How’s your batting average in hiring new salespeople? Since the cost of a poor hiring decision in the sales field commonly runs to six figures, it’s kind of an important thing to get right. So what would you say if I told you that great sales training makes it possible to revolutionize your hiring criteria and bring more talented people onboard? I’m not kidding. Todd Eber, president of electrical and plumbing-products wholesaler W.A. Roosevelt of La Crosse, Wis., wasn’t happy with his batting average when it came to hiring salespeople. Like most hiring managers, he looked first and foremost at factors like product knowledge and sales experience. And like most hiring managers, his success record was spotty. He wished there was a better way. When Eber finally discovered a sales training program that produced demonstrable and measurable improvements in sales skills and overall sales performance, he was naturally delighted for a lot of reasons. But to him, the fact that these improvements applied to sales rookies and veterans alike had a deeper implication. Eber now knew for sure that he really could teach sales skills. That meant he could reinvent his hiring strategy.

Hiring for greatness

“I found that sales training based on the Action Selling ® system can reliably take good people with just about any level of sales experience and turn them into great salespeople,” Eber says. “So we began hiring for qualities that we can’t teach. “Today,” he continues, “we look for candidates who are open-minded, adaptable, eager to learn, and show a desire to be great at something.” A desire to be great at something? You heard right, Eber says. He is now free to look for such non-teachable qualities because he is confident that it doesn’t matter if learners are new to sales or if they have spent 20 or 30 years repeating the same mistakes. It doesn’t matter how their personalities would be classified by any popular sales typologies: hunters, farmers, challengers, relationship builders, or what have you. It doesn’t matter if they are so-called 2.0 Salespeople, adept with web tools and social media. It doesn’t even matter if they are “born salespeople,” with a natural gift for the role, or not. Regardless of any of that, when people receive great sales training based on the right selling system, they get better at their jobs. A whole lot better. “We’re finding that salespeople who are ‘brought up’ with Action Selling ® secure wonderful new business,” Eber says. Once he found sales training that really can teach people how to sell, Eber was free to hire for other qualities. Even greatness. For information about how to improve sales skills and make sales training pay huge dividends, contact Action Selling ® at (800) 232-3485.
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