RUN
WITH THE Big dogS™ newsletter
Volume 3, issue 44
Are your missing the best hires
because you positioned your opening as an entry level job? ....John
Management idea
During the annual meeting we were
discussing why we weren't obtaining customers in a new market.
Drilling down, the root cause was that the direct sales team was excellent
at closing business once they had a lead but unmotivated and ineffective
in generating leads unless they were in the company's core market.
It was clear that depending on the direct sales force to generate leads
wouldn't work. The solution was to fund an initiative to hire a
dedicated sales person to spend time on the telephone generating
qualified leads in the new market.
As the team worked to define the profile of an ideal candidate we ran
into conflict. The Sales Manager pushed for a profile consistent
with the other direct sales persons. But, others protested, if we hire
someone exactly like the sales
people who clearly aren't effective
at lead
generation how do we expect them to succeed? Why not a build
a profile of
someone who will remain motivated to make
repeated telephone calls?
The answer? "We'll never be able to hire someone like that.
This is an entry level position leading to a real sales position."
Clearly the Sales Manager had a mental model where salesman was the
"good" job and telemarketing was the "trash" job
that someone would put up with only as a transition.
After
discussion we reached consensus that one job was not better or worse
than the other, just different. The company recruited someone well
suited to the telemarketing job instead of a salesman biding his time.
The results were lots of qualified leads the direct sales team could
sink their teeth into.
RUN
WITH THE BIG DOGS™
Every
week the strategic planning facilitators of Myrna
Associates interact with the executive teams of the best managed
mid-sized companies in America. The weekly RUN WITH THE BIG DOGS™
newsletter shares an idea generated in one of those meetings. The
companion RUN
WITH THE BIG DOGS™ CEO interviews discusses a single management
topic with a mid-sized company leader.
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