4 Rules for Hiring Elite Sales People

So I've hired hundreds of salespeople over my career and I've been able to spot when people are giving me the BS or when I can see real gems that make me think, yeah, that person's got the skills and the talent and the qualities that I'm looking for to be a really successful salesperson.

So I'm going to share with you the tips, the tricks, the things that you look at from my years of experience from hiring people, from working in my own companies, and what I'm doing on a day to day basis so that you don't have to make the same mistakes as I have.

So hiring a really top level salesperson is a skill in itself.

And in this episode, I just wanted to give you four key quick points.

We're going to be no longer than 10 minutes of what you need to put in place if you want to hire people that are going to achieve success and results in your business.

Because I think there are four key rules that you need to look for that are pretty obvious, I think when you start to spot them and start to ask the right questions that can help you get the right results.

And the reality is we know the implications of hiring a good person.

The downside is what I've, you know, there's a videos and resources I've shared about how I call it the 15-20k experiment now whereby the cost of doing, you know, bringing someone in that doesn't work is huge for your business.

It costs you money, but more important, it costs you time and huge amounts of wasted time trying to engage with someone that's never going to get it.

So what are the four rules that I use for hiring elite salespeople?

And by the way, I'm interviewing probably 10 salespeople per week at the moment.

I have a business based in, in that hire salespeople to make calls.

I'm hiring around 10, so I'm interviewing 10 salespeople a week at the moment.

So these are the things I look for that I've used in my experience of when I've hired great people and average people.

So point number one is this.

I fundamentally believe you can teach sales skills to anyone that wants to learn it.

And so my first rule is you have to hire for attitude.

People talk about this a lot, you know, that actually can you train people up to be successful and can you build them up to be, to do sales?

Yes.

Okay, so you want to be able to have people that have got some experience and some knowledge.

But the most important thing for me to Start off with is to hire for attitude.

I'm looking for people that have a mindset that they are is just for them development and self development and learning.

And that hunger to be better is just part of who their DNA is.

And one of the things that's really difficult to do is when you start having conversations with people.

Every salesperson tells you, yeah, they're really keen to learn new tricks and to do new things and to evolve and to adapt.

But the reality is they then don't show that through their actions.

And so for me, rule number one is higher freshes.

I can teach skills, but I can't teach hunger.

So I'm always looking for what are the things that they do that are about a positive mindset?

What are the things that they do around making things happen in their world?

What are the things they've done to be able to try and learn and improve themselves?

You know, for example YouTube, there are, you know, people can watch YouTube, they can listen to podcasts, they can buy books.

Even if they can't afford to buy books, they can get access to book summaries now.

So ask questions around how much learning your team have done?

What, what's their learning capabilities?

How much have they built up success over a period of time to actually, you know, really, you know, understand new techniques and methods?

Because sales has changed.

And the reality is if you're an old school salesperson with an old school mentality approach, you're going to struggle to operate and, and be successful in a modern era where buyers are less, you know, have less time than ever before and want actions, you know, to be able to get to the point quicker, but also will back people off really quickly.

So the first thing is you have to hire for attitude.

Elite salespeople possess drive and they possess resilience and they've got this energy about them.

So great way to able to ask that question is in an interview.

What's the last book podcast webinar you've attended and watched and describe it to me.

And if they give you some, oh, I watched this the other day, but I can't tell you what it was then the reality is they're BSing you because they should be able to know that the last thing that they listen to was a podcast from James White or a video from Jeremy Miner or whoever that gave them a technique in a certain area and they found this in this useful.

So look for those, those elements around hunger and desire and an attitude.

That's a positive one to me, that's the first critical thing that I'm looking for when I'm hiring.

And I think ultimate salespeople have Sorry to interrupt the podcast for literally 20 seconds.

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Now back to the podcast.

So point number two is the second key rule for me when I'm hiring salespeople is I'm looking for them to be able to show me they can prioritize emotional intelligence.

So EQ to me is just the most critical factor I think, when it comes to having employed anyone in business.

So even if I'm employing someone in a marketing role or a customer service role, I'm looking for their emotional intelligence.

And there are five elements around emotional intelligence.

I've done lots of podcasts in this area in the past, but all around self awareness, self control, motivation, socialization and empathy.

And so I'm looking for salespeople that have got those skills and that can show me that they can understand and connect with different types of customers and that they are able to, as well as having their traditional sales skills, really understand how other people operate.

And the reason this is so critical again is because depending on the business that you engage with, you might be engaging with types of people that want a direct approach or you might need to have people that are, you know, need a bit more thought and a bit more, take a bit more time around the decision making process.

