
1. Steal good ones
Word of mouth is a good method, but better still is by tweaking a lead salesperson out of a competitor. It’s the best win, you win with a proven person, the competitor loses and you get up-to-date competitive info on installs, current bids, product info and issues.2. Target-getters
So what should you be looking for in a salesperson? Paul Stanley, CEO of ReD, says to look for experience and for evidence of tenacity and resilience. “Have they consistently met targets in their professional and personal lives? Also look for proven hard workers. The best way to double your sales volume is to spend twice as much time with customers. Can they empathise with the customer? Do they listen more than they talk?” At the end of the day, he adds, people buy from people, so ask yourself, “if I were a customer, would I want to spend my time with this person?”3. Salesmen sensitive?
4. Play mind games
When it comes to interviewing techniques, one sales veteran who’s hired more than 100 staff in his time, advises mind games. “Simply asking them the qualities they need to be salespeople is not good enough. You want to know if they can handle pressure? Well, put them under some in the interview. Make them feel ill at ease. See how they cope. Ask them mid way through the interview how they think it’s going. If they say ‘alright’, disagree. Tell them you think it’s going badly and see how they react. They have to be able to recover from negative feedback.”Share this story