Below, you will find some aspects and traits that will help you hire the right person to lead your sales force to increase revenue, decreased employee turnover, raise company moral and, most importantly, will teach others how to lead, thus moving your firm forward.

Rule #1 – Proper Compensation For The Director:
Chuck Ames, the former chairman and CEO of Reliance Electric, “Show me a company’s various compensation plans, and I’ll show you how its people behave.”

This is one position that, as an executive, you don’t attempt to shortchange. It is too important. For the sales director, a very good base salary must be in place. In all actuality, to show loyalty to the individual, you should compensate slightly above market. That’s the best trick that I’ve learned.

Following the aforementioned, there must be heavy performance based bonuses. True sales directors want to make money – some love the money itself, while others treat it as a trophy due to competitive winning. Regardless, the money must be there. Otherwise, reading further is probably not going to be the best use of your time.

Giving Up A Good Amount Of Power To the Sales Director
As an executive of the firm, sometimes it is hard to give the sales director full power. However, most management theories would tell you that, upon coming on board with the company and assessing the sales force, the director might have to cut dead weight.

Now, these people being laid-off (or fired to call it spades) may have close, personal ties with you and will come “making a case” following their pink slip, you must be able to deal with it. Nobody said this was easy, but then again, what worth while is?

Allowing For A Period of Retrenchment
A sales director, from the first day, should be aware of the numbers, but should not be given a quota from the second they walk in the office. It’s not, “Welcome Sally or Bob, the clock starts ticking now!” If you study nearly any military strategy, all successful armies throughout history has postponed invasions or attacks due to a need to restructure their divisions to be ready to go to battle. You must give the sales director this type of flexibility.

I was once asked to do sales consulting / restructuring for a small, family owned business and after great forward movements were put in place within 8 hours, the owners, a son and father, called me in their office to scream and ask what I was doing for the monthly revenue. I politely walked out.

Here’s An Example of the Importance of Retrenchment:

On Tuesday, June 6th of 1944, at 6:30 a.m. (GMT+2), the American troops successfully stormed the Normandy beaches and began a successful, epic penetration into Berlin. Common knowledge. However, before the U.S. Army could attack, the lower ranking troops had to be organized and the climate of the invasion (ideal was a sea state less than 4, wind speed under 24 knots, a visibility of 6,000 yards) had to be there.

The retrenchment parallel is that Eisenhower sat still until two specific fair weather days presented themselves. The weather was not perfect, but the attack was so successful that it paved the way for the American Army to swiftly put an end to an atrocious war.

To make myself better and better at what I do, I make it a point to read for about 30 – 60 minutes daily and, just as crucial as the act of reading, I formulate reference outlines as I know I am going to forget most of the information that was just processed in about an hour. To me, the resulting frustration from forgetting knowledge that was once fresh, can be taxing, but there’s no other way.

Therefore, after reading about 15 books in the past few months, I began to see a keen similarity in a few of the more interesting, worthwhile and in-depth books. That similarity was that the messages within them could not only help the direct reader i.e. Welch for managers, but would significantly improve your interview skills.

Winning by Jack Welch
Jack Welch’s management theories don’t just ring true to the manager; they ring quite as loud to the job seeker. Throughout the book, Welch indirectly tells you what to look for in a potential employer and how you should act both in an interview and, following the acceptance of an offer, the subsequent work environment.

Key Takeaways For Interviews:

- Welch preaches candor. This is quite a spot-on point when interviewing as, if you are direct and to the point, you are much more likely to get your message across, thus get an offer as opposed to being your typical wishy-washy and indirect candidate. Being candid gets people to listen – try it sometime.

- Another huge takeaway from Welch that can easily be transitioned into the interview tip arena is for you to actively avoid companies that seem to be a bureaucracy where management may be complacent and not love their job.

- Welch goes on to make the point that everybody, regardless of who they are, should have an opinion within a company and they should be allowed to voice their opinion. Do you feel that the potential employer on the other end of the table practices this? If not, you may be quite unhappy at this position.

The One Thing You Need To Know by Marcus Buckingham
It is a strong recommendation that if you have not read this book, employed or unemployed, pick up a copy and begin reading. Within the 4.5 star Amazon rated book, Buckingham goes in-depth and analyzes 3 life and career oriented points such as leadership skills, sustained success and superior managing skills.

Key Takeaways For Interviews:

- According to Buckingham, find employers and subsequent jobs that actively want to utilize your strengths rather than focus on your weaknesses or focus on improving those weaknesses. This will only make the job difficult to handle and, more likely than not depressing.

- Buckingham strongly points out that 80% of employees feel that they are not being used to their full advantage. Before accepting a job offer, ensure that you are going to part of the lucky, prestigious group as to whom Buckingham refers to as the “Twenty Percenters.” Again, just like Welch, this translates into helping the job seeker pick out effective, intelligent management that is going to give you the employment freedom you deserve and require to be as successful as possible.

