Sales Managers… Don’t know what they don’t know!


Encore! 2.5 is an expert in understanding the complexities of B2B sales and hiring.  We comprehend the DNA of a true sales professional. Let’s be honest here, being an experienced sales manager does not automatically make someone in that role, qualified at identifying the right types of sales people for an organization.  

The old saying… it takes one to know one is really true. Knowing how to dig into a sales candidates DNA to uncover the hidden traits that will be the energy and driving force of their success in your company is not easily learned by a sales manager who has never walked in the shoes of a hunter.  You can forget the idea of having HR try to identify high-potential sales candidates.  They have no clue what it takes to find and understand a true hunter sales pro.

Most hunters, always a high-A personality type, understand that their true self, their sales DNA, the core of their personality and how they project themselves to others can be offensive.  So, they try to downplay their inner-self, their natural traits, to win a much needed job.  

The interview is the time to discover who is sitting across the desk from a sales manager.  Your organization needs hunters, cold callers, those who can open doors to new business.  Discovering what makes a sales candidate tick is critical to ensuring the company has the types of sales professionals who will accomplish the mission.  

Here’s the problem… when a sales manager is not a true hunter at their core, they are not equipped to understand who they are talking to to or how to interpret the skills and personality types of the person who will in fact become the hunter sale pro the company needs.  

The hunter comes across as brash, conceited, arrogant and too self-confident to fit into the organization.  That’s the typical summary given by a sales manager who fails to interview properly and doesn’t understand who sits before them.  Even with a scripted list of “hunter type questions” to ask, they will still be put off by the personality type they find offensive.

TRUE “HUNTER” DNA is characterized by a HIGH DRIVE to win, to succeed where others can’t.  That powerful inner-drive to win makes the Hunter sales rep your account acquisition specialists. Hunters are the backbone of any sales team.  Without them, your sales organization will stumble through seasons of mediocre sales production.  

Hunters have three distinctive, critical, non-teachable personality traits.  The vast majority of high performance salespeople start out with three personality characteristics that cannot be taught . . . you either have them or you don't . . . and trying to train and manage people who do not start out with this foundation is the biggest, single waste of time and money in business. What are these core characteristics?

1. Need for Achievement.
This is the burning need to achieve because there is no other way for the person to live. This is the pro golfer practicing putts until sunset, the mountain climber, the marathoner. It is not about the money. It is about setting the bar higher, and higher, and higher because that is what turns on people who need to achieve.

2. Competitiveness.
Not only do the world's best salespeople want to be number one, they even compete with their buyer in the sense that they see selling as a test of wills. " I WILL sell you." . . . on the benefits, the products, the services.

3. Optimism.
Selling can be the most disheartening profession in the world. UNLESS . . . you are so optimistic that you do not take the inevitable rejection personally . . . so optimistic that you absolutely KNOW the next call will be a winner.

These three, innate ingredients form a perfect storm psychologists call "Drive." You cannot teach Drive. You can only try your best to find people who have it, then build great salespeople from that core foundation. 

If you do not hire high-drive salespeople, here is what you end up with:

The Flatliner
The Flatliner hits a certain production number that satisfies his expectations, not yours, and goes no further.

The Actor
The Actor looks terrific in the interview, has great references, then disappoints when the rubber meets the road.

The "Almost Closer."
He/She is always "close" to signing some business but never quite "closes." You keep giving her one more “month."

Unfortunately, the average cost of recruiting and carrying such non-producers is almost always $100,000 annually, often much, much more. High Drive salespeople are hard to find, but compromising on anything less is a terrible waste of time and money.

True hunters may come across as brash, arrogant and far to self-confident among their peers and fellow employees.  However… in front of customers… they are the consummate relationship builders, the very best closers, and the new clients they bring will stay with your company for a very long time.


UP NEXT… MORE on Understanding HOW to Hire the Hunter Sales Pro!

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