So the reality is if you've got one salesperson who is, has the ability to be self aware and to spot what they're doing in certain situations and refrain and show self control and rein themselves in before they're open to having a conversation or, or to be able to build the motivation to drive themselves forward to be the best that they can be, then you're going to have a far better chance of getting success than if you just hire anyone who thinks they can talk the gift of the gab and have patter.

But Just doesn't have the ability to realize that sales isn't about talking.

Great salespeople understand the dynamics around them.

They understand the situation.

They are emotionally intelligent.

And if you're not sure about how to create emotionally intelligent salespeople, I have a test.

I'm happy to put the test available to you can give access to the quiz called the Sales Emotional Intelligence Scorecard.

And we test for example, everything one of the new salespeople I bring into my business, we test their ESI score to see how they fare based upon those five categories.

So I strongly encourage you to really make sure they understand that.

And to some things, the way to spot those is to look at how they approach certain things in the situation or to ask them to even if they know what emotional intelligence is, ask the question what are the five component parts of emotional intelligence and which one are most important to you in a sales role?

Be able to spot where they're actually be able to know whether at their weaknesses and whether they've got their strengths and where they're trying to develop those things are key.

But having emotional intelligence for me is critical.

I can't tell you how I think that plus attitude gives me the ability to train everyone on a product or a service that you can get them to sell.

But if they haven't got those two things in place, then it's a real challenge.

So point number four.

So point number three when it comes to my, my four rules for hiring elite salespeople is I'm, I'm actually if I want to hire an elite person, I'm looking for them for a proven track record of success.

So what do I mean by proven set track record of success?

So what I'm looking for is for them to be able to easily, easily explain a situation where they have brought a deal across the line or an opportunity across the line that they can then talk through from cradle to grave how they've done it and how they made the happen, how they made opened up the conversation, how they built relationships with different people, how they overcame some of the challenges, how they dealt with the internal situation and how they then delivered.

And they can even tell you dates, for example, when they, when they sign deals or the exact nature of the value of things.

And what you'll find with a lot of salespeople at BS is when you ask them to describe a deal specifically that they put through, they will sort of go, oh well I had an opportunity one time where we had a customer and they bullshit you and then you can sense it Whereas a really ultimate proven salesperson will say, no problems at all.

There was a specific customer with this.

What happened was this, this and this, this happened over a period of time.

What else do you want to know?

And you can probe into that detail and probe into that deal and, and they'll tell you everything in your spot that they know things because they're not sort of things you can make up on the go.

And they won't just give you ad hoc numbers, they'll give you specific numbers or specific things of what happened at a certain time.

So I'm looking for maybe two or three examples of those with deals where they've got a proven track record of success, where they were able to make something happen that they can talk openly and freely about in an interview situation.

And when I see and sense that from someone that I know I'm onto a good position, I'm onto a good thing and I've got someone that's really going to achieve a better chance of success.

So they've got to be able to know the details and know what's happening and they've had that proven record.

And so the third thing for me, once you've added in the skills and hiring for attitude and once you've had an emotional quota and that ability to achieve success in the past, there's only 1/4 element that makes them a good fit for your company or not, and that's can they align with your company culture or your company fit?

And there are many elite salespeople out there who are brilliant at what they do.

They show all of the attributes needed, but they're just a square peg in a round hole.

Whether it's the fact that they've worked in a corporate environment and then moving into a small business environment, or whether it's the fact they've worked in a small business and therefore can't understand the corporate dynamics.

The reality is most salespeople have to be able to fit alongside the cultural fit of your business or what you're doing.

And in some companies, sales is really important and really the number one priority.

But in other sales isn't that.

And it has to fit alongside other chat, other people or whoever's in development or products or services.

And what happens is you bring someone in that's got the wrong attributes and the wrong skills and the wrong mentality that doesn't fit with your culture.

So one of the first things encourage you to do is to look at your culture.

What is the type of person and fit that would work alongside your business?

Who would work well and who wouldn't work well.

If you look at sports clubs now, when they're trying to hire and sign top talent, whether it's in baseball or football or cricket, they're not just looking for the skills of the person, they're looking for the attributes of the person to see whether they'll fit culturally into the team dynamic.

And it's the same when it comes to salespeople.

You have the best salesperson in the world.

If they can't fit alongside the company culture, the good and the bad of that, then they're gonna fail.

So a great way to be able to do that is to be able to start to outline in your interview process the good and bad around your company culture, what are the things that make you very distinctive, that you're very good at, and what are the bits that maybe make you, you know, maybe others maybe struggle with.

So, for example, I worked with an organization once, and they were incredibly strong at looking after people.

They had an incredible family atmosphere.

They were brilliant at supporting their salespeople.

But they admitted one of their weaknesses is they were very quick to react and respond.

And even when suggestions were made, it could take them maybe three to six months to put them in place.

