overcome objections, zero in on your needs, and sell you on them. They are ready and their sites are set on you. Sales people are good interviewers. To them, interviewing is just another sales call. Sales people are right at home in the interview process.

With sales people being experts in the interview, you are at a disadvantage. How do you determine if the person across from you is a superstar or a dud waiting to screw up your sales team and cost you 10′s of thousands of dollars?

The answer is surprisingly easier than you think. It’s all in the interview.

First, and foremost you have to know what a superstar looks like. I posted about this a few weeks back. To me a superstar posesses these four things:

1. Business Acumen
2. Creativity
3. Leadership
4. Drive

Without all 4 of these things you don’t have a superstar. (if you have your own list, write it down):

To find out if the guy or gal sitting across the table from you is as good as advertised, you must be willing to be comfortable, making them uncomfortable. You have to be OK pushing them to get real. You have to be comfortable setting the table and letting them know you don’t want canned answers, ass-kissing or high-level generalizations. You have to let the candidate know that a successful interview is determined by how real and deep they are willing to go.

Getting real means asking specific, targeted, open ended questions designed to uncover how the candidate THINKS, not just acts. You have to push the candidate to explain what they do and WHY the do it that way. After they’ve shared what they do and why, challenge their decisions. Don’t except the answer at face value, point out a flaw in the approach. Identify a weakness in their choice and ask why they still chose that direction inspite of the potential issue.

Another approach to finding out if you have a superstar is to ask them to share examples outside of work. One of my favorite questions is to ask them to share their greatest achievement or a lifelong personal goal they set and achieved. Superstars set goals and make them. They set BIG goals both personal and professional. A superstar will have a number of personal goals they’ve achieved and they will be quick to share. Superstars are superstars in all aspects of their lives. They are the kids in school that started a new program or brought in an activity they school didn’t have. Superstars start things. They lead. They take on church events. They’ve started businesses. They’ve created non-profits. Superstars leave a trail of successful initiatives and accomplishments. Just as with work related questions, once they share with you what they’ve done you have to dig deeper. You have to ask WHY they made the decisions they did. And again, challenge them on the choice. If they chose to spend 6 months traveling the world, play devils advocate and challenge them on the cost of not being responsible and starting their career like other people their age. The point isn’t to suggest they made a bad choice but to get more insight into how they think and how they will respond to being challenged.

Superstars are “doers.” They know how to think. They will and can defend their choices and positions. They aren’t afraid to make mistakes. Superstars leave a trail of successful initiatives. The aren’t afraid to be challenged.

If you want to know if the person sitting across from you is a superstar, stop being nice. Push the candidate, challenge them, challenge their choices, challenge their approaches, and then listen. Supertars will have good answers. They will embrace the challenge. They will challenge you back. They will defend their position AND acknowledge opporutnities for improvement or mistakes made. Superstars won’t wilt under the pressure. They will only get better and stronger.

Knowing if you have a superstar in front of you has more to do with you and less to do with them. Are you prepared to find out?

Take Aways:

Be comfortable making your candidate uncomfortable

Don’t accept canned answers

Look for and listen to specific examples and stories of where the candidate showed the traits you’re looking for

Go deep, challenge the candidate’s approaches, decisions, and choices

Focus on how the candidate thinks and the choices he/she made based on that thinking

Look for both personal AND professional examples of being a superstar

Set expectations upfront in the interview on how you expect it to go

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There are a lot of misconceptions about what an “A” player or superstar looks like and how to spot them in an interview. Following these myths can bury your team with under performers and bad hires.  When looking for “A” players DON’T get suckered by these traits;

1) Enthusiasm: Labrador Retriever puppies are unbelievably enthusiastic. They run around in a million directions ready to do what ever they can to make you happy. They don’t do much, very well, but they are full of enthusiasm and not much else.

Enthusiasm is a great trait combined with a what’s really important. It is by far a trait to define a superstar or “A” player. Not all “A” players are enthusiastic. Who wants a bunch of puppies running around the office?

