How to Hire a Good Technical Salesperson Manual
Do you face the task of converting technical people into sales people?
Hiring a good salesperson for a technical business is difficult. When the new guy doesn't work out, it's expensive and frustrating. In this unique book, you'll find detailed information about how to approach the task to succeed. If you can get one, a really good salesperson will bring tremendous benefits to your business:
- Good salespeople bring in feedback from your customers. This can be a source of ideas for improvements or new products.
- Leads are turned into business, not wasted
- It inspires your other employees by demonstrating that excellent sales results are possible. By the same token they render invalid the usual excuses.
- You'll get a strong flow of profitable orders
- Your company grows
- If customers like and respect your representative, it increases goodwill
- You don't have to invest much of your own time, which frees you up to develop other parts of your business
But finding and keeping an outstanding sales producer isn't easy. My experience is that many technology companies, perhaps most, don't set about hiring a salesperson in an effective way.
Topics
Introduction: the benefits of having a good salesperson.
- Does sales-training work?
- Motivation.
- Methods to locate them.
- The problems of having a poor (or worse) salesperson.
- The usual hiring process.
- Psychometric testing.
- The cost of getting it wrong.
- Can you motivate people?
- Head-hunters.
- Job ads.
- Defining the job.
- They start strong, but fade away.
- What recruitment agencies say.
- People who are working for you in another capacity.
- There's a lot at stake.
- Desirable attributes of a good salesperson.
- 'Lie your way into a top job.'
- Where motivation comes from.
- Do you really need a salesperson?
- The best most companies can aim for.
- 'Pure salesmen' v 'techies'.
- Evaluating them once in the job.
- See it from the candidates point of view.
- Sales skills and technical knowledge / job suitability matrix.
- What causes it to go wrong.
- What we're looking for.
- Scientific? Decision-making.
- The 'direct-sales' method of recruiting.
- Interviewing - be careful.
- Is it a good idea to hire someone just like you?