Now, understanding and asking your salesperson interview as to how frustrated they would be at putting together an idea and not seeing that idea come to fruition for a couple of months is a great way to spot whether they're a cultural fit for what you do.

So really spend some time to look at where you are culturally and where the person is that you're trying to bring in.

Because the reality is if you bring someone in that's got all the skills and all the talent, but they're not a cultural fit, it's going to end in failure.

So those are the four key rules for hiring elite level salespeople that I use time and time again.

And I've used them in my past.

When I've hired people in a career, I've sometimes been wowed.

I had a member, I had a guy that came to me that was, presented himself beautifully, talked a good game on the interview.

But when I think about it afterwards, and I think about actually what his culture was, he come from a big company where he could, yes, he could shine and stand out, but he didn't need to be the only salesperson that was doing the job.

Whereas in my business, I needed him to be more on the front foot and to be active.

And he was more used to leads being fed to him rather than going and winning that business.

And he struggled.

So it wasn't a cultural fit.

So I've made mistakes and things that I've got wrong.

People I've hired.

I remember hired another guy a number of years ago who was a lovely guy, had all the knowledge but just the charisma of a dead frog and just couldn't engage.

And to me, I thought he was would win over people through his technical skills.

The reality was he was flat and couldn't build a relationship.

So look out for those four rules for hiring elite salespeople.

Hire for attitude, prioritize emotional intelligence.

Look for a proven track record of success and ensure they fit your company culture.

And if you take those sort of things on board, if again, if you want any help in each of those areas and knowing how to spot and how to make sure that there's a good fit, let me know.

Reach out.

Me and my team are happy to help in that respect.

Then you're going to be in a far better position to find someone that comes on board that gets you the right result and that saves you time.

Because instead of you give it, you're going to give that person three months, you're going to give them some time to get going and that time is wasted if you've not adhered to these four rules that can.

If you're not careful, you know, you'll get excited, you have an opportunity, you hire emotionally and you make a decision.

You know, there's a great saying I've always used and someone told me once, you're better off to have a hole than an.

The reality is if you hire someone that's the wrong fit, it's going to create problems down the line and it's going to impact your business in the wrong way.

Use those four rules to hire the right person and it's going to enable you to do what you want to in terms of growing the business and winning new customers.

And it's going to be to scale and build the company you want to.

So sorry to interrupt the podcast, but if you've got a sales issue at the moment that's really hacking you off, challenge me, I'll help you solve it.

Reach out to me.

Drop an email at hello a.m.

and I will help you solve your sales challenge.

There's not one I don't think I can't handle.

There's no sales issue that I can't resolve.

I've seen them all over my career.

I want to help you solve yours.

So reach out to me.

Let's make sure.

We handle your sales challenges and fix them so you can get back to smiling again.

Now back to the podcast.

So look, that's my four rules for hiring ultimate salespeople.

As I always do, I like to finish the podcast on an inspirational story.

And as I mentioned, the story I've got for you, there's about an American guy called Chris Gardner.

And Chris Gardner was a philanthropist.

He's now an investor.

He wrote a book called the Pursuit of Happiness.

And Chris Gardner was a real inspiration because he struggled with homelessness.

He was choked out of home while he had a son in the early years.

And he was able to, through support and through the work that he did and how he was able to change his life, get back on track and be in a position where he could then build a home for his family and go on and inspire people on his website.

Now, if you look at chris gardner, chrisgardner media.com he talks around how he's able to achieve things as a single parent and to make things happen in the world.

And when I look at people that are going through tough times, there's always an excuse, there's always a challenge that people have got.

But Chris Gardner to me, is an inspirational story of someone that had those challenges but was able to overcome them and come out and live the life that many people dream of afterwards.

So for me, the inspirational story today is Chris Gardner.

Have a little look at him who overcame homelessness with a child to become one of America's leading media speak person and investors and entrepreneurs.

And I think if he could do that, then what challenges it present for us, what, you know, maybe it means that we could overcome our issues that we're facing right now.

So that's it for this week on the podcast.

Hope you've enjoyed it.

Hope you find it helpful.

It's giving you the four tips you need to hire ultimate salespeople.

If it has, then let me know.

Put those tips in place, hire the right people, get them on board in your business and move on to the next stage, you can achieve the growth plans you have.

I hope what I share is going to give you insights to do that.

If you have any questions, reach out to me on social media.

Let me know in your comments section below what you think.

Are these the four things that you look for when you're, when you're hiring salespeople?

If you think differently to me, then let me know.

Always happy to take the comments on board, but these are the four things that I use and have used in my businesses to help scale and grow, and I hope you can do the same thing.

That's it for this week.

Thanks for listening.

Until next week.

See you soon.

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