One of the key areas where we help our clients is in recruiting and selecting top performers. In this work, we often work with a client through the entire process of recruiting and selection.   And though I have hired thousands of sales professionals – leaders and representatives in my career - I am STILL amazed at some of the experiences I have in conversations/interviews!

This past month has been especially rich with examples and I’m going to share some tips of Not Tos today and then To Dos later this week.  Some of these are going to sound so ‘duh’? or ridiculous and yet each one is based on something a candidate has done or said in just the last month.

Ready?

10 What Not to Do’s When Searching for a Sales Job

1. Insult the interviewer. No matter what stage you are in during the interview process, it is not okay to ask the interviewer for THEIR credentials, ask them if THEY have ‘really’ reviewed your resume or let them know that ‘This question I would rather answer with the owner of the company.”
2. Pontificate or hypothesize. Do not tell the interviewer what you believe everyone should be doing or how, in theory, things should work but that you know better and think everyone else is wrong.
3. Overstate your results. We check! If you say you have been #1 for the last 4 years, we will verify it.
4. Send notes with typos. An easy demonstration of your lack of detail and the care you will take with quotations and customer information.
5. Delay in respondingand then say ‘Well, i thought I had an offer coming in so I put this opportunity on the back burner.”
6. When asked a question, tell the interviewer that you already answered that question for someone else in the company.
7. Suggest that the question asked doesn’t make sense and ask the interviewer to give YOU an example instead. 
8. When asked a question, do not say “Wouldn’t the example I gave you about ___________, already have told you that?”
9. Express that you think the process they are taking is too much and you are wondering to shortcut it.
10. Refer the interviewer back to your resume over and over, instead of answering the questions.

And a bonus ‘What not to do’ – Do NOT send the interviewer a note critiquing their interview style or telling them why certain questions or the process ‘did not work for’ you. 

Hope you had a chuckle or a gasp as you read the list.

More this week on what TO DO to land that job!

Have any additional Not To Do’s?  Send them over and they’ll show up in the Comments.

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Filed Under: Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: Job Hunting, Sales, Sales Tips

It’s the first full week of the year for many people.  And judging by the number of downloads of the Sales Pro Insider Timely Tips to Achieve Your Goals eBook last week, many of you are starting 2011 with goal setting!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Clarifying your goals is one action to achieve what YOU want or need this year.  I often write about goals – and goal setting is a component of every training seminar I facilitate – that is how important it is.  And if the common or more transparent reasons for goal setting are not enough for you, there is newer research on the health benefits!

The most common benefits of having written, specific goals are:

• Focus
• Saving time and energy
• Allowing you to achieve more

And the health benefits?  Dr. Boyle’s research found that people with a purpose and plan are 30% less likely to develop Alzheimers’! 

“It can be anything — from wanting to accomplish a goal in life, to achieving something in a volunteer organization, to as little as reading a series of books,” said Dr. Patricia Boyle.

“What this is saying is, if you find purpose in life, if you find your life is meaningful and if you have goal-directed behavior, you are likely to live longer,” she said.

I’ve long noticed a difference in people with purpose and for the analytics out there, now there is proof of the benefits!

Ready to make some time to define goals and outcomes for yourself? Click here to get your very own copy of  the Timely Tips to Achieve Your Goals eBook - in 45 minutes YOU can begin to plan your year and a healthier life!

——————–

p.s. I was in line at a checkout this morning, and the woman in front of me overpaid $1 in cash, when the clerk returned the dollar, the woman said, “Well, I guess I don’t get out enough anymore…I’m nearly 95 years old, you know.”  Here was a woman, on her own, making purchases, seemingly happy and in a great mood – wonder what her purpose of life has been!

Source: Patricia Boyle, Ph.D., neuropsychologist, Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, and assistant professor, behavioral sciences, Rush University Medical Center

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Filed Under: Sales Tips, Success Tips
Tags: focus, goal setting, productivity, Sales Tips

It’s here, it’s really here!

2011 is here… But have no fear.  You can reach your goal without as much toll.

1. Determine your target.  You will end up somewhere by year’s end, identify where you want to be.
2. Take your actions to market. If you aren’t talking to your prospects or customers, someone else will be.
3. Use your available tools. Spend your time and energy wisely with all your tools – people, technology, skills and more.
4. Don’t be any one’s fool.  Keep your information current and your expertise top notch.

With these easy tips, you are now equipped!

P.S. I promise that I do know it…that I am not a poet   Don’t let the silliness keep you from the message…YOU have more control over this year than you think.  IF you define and direct your efforts.

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Filed Under: Sales Productivity, Sales Tips
Tags: Sales, Sales Tips