Stuck In the Funnel? One Easy Forecasting Fix
Almost every sales team owns a CRM system such as Salesforce.com these days. And yes, we said “owns,” because while many businesses possess a CRM system, many do not use it correctly. Or at all. If you’re using yours to accomplish the same thing you used to do with spreadsheets, raise your hand … and know that you have plenty of company. Read more
Hitting for the Cycle – 6 Traits to Look for in an Inside Sales Rep
Hitting for the cycle – a single, double, triple and home run by the same player in the same game – is one of the rarest feats in baseball, because it requires a diverse set of skills: contact, speed and power. An inside sales rep who can ‘hit for the cycle’ is equally rare, and we could argue that one of these is worth two average field representatives.
What does it mean to be a “full cycle” player in inside sales? Read more
Door to Door
In a recent post, we discussed asking younger sales candidates to turn back the clock and look at accomplishments early in their lives (read it here). Let’s zero in on that even more: Read more
White Space
Remember when you were just starting out and struggled to fill a whole page as you wrote your first resume? Now, with some years – or decades – under your professional belt, you might have the opposite problem. When you’re well into your career, you might be tempted to expand your resume to include every last fact, figure and buzzword, bloating it to two or more pages. Resist that temptation. Here’s why. Read more
Paying Your Own Way
One of the best indicators for motivation and drive within a new sales hire that we have seen is — did they pay their own way through college (or at least contribute some portion toward the bill)? Read more
Turn Back the Clock
As you look to hire sales talent still early in their career, you may be inclined to focus only on the future in your interview sessions. After all, your candidates won’t have much of a track record to point to, so it’s tempting to explore only what they think they might be able to accomplish. Read more
Job Rabbits
We live in a world where most of us will have 3 to 5 careers (not jobs, careers) in our lifetimes. A disturbing side effect of that trend is the number of candidates we see who’ve had a half dozen different positions by their mid-20s. This kind of job hopping will catch up with you and harm your career. Why? Read more
What Company Is Interviewing Me?
“What’s the company name?”
This question inevitably comes up in the first few email exchanges between recruiter and candidate, or within the first moments of a phone call. Understand that a recruiter may not be able to tell you the hiring company’s name right up front.
Why not? Read more
That Next Sales Job? It’s In the Details
You’re a salesperson, or you’d like to be. And you know you can sell yourself to any hiring manager if only you can get past the resume stage. So what makes a great sales resume? Read more