Rocket Readings: The Secret to Hiring Great Sales Leaders

The Secret to Hiring Great Sales Leaders:

from Sales Force Effectiveness Blog by Ryan Tognazzini

Those who build great companies understand that the ultimate throttle on growth for any great company is not markets, or technology, or competition, or products. It is the one thing above all others; the ability to get and keep enough of the right people.
-Jim Collins, Good to Great
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It’s June and you’re not sure your sales leader is going to last through the year. He’s missing the number. He’s using tactics that no longer work. The team isn’t engaged. You’re ready to make a change.
What should you be looking for?
If you’re a CEO without selling experience, what you need may not be clear. The secret to hiring a great sales leader is the ‘A’ Player Scorecard. Get it free here and nail your next sales leadership hire.
Your next sales manager needs modern skills to make the number. He needs capabilities like social selling, buyer-centric selling and big data for sales.

What is an ‘A’ Player Scorecard?

It is a tool to prevent you from making a hiring mistake. The ‘A’ Player Scorecard helps you:

Define excellence
Evaluate potential candidates using best practices
Assess their fit for the role

There are 3 main components to an ‘A’ Player Scorecard:

1. Mission

The mission describes why the role exists. It’s your way to communicate:

The value the role brings to your organization
The compensation you are paying for the role
The selling points of the role

An example of this is below. This section is important for both you and potential candidates. It is your way to set a clear vision for the job. It begins to define what you should look for.
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For your candidates, it tells them what to expect. It also tells them why they will want the job. You will save yourself time by being clear from the start.
It’s almost certain any ‘A’ player candidates you want to hire are currently employed. If you cannot sell them on the job, they won’t consider your opportunity. You will instead spend your time interviewing ‘B’ and ‘C’ player candidates. This will lead to making the wrong hire. The mission section will help you think define this.

2. Accountabilities

This section tells your sales leader what he needs to get done. Examples of accountabilities are:

Quarterly revenue goal
Number of new accounts signed per quarter
Strategic partnerships formed per quarter

These are the metrics your leader must attain to earn commissions and bonuses. You can interview against their prior results to assess their strength as a leader. You cannot be specific enough here. Dollars, numbers and percents. Dates and times.
Specificity here will save you time and prevent making a bad hire. If they haven’t achieved specific results in the past, eliminate them from contention.
Setting clear goals ensures there is no confusion. Your sales leader knows exactly what he is signing up for on day 1.

3. Competencies

This is the most important part to finding great sales leaders. Competencies help you determine if the candidate has the required leadership skills. SBI uses 56 sales leader competencies across six major categories:

Selling Skills
Management Skills
Intellectual Skills
Personal Skills
Interpersonal Skills
Motivational Skills

You should select 15-20 competencies required of your sales leader. Examples of sales leader competencies are:

Coaching & Talent Development
Managing Processes
Drive for Results
Judgment/Decision Making

You can interview candidates against these competencies in order to determine if they fit. These are scenario-based questions that focus on specifics. You want examples of how and when the candidate did these things. You can quickly narrow your list of candidates based on their answers. It helps you quickly spot the good ones. It will also save you time by eliminating the bad ones.

Call to Action:

As a CEO, your success in sales is all about building a great team. This is obvious. So is the time wasted when you make a bad hire. Times have changed. The ‘A’ Player Scorecard is the key to hiring great sales leaders. It defines what you should look for. Use it to hire your next sales leader and save yourself the pain of another bad hire.