Recruiting.com

The Wall Street Journal provides an article that does a nice job of laying out the upcoming shortage of workers.  The focus is upon the different generations and the general drive behind each.  The article is rather rudimentary, but it provides a clean view of the problem.

Most modern calendars mar the sweet simplicity of our lives by reminding us that each day that passes is the anniversary of some perfectly uninteresting event.

First we posted on the 7 Deadly Sins of Salespeople over a year ago.  Now comes the follow up - leaders, or sales managers.  Each item has a full paragraph explanation to it which I have removed for space.  However, 3 of them warranted the full paragraph:

From the outstanding resume file - a resume I received yesterday for a Project Manager position:

Personal Attributes
I am highly enthusiastic, hard working, opinionated and motivated to work under my own initiative or as part of a team.

Apparently the answer to that question depends upon whom you ask.  From an older RecruitingTrends.com article:

Selling Power offers a short, but excellent article that provides 5 subtle ways to build credibility.  We often talk about establishing rapport with prospects and then building credibility.  This is sales 101, but it is surprisingly sparse in sales situations (emphasis mine):

What emails do you open?  The “From” field and subject line are the first draw for most people and a determinant for gaining a higher open rate.  MarketingProfs.com has an informative article that breaks down examples of awesome and awful email subject lines.  The article is a good read and worth your time.

The management landscape is changing drastically as more salespeople move to remote/home offices within their territory.  Yet, many aspects of sales seems to be moving more towards relationship-based sales.  Yes, relationships have always been a key part of selling, but it seems to be the greater piece today.  Information flows freely on the Internet so the differentiation between companies is being pushed onto their salespeople.  So we have arrived at the place where relationship-driven salespeople work remotely instead of at the corporate office.

That is how long you have to hook a person on a cold voicemail message according to this article on Salesopedia (my bold):

The online job posting statistics provide a look at general hiring trends…I think.  My question is always in regards to which online boards are being tracked.  We are seeing a marked migration away from the big boards to the still-developing niche boards.

This tip comes from the Selling Power archives:

Never ask a question without first explaining why you’re asking.

In case you ever wondered why your marketing campaigns were not working:

(h/t Seth Godin)

I haven’t heard this term before, but I absolutely love it.  From the Wall Street Journal’s How Stay-at-Home Moms Are Filling an Executive Niche:

Isn’t that the truth?  Entrepreneur.com has an excellent archived article (from 2002) titled Hire and Hire that discusses hiring salespeople during a recession (no, we’re not in a recession).  The point is valid - economic downturns are the best time to upgrade and/or expand your sales team.

Interesting history lesson in a short Inc.com post:

William Wrigley, Jr. arrived in Chicago in 1891 with just $32 to his name. The 29-year-old entrepreneur began manufacturing soap, first enticing customers by offering free baking soda with every purchase. He later tried offering customers free chewing gum. The gum soon became more popular – and profitable – than his soap venture. Like many of the famous companies which have sprung up during recessions, Wrigley sold inexpensive goods that could be easily mass produced. Now, I’m not saying that chewing gum actually served as a distraction from the strife of the times, but what kind of startup do you think fairs particularly well during a recession? Do consumers need distraction during downturns? If you have a great business idea, does it even matter when you launch your business?

Even bad salespeople can appear to be strong in a face-to-face interview situation.  This reason is why sales recruiting is truly different than any other form of recruiting.  Reviewing resumes and assuming abilities is is a fool’s errand.  Yet, there are certain aspects of general recruiting that can that hinder effective sales recruiting.

From RecruitingTrends.com (my emphasis):

Manpower Inc. releases the results of its third annual talent shortage survey, revealing that 31% of employers globally are finding it increasingly more difficult to fill jobs. The top three candidates most in-demand are skilled manual trades, sales representatives and technicians (technical workers in the areas of production/operations, engineering and maintenance).

From the Herman Trend Alert newsletter (sorry, no link):

The economic slowdown here in the United States is not having the expected effect on the demand for qualified executive talent. ExecuNet’s “2008 Executive Job Market Intelligence Report” finds that increasing demand, along with a shortage of qualified talent and sustained economic growth overseas, are driving better than expected job growth at the executive level.(http://www.execunet.com/marketreport)

Salesopedia.com offers a good article this week on a timely topic - How to Shorten Your Sales Cycle.  The author cuts to the quick on an issue we encounter frequently:

CareerBuilder.com offers up another list with “wacky” in the title.  For web purposes, wacky is a euphemism for link bait, but I’ll bite.  The list is comprised of the most unusual excuses provided by employees for being late.