It always makes sense to scope a position when you are ready to add someone new to your team. Asking yourself and your team a series of questions before jumping into the hiring process will result in an improved interview process, a more effective search and ultimately the best hire. A few questions to consider are:

• What personality traits fit well in our culture? For instance, high energy vs. steady, innovative vs. consistent
• What are the top three or four outcomes we expect the new hire to accomplish?
• Then, what’s the timetable to accomplish those things and how will their success be measured?
• What do we have to offer that will attract the right candidate?
• What’s the cost if we don’t hire anyone?

Focusing on having the right competencies, skill set and demonstrated results to match the position, rather than being too focused on years of aligning industry experience, is smart. You may even consider using an assessment tool to benchmark the skills and competencies of the most successful individuals who are doing the job well now or who have done the job well in the past. For example, to identify what sets your top sales reps apart from less successful reps on the team.

Remember, when you define the criteria for the role you have open, ask yourself the cost of not filling it. If it’s a big impact on the team, you may want to consider diminishing parameters tied to years of industry experience or the type of degree. Instead, focus on finding the person who demonstrates a strong aptitude and motivation for the role, with aligning past successes. The same flexibility should be shown if your business growth is stalled while you wait for the “perfect” candidate to appear! Don’t let yourself lose opportunity or overworked team members by chasing a purple squirrel.

Our family experienced an unexpected loss this summer. As you might expect, most people want to help but often do not know how or what to do. I remain personally heartened by the many meaningful gestures by so many people. One of these people took me to dinner, making a statement that has stuck with me. She said, “I’m not going to say to you, call me when you’re ready, because you won’t.” Instead, she took responsibility to find the right time and avenue to connect and follow up with me.

I believe there is a correlation with this approach and business development efforts. Creating the right target list is important, along with being organized and having the resources you need readily available, to make a difference.

The key is for you to take responsibility and consistently reach out to create the opportunity to communicate voice-to-voice, or person-to-person. Decision makers are busy, so if you are not getting through, keep trying at different times. Talk to someone in the company and find out if there is a better time or number to call. When you connect and have gained permission to continue the conversation, be confident and share what other similar decision makers find valuable with your services. Most importantly, ask questions and listen. If the timing isn’t right, ask them to suggest a better time to connect and follow up with a calendar invitation.

If you leave the ball in someone else’s court to call “when they’re ready,” you may not be the one who is there when they are ready. Part of building and keeping strong relationships is staying connected.

Most business and sales leaders are focused on finishing the year strong. Some are just focused on finishing the year without being in the tank. Regardless of where you fall, you can look to your sales leadership and your sales team for the answer.

If your team is not positioned to finish the year above plan, the reason may be one of these:

1. The excuse many are quick to express: I never really bought into our team goal, it was unrealistic. You don’t want this to be the reason because it is essentially saying that you have little control over your ability to come in at or over plan.
2. You’ve been able to overachieve in the past by winging it. Who needs a plan? If you’re not where you want to be, the answer is you do! Successful sales reps and teams start with the end in mind and work backwards to define the plan down to daily activity goals.
3. You have a plan and it’s dependent on each member of the team performing at their peak. If this didn’t happen, you’ll be able to identify the weak link(s). When you do, ask yourself if you contributed to their low performance by not setting them up for success, failing to provide them with the right tools and training, or not being available for improvement coaching, encouragement, or recognition of small wins.
4. You failed to effectively lead your team. While this is a tough reason to acknowledge, the good news is it puts the solution under your control.
5. Finally, you may not have the right team in place. While the talent market is tight, especially for top sales talent, we know how and continue to place great additions to our clients’ sales teams.

If you’re looking for different results in the upcoming selling year, JESSI Search is here to partner with you to find and hire strong sales reps and sales leaders. We are connected to some of the best and brightest sales training and consulting resources, if that’s where your needs fall. Check in and tell us how you’re ending your year and how we might assist you with an “out of the park” 2018 selling year!

My father continues to attest the little things get you ahead in life. You might say there are two kinds of people, those who pay attention to the little things and doing them well and those who believe you get ahead in life by cutting corners. I’m a believer that cutting corners catches up with you in the long run. And that the extra effort pays off when doing something completely and well.

When partnering with our clients to secure the best hire, some little things we discuss include:

•  Investing the time to uncover and define what makes your organization unique and great, allowing you to approach the candidate market with your best attraction campaign.
• Involving multiple people in the interview cycle so that you gain different perspectives and the candidate gets the opportunity to have a more complete perspective of your organization.
• Using an assessment tool as part of your search process.
• Keeping the candidate engaged, what we call “warm” in our industry, during the entire process. This includes initial communications through the selected candidate’s start date.
• Ensuring an on-boarding plan is in place. More of our candidates are asking about prospective employers’ on-boarding process when considering joining their organization.

When coaching a candidate, we identify the little things that can set them apart. Some of these include:

• Developing a brief statement describing their attributes and experience so they can share it regularly with individuals who may be able to help network them into companies that fit their career goals.
• Networking with individuals who can introduce them to the hiring manager or HR leaders. This helps move your information to the top of the stack!
• Making sure there is consistent communication with individuals they’ve engaged with during their search process. Candidates who are lax staying in touch send the message that they have weak interest. I’ve said to candidates before that I didn’t think they were interested in an opportunity we discussed because they didn’t stay in touch with me.
• Tracking their entire search campaign to keep on target.

These little things often make the difference between securing the best hire and getting the offer for your dream job.