2) Sense of Urgency: Just because someone has little patience and wants something right now, doesn’t signal they are an “A” player. A players can have sense of urgency, but sense of urgency doesn’t mean they are an “A” player. As a matter of fact, many see a sense of urgency as a liability. Recall the story of the young bull and the old bull sitting on top of the hill looking down on a field full of cows. The young bull says, “Hey, let’s run down their and git one of them cows.”  The old bull says, “Let’s walk down and git em all.”

Not all “A” players have a sense of urgency.

3) Money Hungry: Using a persons motivation for money to determine if they are an “A” player is suicide. The vast majority of sales people are money hungry. To suggest or believe that “A” players some how have a monopoly on the desire for money and therefore can be identified by that desire is stupid.

“A” players are no more or less money driven on average than “B” or “C” players.  I would contend, in many cases it’s the opposite. It is proven over and over the best of the best are almost NEVER motivated by money, but rather by being the best of the best, and number one in their field. They know that by being the best, the money will follow. Money isn’t the motivator, being great is!

Not all “A” players are motivated by money.

4) Experience: Probably the most mistakenly used data point for determining an “A” player.  I’ve heard a million times, “he worked at XYZ for 10 years and was their top rep, he’s awesome,” or “She has 15 years experience in the industry, and has been a top rep for all 15. She rocks!” And then watched them all fall flat on their face. Experience should be contextual data to validate or invalidate your assumptions. That’s it.  For every time I’ve seen the person with the pedigree fail, I’ve seen someone without the experience blow it up.

Not all “A” players have tremendous experience.

My problem with the traits above is they all correlate to “A” players, but they aren’t the cause. They aren’t the reason someone is an “A” player. Too often we rely on correlations, not causes. Doing so can create tremendous damage.

To know what signals to look for when interviewing “A” players, you have to know what causes “A” players to be successful.  Enthusiasm, motivated by money, sense of urgency and experience DON’T cause more product to be sold.

So what causes more product to be sold?

Business Accumen: Sales people with strong business acumen know how business works. They understand the inherent challenges with change management, finance, cash flow, accounting, product placement, H.R., product pricing, logistics, supply-chain, and more. “A” players know business. “A” players leverage that knowledge of business to help their clients improve their business.

Tip: Dig into your candidates understanding of general business terms. Ask him or her how they sold their product or service over the past few years. Don’t listen for sales terms and processes like overcoming objections, but rather business terms, like reducing margins, reduced life cycles, inventory velocity, etc.

“A” players talk in business terms, not sales terms. All “A” players have strong business acumen.

Creativity: Creativity is the most important trait to me when looking for “A” players. I’ve always scored creative candidates higher than those who weren’t.  The book Challenger Sale recently reported that the best sales managers are those that are most creative in helping their teams get deals unstuck or finding creative solutions to difficult problems.

“A” players are brilliant at finding solutions to problems others can’t find.  Creative people expand the range of possibilities in ways non-creative people can’t.  ”A” players are VERY creative in how they do their jobs.

Tip: Ask the candidate to describe the most creative solution he or she came up with to overcome a serious sales challenge.  Look for out of the box answers.

Leadership: In today’s selling world, “A” players HAVE to be leaders. The Rain Maker is dead. “A” players must be comfortable making their customers uncomfortable. They have to be able to engage every part of their organization. They must motivate and drive a strong pursuit team. An “A” player is not and”A” player with out being a leader.

Tip: Look for examples of starting something on their own, such as a non-profit, a company, neighborhood fund-raiser, etc. Ask the candidate to give examples of where they saw a need for change and took the lead to initiate the change with others. All “A” players are leaders.

Drive: This one might seem squishy to some of you. You’re thinking, just because someone has drive, doesn’t mean they are an “A” player. I disagree. When someone has drive, it means they don’t quit. The push and push until they make it. Drive means they fill their skills gaps because it means they’ll get better. It means they become more creative in order to solve more problems. It means they look to others for help, wisdom, experience, guidance and more to get them closer to their goals.

