Pat’s Blog

“Make decisions on people — selection, placement and evaluation — your top priority.” — Peter Drucker

In my recent travels, one issue I have noticed is companies that did not “right-size” because of last year’s hot market are just now coming to grips with the fact that 2010 will be challenging. One Top Ten lender is faced with a 50 percent reduction of sales staff. It is interesting how companies have not been more aggressive in their planning. In my view, the paradigm for the financial industry has already shifted to a “less is more” mentality. Executives are challenged to get more from better and fewer people.

Similar to sports teams who must determine if they have the right combination to compete for a Super Bowl or World Series, culling the talent pool will be a frequent activity for sales managers. What is the sales talent make-up of your current team? Do you have the sales talent in place to ensure that your team is a winner?

“Set objectives for attracting and retaining the best people, including goals for performance standards and employee attitudes and skills.” — Peter Drucker

One of the trends I’m seeing now is that top producers —A players — are staying with their current employers longer. That means that the available hiring pool is made up of more salespeople who are performing at a lower level. Fortunately, there are several steps managers can take to ensure they’re hiring better quality sales candidates:

1. Have a system in place to objectively determine whether candidates possess sales talent.
2. Increase the number of interviews you conduct. In the past, managers might have interviewed 10 people for an opening. Now, it may take 50 interviews to find the right sales talent.
3. Look for sales talent on a continuous basis vs. hiring sporadically

“People decisions are the ultimate — perhaps the only — control of an organization. People determine the performance capacity of an organization.” — Peter Drucker

Hiring the right sales person is undoubtedly a manager’s most important task. No other decision has a greater impact on a company’s current and future success. Yet, many managers put more time and effort into preparing for a sales call than preparing for an interview with a sales candidate.

What does your company’s hiring process look like? Is it systematic and standardized? Are you looking beyond prior production for candidates who possess the innate personality traits needed to succeed in consultative sales?

“There is only one valid definition of business purpose: to create a customer.” — Peter Drucker

Last week, I heard economist Doug Duncan speak on housing finance and the current marketplace. He believes that the “national financial crisis is over and like previous financial crises, this one has shifted from a national problem to a regionally-driven event.” Duncan said that there are currently 5 million loans that are 90-day delinquent or in foreclosure with 50% of the delinquency coming from the four “sand” states. He said that full recovery is 24 to 36 months out but that most states (with the exception of the “sand” states) will recover sooner.

It does appear that we have hit bottom which means the only way to go from here is up. While no one can predict the future, one thing is clear: Conducting business as usual is not going to cut it in a post-crisis market. Now is the time to take a good look at your sales processes. What’s working? What isn’t? Are you creating customer value with every sales activity? If not, it’s time to re-evaluate what activities matter most.

Important Update: We have just launched a new one-day training class, How to Interview for Integrity in Sales Reps. If you are interested in obtaining the agenda, just send me an email.