The Psychology Of Persuasion by Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D.
I must admit that, at times, Cialdini’s book does get a little drawn out with too many examples for each thesis, however upon uncovering each thesis, you will discover that the book was well worth wading through the seemingly never ending, examples. Take that patience and work your way through it, as your interviewing skills will heighten dramatically.

Key Takeaways For Interviews:

- One of the biggest persuasion factors along with looks, smoking habits and political views, is the way people dress. Therefore, prior to going into an interview, do your best to find out what the office attire is and match it! If they’re not wearing a suit, forego your suit for business casual. Also, if they are not wearing glasses, take yours off.

- People like to do things when they feel others are. Sounds about right? We all want what others have. Therefore, if the timing in the conversation presents itself, according to Cialdini’s principals, you may want to lightly discuss (touch upon is a better phrase perhaps) a situation where someone made you a job offer or wants something from you. If implemented properly, this should perk the interviewer’s ears and get their thought process going.

Instead, what many firms are left with is professional outsources who, when it comes to making significant choices, “wing it,” and aspire for the best. This is especially evident during situations such as when the department has to make a verdict as to whether to hire someone or outsourcing a particular marketing implementation. At this precise and important juncture, mediocrity hits its peak.

If and when the marketing team uncovers that their strategies are subpar (a big “if), they go back to square one and, again spend a significant amount of time useless, finger pointing meetings. It’s a vicious cycle, though at some companies, it is seemingly endless. Only the good marketing departments know how to stop this reoccurrence of failure. There’s only one way to do some – learning and proper research.

Below, you will find some major misconceptions that many marketing divisions within both big and small companies have about today’s marketing and some quick remedies as to how to fix the misconstructions and commence a more successful marketing and advertising approach.

Misconception #1 – Outsource SEO To Those Who Have Big Clients On Their Website – Many companies want to outsource their search engine optimization; not a problem. As a matter of fact, if done correctly, it saves money. However, many marketing departments don’t want to learn the basics of SEO and, thus to cover themselves if wrong about their choice of vendor, settle on a company that has worked with name brands.

Upon making this conclusion, the decision makers within the marketing department simply deduce that if the vendor fails, they can proudly say to their boss, “Hey, x, y and z companies used this vendor. How was I supposed to know?” As a result, their decisions are based more on risk management regarding their future employment rather than on solid research done prior to inking the contract with that particular vendor.

Misconception #2 – Press Releases Still Work As Well – Unless a marketing department wants website decorations, they should not implement frequent press releases. Press releases are mostly for publicly traded companies or original technology companies that have a new, groundbreaking product.

Marketing executives need to grasp the concept that happenings about the firm which are noteworthy in any sense can be put in a white paper, then put on the website. There are 1,001 ways to shoot out a press release via the internet. The marketing department should save their breath, focus on something else and invest the money elsewhere. Moreover, the press releases alone, won’t build close to as many backlinks as the Ezine sites will.

Misconception #3 – As Long As The Website Looks Nice, It Can Be Sparse – Good marketing involves creative, intelligent writing. It does not involve an unnecessary, fancy introduction to the firm’s website that results in a high bounce rate because 90% of the time, after the intro, a lackluster site with little to no information is going to appear.

Websites need to be informative and they need to differentiate the firm from their main competitors. Each and every visitor needs to know who, what, where, when and how. Also, many don’t know this, but a high bounce rate can kill a website’s Google and Bing rankings.

Having A Blog Is A Great Marketing Tactic Marketing departments love to spend time throwing up blogs with weekly posts thrown together by whomever and that lazily sit on the url, receive virtually no visitors and transfer a bad vibe to those who do visit because nobody comments on the posts.

Moreover, redirecting a visitor to an external blog is one of the best ways to lose an audience. Instead, marketing executives need to put the articles on their site as I always say to make your website a steel trap. The longer the visitor is on the site, the more beneficial it is to the company.

Beyond the above mentioned, I’m not a big fan of plays or the arts. As I learn more about the world, though, I respect the very good plays a lot more, since I feel business, HR, sales and marketing are themselves an art.

If your job requires you to be in charge of sales people, follow the steps below and your competition will no longer be referred to as your competition – because you will have reached a higher elevation.

Stop Calling Them A Sales Force! Call Them What They Want To Be Called

That is, unless they like the term “sales force.” If they are above a level of experience that you feel comfortable with, give sales people a title that they feel important being called, and comfortable with. With your sales team, it’s not all about you. Yes. If the name doesn’t make you feel comfortable, make a deal. But keep in mind that it has to be 50/ 50.

Titles are of great importance to people in the professional world. That is why you will never see anybody in my firm with a title that sounds plain; they are more talented than that. The term “Sales Representative” does not command enough authority and, surely you can think of a few that may seem appealing to independent 3rd party opinions.