Drive is gasoline to “A” players. It makes them go. All “A” players have drive.

Tip: Ask the candidate to share a time when he wanted to quit something. Ask her what her greatest accomplishment is.  You’re looking for something that took a long-time and was fraught with failure and disappointment along the way. Those with drive will have a lot of good stories for you.

Finding “A” players in an interview means being focused on the causes of sales. Enthusiasm, sense of urgency, experience, and being money motivated are all nice to haves, but they don’t move the needle. “A” players possess skills that are at the root of moving product and selling. “A” players are creative, understand business, have drive and are leaders. You have all of those traits and you can’t fail. Not failing is what makes an “A” player.

Now go find your “A” players!

Back in the day, selling supported a rain making person. Armed with determination, creativity, information, (lots’ of information) customers, prospects AND other sales people didn’t have, the rain maker was the king of sales. They were called rain makers because they were able to drive astonishing amounts of revenue on their own.

For good or bad, today’s selling world isn’t conducive to the lone sales person making it rain dollar bills. It requires pursuit teams. It takes teams of people with vary skills and knowledge all focused toward helping the customer improve its business.

Sales is far more complex today. Customers and prospects demand broad business oriented solutions to solving their business problems, not just products. They are resistent to change because they don’t have time and are afraid of the inherent risk change brings. Clients and prospects are crazy busy, overburdened with their day to day. The connected work place has customers and prospects focused on the here and now, unable to look strategically down the road. Today’s sales environment requires selling motions and approaches that are responsive to these and other changes. They require motions and approaches that are impossible for a single person to execute on.

Don’t get me wrong, there are going to be Superstar Sales people.  Like Rain Makers once were, Superstars will be the best of the best in your organization. However, it’s about team selling now. Individual selling is all but gone or going quickly. Rain Makers are being replaced by Superstars who can rally the team to; solve the most difficult challenges, leverage the best resources, capture the customers and prospects attention, enlist the broader organization, create the best solutions, and more. Superstars, unlike Rain Makers, work with and through other people. They sell by leading and motivating teams. They are successful with and through others, not in spite of.

Don’t look for Rain Makers. Look for Superstars, people who, with others, can make it rain. Selling has changed and is continuing to change. It takes more than one killer sales person to blow it up. It takes teams, teams of varying skills, talents and knowledge to make it happen. Superstars know how to make it rain, they just know they can’t do it alone.

Rain Makers are dead!

I had to process this for a little while. For me it was a bit confusing. Doesn’t a great team require the best players?

As I kicked this around my head I kept being reminded of all the amazingly talented teams that fell on their face and failed.  This years Philadelphia Eagles is a perfect example. Labeled the “Dream Team” at the beginning of the season because of all the talent it had, they didn’t even make the playoffs.

As I gave it more thought, I realized Belichick and Pioli are right. Our job is to assemble the best team.

I’ve had the most success when I was able to put together the best sales teams not necessarily hire the best sales talent. Team work creates an unbelievable X-factor that can not be replicated. Great teams are without a doubt are the best examples of the sum being greater than the parts.

As the idea of teams being more valuable than talent bounced around my head, it began to occur to me. Talents biggest advantage is to be able to perform as a team. Talent without team is inconsistent, unreliable, and takes a lot of work to manage. People are going different directions, there are competing agendas, resources aren’t shared, and learnings remain in silos.  Talent without a team, in many ways, wastes talent.

It was easy to get my arms around organizations that lack teaming AND talent. They are useless.  Unfortunately, I see them more than one would think.

The great consolation prize is a strong, cohesive sales team that lacks the best sales talent.  I’m not suggesting there is NO talent, but just not the best talent. A lot can be done with a strong team, even if it lacks the best talent. Great sales teams can make up for weaker talent with cohesiveness, collaboration, commitment to the goal and camaraderie.  If you can’t get the best talent but can build the best team, it will pay off.

