Sales Manager Mag

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HIRE ON ATTITUDE, THEN TEACH THE SKILLS

There are three major factors that will determine the success of any salesperson. They are;

1. Attitude
2. Skills and
3. Product and industry knowledge.

All are important, however one more important than the other two.

In surveys conducted by us here in Australia, as well as by organizations in other countries, it has been determined that if we consider what proportion each of these three contribute to an individual's success, the results seem to come out around;

Attitude - 80%
Skills - 10%
Product and industry knowledge - 10%

However, it has been my experience that some sales managers when recruiting, look only for people who have the skills and industry knowledge, and neglect the "attitude factor".

This was the case in a computer company we worked with about 3 years ago.

The Sales Manager decided to "head-hunt" a top performer from a competitor, and bring this person into his sales team. Certainly this new recruit was well qualified, with good skills and product and industry knowledge. However, because they came across on very "special" terms (big salary, special commissions etc) it quickly became evident to the sales manager that this person had a significant ego problem.

They refused to attend training meetings, refused to study product info, and their behaviour was destructive to and disruptive of the sales team as a whole. Before too long, other members of this sales team were developing attitude problems and their performance was declining. The sales manager now had one "star" performer and the rest of the sales team were under performing. These changes took less than one month to occur and the sales manager now had a major problem to contend with. He didn't like the solution we suggested, which was to get rid of the star performer. Clearly this person's "bad attitude" was infecting every other member of his team. He did however take our advice and the situation was quickly turned around. In future he considered attitude first and then skills and experience second, and soon developed an exceptional team of TOP GUNs.

You see...

It is much easier to teach a new employee skills than it is to change their attitudes.

Call it what you will - arrogance, ego, pride, insecurity, low self-esteem, no self-confidence - I don't care what you call it, sooner or later these people with these emotional or mental issues will become un-trainable from a skills standpoint.

Attitudes are developed over a lifetime and neither you nor I are going to change them in the short term. On the other hand, hire a great attitude, and I guarantee you this employee will work well with you and your team, make you look good, and create the results you want.

Avoiding a hiring an "attitude problem" can save you lots of grief, wasted training time, negative impact on other employees and/or customers, not to mention the possibility of a legal or financial fiasco when you need to terminate them.

Don't risk it. The price is too high.

Have a great week. Make it a great week. Talk with you again soon.

Wayne Berry .