In my sales career, I have discovered that sixty cents of every commission dollar earned comes from these activities: finding enough quality prospects and setting enough first appointments in which I gain enough trust so that the prospect agrees to answer my fact-finding questions. Ten cents of every commission dollar comes from making the presentation. Thirty cents of the commission dollar comes from properly handling the prospects’ fears and concerns in a way that helps to close the sale in a timely manner.
Many people can make a presentation. Very few people are great at getting to the presentation step and closing the sale, which requires great skill in prospecting, getting meetings, handling objections, and controlling the sales process. Commission is not paid on the presentation alone. We only get paid for completing all steps in the sales process.
Recruiting the person who is great at the two portions of the sales process that make up ninety cents of the commission dollar is the greatest challenge.
During the interview process, we must not let ourselves be charmed by those traits that give a person the ability to make a great presentation.
We must sharpen our recruiting skills so we see past the charm to measure the degree to which a candidate can earn the full commission on a regular basis.
The chart below demonstrates the direct correlation between Character Traits, Personality Traits, and one’s ability to master sales skills. The higher the candidates’ score in the areas of personality and character, the greater propensity they have to master sales skills.
In my upcoming blogs, we will look at the Sales Skills that all top salespeople master and ways to measure them when recruiting salespeople.
Blessings upon your recruiting efforts.
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Steve Suggs is a partner at Sales Manage Solutions, a sales consulting firm focused on training sales managers to recruit salespeople and coach them to greatness. You can also read Steve’s sales productivity blog.