Stop Hiring Reps to Fail — Part Two

In May’s column, I declared, “50% of all new, first-job-in-sales hires do not make it one year,” before continuing with “A year later, 80% are gone.” The first step down this disastrous path is in the interview process. As such, I made suggestions of sample questions a manager can ask a candidate to try and head off a bad hire.

But the manager is not the only one who should be asking questions. Salespeople should arrive with a cache of queries. Great thought, but there are two flaws:

1. They don’t know what they don’t know. That is, because they are new to sales, they aren’t walking in with a list of questions sure to identify a bad fit. But that’s what this month’s column is for ... a thought I stood by until the second flaw hit me …

2. I realized potential print sales hires are unlikely to be reading Printing Impressions. That means you managers will need to help them out by bringing up the following issues to beat that 50%/80% failure rate.
Still, I am going to offer up some interview questions as if I was talking directly to them …

“Do you have a sales background?” — A “No” answer is not a good sign and potentially a massive red flag. This means you’ll be working for someone who has never walked the walk. They’ve never sold. They don’t get it. It’s the first question I ask when pulled in to a rep/manager conflict and almost always the lack of been there/sold that experience is a major factor. Do you walk out of the interview at this point? No, but it is something to consider later if you are on the fence. The only time you walk out is if the answer is, “No, but it doesn’t matter because I’ve managed many salespeople over the years and I know them.” If you hear that answer, run! It comes from someone who lacks the humility to admit they don’t know everything and the intelligence to realize one key factor: Sales is different in every way, from the personality type to the definition of success. Which leads me to the second question ...

“How do you define ‘success’ and how long do you believe it will take me to be successful?” — I sat in on an upper management meeting at a print franchise years ago and heard everyone in the room agree it would be their suggestion to the franchisees that reps would pay for themselves after six months; nine, tops. I nearly got thrown out the window for my unfiltered reaction. Sales reps can show promise in the first six months but not profit. There is no way they will cover the nut in anything less than 18 months. To this question, you want to hear softer KPIs: Patience over numbers.

“What does onboarding look like?” — In order for you to find an initial level of success, you must have some product knowledge, some bravado, a process, management, and the freedom to fail over and over. As this question is answered, check off each of those points before moving on to a question that widens the lens …

“Can you give me an example of production printing an outside-the-box solution?” — Imagine sitting with a new client; one you worked hard to finally get the opportunity to meet with. They describe their need and you come up with a possible solution. But it’s not typical. In fact, your idea will require production to stand on its head a bit. Arriving back at the office, you chase down the production manager and describe the need and your idea, only to be hit with “No. We don’t do that. You need to find work that’s a better fit.” Beware of “We can’t, because … ” and seek out companies that say, “We did, despite ... ” You’ll find examples of their work in LinkedIn customer success videos. Sales and production can and should co-exist with no one more important than the other. But if production has too much power, innovation dies and with it kills a lot of what’s fun about sales.

“What will you and the company do to maximize my face time with clients?” — The cruel reality of sales is this: the more successful you become, the less time you have to become even more successful. That means you need help on the front end (leads) and back end (order entry). Back in the day, sales newbies like me received leads printed on a 3x5" card. They consisted of contact name, company, phone number, and address. That’s it. In order for you to be successful, you will need leads that go deeper. What do they do? What need do they have that can be met by our products? Ideally, these are company-supplied. If not, understand that you’ll be spending considerable time feeding your funnel. And then, once an order is placed, who will manage it through the plant? How much of it is your responsibility? If a client calls you with a question about an order, you’ll need to chase down an answer and then chase down the customer to deliver the news. It is in everyone’s best interest if the company owns the beginning and end of the sales process, allowing you to live in the middle and do what you were hired to do: Sell.

“What is the compensation plan designed to reward?” — I’d be shocked if this question fails to get a Scooby Doo-like response. At the core of the query is another issue: What are you being incentivized to do? Salespeople listen through their wallet. What’s this company telling their reps to do? Offer a rep a high commission for new work and guess what they’ll focus on? It is very important for the answer to this question to line up with the “How will you define success?” question. If they are out of sync, something is amiss.

“Do you love what you do? Why?” — The last question I will give you is one I suggest you ask everyone you come into contact with during the interview process. Note the wording. I said “love,” not like. Being around people who love their work makes for a great environment. The air is light. You don’t need everyone to feel passionate, only some, and you should be one of them.

The task of hiring a sales rep is arduous and imperfect. It’s like a marriage, right down to the 50% failure rate. Hopefully, these questions and those from last month will help. Now that I have provided consulting services to managers and sales reps, I have one last question and this one goes out to the both of you: Which of you gets my bill?