Throw Away the Resume

The Importance of Sales Selection

In order to select the right salesperson for your next position, let me propose that you throw away the resume of the candidate and focus instead on specific behaviors that demonstrate whether or not they can sell, how they sell and why they sell in a specific way.

In July of 2006, The Harvard Business Review published an entire edition dedicated to improving sales abilities and performance. One of the featured articles focused on the continued concern of Sales VP’s and CEO’s over the quality of their sales teams and the performance of their sales organizations.

HBR surveyed 111 senior executives in 96 major corporations across 17 industries around the world. On a ten-point scale, the executives gave their sales forces an average grade of 7, or about a C minus.

It’s time to change these perceptions, mindsets and results and one of the ways to do that is by placing a relentless focus on front end alignment rather than a post selection reaction.

In many cases the current selection model for salespeople is one or two dimensional, highly subjective and highly suspect. In this format, selecting a salesperson is only as reliable as an individual’s ability to intuitively interpret the salesperson’s competency and connection with the company’s environment.

In order to increase the overall effectiveness of salespeople individually and sales teams collectively, the focus must shift to a three dimensional model. This model drives the focus toward the objective alignment of behaviors, intuitive sales fit and sales competency while eliminating executive frustration connected with the wrong people in sales positions, unnecessary costs, lost profitability, stagnant sales and poorly defined turnover.

Subjective Selection Criteria

The Resume: AKA Sales Competency – People responsible for hiring salespeople should never confuse experience, background or work history with sales competency. The resume represents nothing more than what an individual wants to tell you about their background and expertise over a given period of time. Resumes are written by the people applying for the sales job and they fail to provide any objective measure of sales competency. When was the last time you saw “failed miserably,” “can’t close” or “never met a quota” on a resume? A lack of objective assessment creates almost immediate dysfunction and distress when the sales competency of the individual doesn’t match that of the position. Relying on a resume and the subjective assessment of sales competency connected to experience and background is like being the only one to vote for your own induction into the hall of fame.

A true measure of an individual’s sales competency doesn’t come from a resume or a personal and detailed account of work history. It is best obtained when the position and the person are objectively benchmarked, assessed and evaluated in conjunction with the expectation and requirement of the specific sales position for which they are being considered.

Intuitive Sales Fit: AKA Gut Feel – In his best selling book Blink, Malcom Gladwell says that it takes 2 seconds to determine if you will like someone once you meet them. Put simply, we call this the “gut feel” when hiring salespeople. And while it should never be discounted and may be highly accurate, this criterion for selection is strictly subjective on the surface. Gut feel along with experience, background and work history (perceived sales competency) is most often how salespeople make their way into companies.

The intuitive sense is driven by a candidate’s alignment with the character, chemistry and culture of the company. Ask these questions to help refine the “gut feel” - How does the integrity (character) of the person match-up with that of the company? Does the person create a volatile mix or a good blend (chemistry) based on the people and dynamic elements that exist within the organization? How does the approach and temperament of the candidate fit with the known style, approach and “feel” of the company (culture)?

Objective Selection Criteria

Can They Sell, How They Sell and Why They Sell: AKA Objective Assessment – Skill sets, abilities, performance tendencies, sales behaviors and occupational motivators can all be measured objectively. Doing so provides valuable insights, quantifiable detail and fact that take selection beyond perception. Knowing a person’s ability to create first impressions, ask the right questions, probe for detailed information and close as an example all contribute directly to shortened sales cycles, increased sales, improved margins and enhance profitability.

When it’s time to make your next sales hire, remember the importance of moving beyond subjective review and into the realm of objective assessment and don’t forget to throw away the resume.