The Mistake Sales Teams Make When Hiring—And How I Fixed It
We were recently asked to consult for a client who was struggling with a market expansion.
The product and offering seemed to be good. The few clients they had signed liked the product and the client was able to retain customers.
I noticed some parallels to a position that I held nearly 15 years ago:
Global company expanding into a downstream market
Objective to grow revenue and capture market share
Additional objectives of adding “feet on the street” to grow the core business in addition to hiring sales talent for future roles
The client had emphasized finding candidates for their future roles and weren’t hiring for the roles they needed filled today!
15 years ago, I was tasked with nearly an identical task of entering 7 new markets in the Midwest.
At first, we struggled with logistical and supply chain issues, but once we solved those issues, I was concerned that our revenue growth was falling behind our targets.
I realized quickly that I was going to be out of a job if I couldn’t turn things around.
For those who remember 2009-2010, the unemployment line was not a place you wanted to be during the Great Recession.
I was able to hit my targets and keep my job by doing one thing – Hiring the Right Sales People!
The company I was working for was very reserved, analytical, and methodical. The market we were trying to enter was the exact opposite. It was fast moving, fiercely competitive, and dynamic.
I needed a tough, gritty,and resilient team in order to be successful.
I hired 7 new sales reps in a window of 2 months, and the next 6 months of my life were horrible.
I lived in hotels, spent my time coaching, doing ride-alongs, and only returned home to wash laundry and make sure my spouse hadn’t changed the locks on me.
6 months in as I neared my breaking point, I started to notice that our revenue results were starting to outpace the target line, and the next 18 months of my life were the most enjoyable and rewarding of my career. I had hired my version of the 1927 Yankees – My own Murderer’s Row. My team began to crush it!
The best part? While I didn’t start out with the goal of hiring sales reps for future roles, 6 of the 7 reps from that team were promoted within 2-3 years and are still with that company today.
They have advanced to senior roles with more responsibility, with a couple even entering management positions. Wondering what happened to the 7th ?
He interviewed for an internal position and frankly had the highest ceiling of any rep on my team.
The hiring manager went with an internal candidate that he said, “would require a little less training” and my rep took an offer with another company.
When the internal candidate quit 6 months later, that same hiring manager asked me if there was any chance of getting my rep back and that he’d offer him the position without an interview.
Unfortunately, that ship had sailed and so had my time with the best team that I had ever assembled.
I had some good teams after that. Some really great pieces with several of those folks still with that company today, but assembling another lineup consisting of Ruth, Gehrig, Lazzeri, and Meusel still alludes me to this day, although I’m still trying.
Here’s what I learned:
Hire for the unteachable
You can train product and market knowledge. You can’t train, hunger, toughness, or resilience
Accept that you might have to do some training
It is easy to put an overweight importance on past job experience. Hiring experience might make the first 6 months easier on you,
but you’re unlikely to find someone with the power of Ruth or the toughness of Gehrig
Exert maximum effort during the onboarding period (the first 3-6 months are critical
I got asked a lot – what’s your secret? How do you find and hire these great candidates? I used to go into detail about the training that I had assembled or the detailed onboarding schedule that I had created for my new hires, but found I usually lost their attention when they started to realize that hiring great people requires some effort.
Eventually, I would just say something like – Lucky, I guess
Need a partner to help build your sales team?
Email me at jennifer.probst@xsellsbc.com