Obviously the ideal result is the best talent on the best team.  However, the best talent is expensive and hard to come by. Building an A-Team is very difficult and hard to maintain.  The best talent is in high-demand. They are mobile, they want more responsibility, etc. Even when the best talent can be had, few organizations have the capabilities to KEEP an A-Team together. They lack the resources, opportunities, leadership and more to keep an an entire team of A players over the long haul.

Team matters. It’s our job to build the best sales teams we can. If you can build an A-Team, a killer sales team with killer sales talent, then do it. It’s where you want to be. But if you can’t get the best sales talent, build a killer sales team. It will make up for a lot.

I want doers because they bring their own style and approach to getting things done. Doers don’t come with excuses. Doers don’t blame. Doers embrace challenge and adversity. Doers don’t say I can’t.

When I hire sales people, I look for doers.  I encourage my clients to look for doers.  Doers get things done! Doers are easy to spot.

Doers look like this;

• They learn to code because they wanted build a website
• They worked two jobs in college and didn’t go on spring break, so they could spend 6 months back-packing in Europe on their OWN money.
• They started a non-profit to raise money for diabetes because their cousin died of the disease
• They brought Pop-Warner football to their neighborhood because it wasn’t there
• They organized a rally to stop the development of a local park
• They were the first person in their entire family to graduate from H.S. AND college
• They started a lawn moving business in 8th grade and kept it through H.S.
• They’ve been blogging everyday for 3 years
• They are a volunteer fireman and have been for 5 years
• They give 3 hours of their time a week to their church and have since they were 12
• They learned carpentry to build their daughter a doll house
• They are learning to sail, because they want to sail around the world when they retire
• They took a gourmet cooking class to impress their “hope to be” spouse

Doers just do. They see opportunity and go for it. They measure themselves on the end result, not their effort.  Doers are people who get incredible things done when no one is watching.

Hire doers!

(this post is not to be confused with my earlier post, Don’t Hire Doers. Yes, I am aware of the apparent contradiction. What the heck, it keeps things interesting.)

After a few months something isn’t quite right.  Things aren’t going as expected. The numbers aren’t where you thought they would be.  Progress isn’t being made. Your superstar isn’t looking so super. After  about six months it’s clear. Your impressive new hire isn’t going to work out.  You’re left asking yourself, “What happened?”

What happened? — You hired the right person, for the wrong role.

This happens all too often.  We often spend too much time trying to find the right person without spending as much if not more time on the role. Job descriptions are normally, buzz-wordy, annoying descriptions of the job and the type of person required to do it. What is really behind a job description? Normally, not very much.

Imagine hiring Tom Brady to be your starting offensive tackle.  It ain’t gonna work. He’s a superstar, but to think he can hold a block is plain dumb. It’s no different in the business world.  Too often I see farmers being hired to hunt. I see hunters being hired to farm. I see change agents and “pot-stirrers” being hired to keep the status quo.  A good hire takes more than finding the right person. It’s finding the right person for the role.

To get the right person in the role, break down the role by; goals, environment and effort.

Goals:

List EXACTLY what the role is to accomplish. Be very clear and concise. Don’t stick to the high-level goals. Be specific. Get them all on the table. At the end of the day what are you expecting from this role.  What will success look like?

Environment:

Outline the working environment. Again, be specific. Is it fast-paced? Is it political, or open? Is there lot’s of supervision or is it a free-for-all? Is it a grind, or are the skids greased? Does it require attention to detail? Does it require lot’s of baby kissing? What type of environment exits? Not everyone thrives in the same environment.

Effort: 

What’s it going to take to be successful? What exactly does the person have to do to make it?  Is there lot’s of calling?  Is there a lot of writing? Is there lot’s of travel? Do they have to write their own RFP’s? Do they have to be good with excel? Do they have to know how to read a financial statement? Do they have to motivate and lead a matrix organization?  What effort is required to be successful? What do they have to do?  Not everyone is good at everything.

Finding a superstar is awesome. However, he or she will fail if they aren’t in the right role. Spend as much time on defining the role as you do in finding your next superstar. It matters.

Superstars are useless if they aren’t in the right role.  Tom Brady at left tackle?  What a joke!