Pay Them A Good Base Salary and Less Commission

As an entrepreneur, business owner and manager, you must strive to not make your sales force into a sales force. Rule 101 of sales and human psychology says nobody likes to be sold. If you underpay an ethical sales person, you’ll see nothing different than the change in personality you will see from a dog who is underfed.

We all know that there are certain industries and sales people whom “we” all don’t like to deal with. Now, take 2 seconds and think about the typical compensation model in those particular sales niches. Do you possibly see an inverse relationship between perceived base salary and customer service, integrity and loyalty to their organization?

Give Them Some Marketing To Work With

The reason why the more talented people tend to gravitate towards mid to larger sized firms is that these firms tend to have better marketing. Small companies that think sales representatives are going to change their company are wrong. There are no sales people who can change a company, only smart sales people who will resent you enough to become your competitors once they’re gone.

Sales professionals want to feel that they are part of something special. Nearly everybody wants to be associated with something of importance or high regard. It is human nature. Don’t think so. Would you be rude if George Clooney’s agent called you and kindly asked if George could be your dinner guest?

Now, are you thinking that because it would be impolite, not because he is a celebrity? Here’s your final answer. Would you do the same for someone whom you did not know or, in sales, whose company you did not know?

Now that you are cognizant of this fact, do you feel that salespeople should have a reputable name and website behind them?

This took me over 2 hours to write. It takes 15 seconds or fewer to tell a caller, “I do recognize and thank you for calling, we just really prefer to be taken off the list.”

Though, despite career perceptions that a lot of recent graduates perceive to be factual, many don’t know what they want to do and, moreover many are afraid to admit it. However, let’s dig deeper, dissect what the young professionals are saying and, via a few case studies base their employment desires on the type company and people that exist in a company and its subsequent position.

Now, prior to doing so, we must spell out a few truths that will help explain the conclusions of each case study.

1. Everybody wants to feel important and wanted. This is in both job and life.

2. Everybody has a voice and they should be able to express it openly.

3. Everybody has different personal and life aspirations whether it be to start a family, be in a competitive atmosphere, give their life to the hopes of helping those who cannot help themselves or, of course make money.

Conversely, students will only give this information up if you gain their trust. Otherwise, you will hear the “make money” answer almost 100% of the time.

4. Most of these students are coming out of college with too many theories in their head that leads to mass confusion and, sometimes a feeling of isolation.

The financial arena is a great area to begin:

Case Study – “The Born Financial Analyst or Trader”

Contrary to popular belief, a lot of students that go after financial analyst or trading positions do it not for the money, but for the peer pressure. From frequent interactions with the young professionals, there is no passion behind these choices as if there was, they would have been reading Barrons weekly. In this case, their main driver is having a sense of community and gaining the respect of others within their group.

Possible Underlying Career Desires

In this scenario, the only way that the recent graduate is going to be happy is that if they make an above average salary with a position that is going to match them with people their age and is going to be a job that they can counter their friends’ boasting with something of substance.

Possible Careers Out of Finance

The careers that this person has open to them as we should assume that they are ambitious and driven by a strong sense to be accepted within their community via making money, are quite vast. It is the company, regardless of industry or actual job, that makes or breaks a recent college graduate’s enjoyment and personal / professional fulfillment.

Some industries that do very well (company aptitude of course on an ad hoc basis) and have a younger group as well as above average compensation and a future include jobs in the engineering vertical, social media, accounting as well as an entrepreneurial sales role at a firm that has interesting management and great people to work with.

However, I see poorly implemented management all the time.

Seemingly, many managers get into their role and become complacent. Nothing great comes of it.

Yes. They do their job. They are assigned some form of measurement for output from their team, they achieve that measurement and go home for the day.

If that measurement is not achieved, they simply blame it on the economy, get angry at their subordinates and, as if it were the same as the above scenario, they call it a day.

This is not good management. Though, how do we gauge good management? Inspiration and atmosphere are a start.

Ask: How Inspired Are The Employees?

Your manager should inspire their employees. The employees should look up to this individual and he or she should make them feel good about themselves. Managers need to think about the team’s needs.

If the employees feel that manager is doing a particular action whether it be a group training session or having a few attend a meeting with a client for him or herself, they are going to be aloof and untrusting.

Leaders have to grow others. They have to grow themselves first which is the tough part because growing oneself takes discipline. It is the same as deciding to join a gym and run on the treadmill every morning for 30 minutes.

Not many can make this shift.

Without this type of mentality on the manager’s side, inspiration and subsequent growth will not be a part of the culture. It will just be corporate status quo or what is expected.

What Is The Atmosphere Like?

The manager should relentlessly create an atmosphere that involves learning and open collaboration. The human brain is no different than any muscle. It needs exercise. It needs to grow.

Though this takes time and effort.

The manager, with some authority and basic tricks, can change the corporate atmosphere at any time. They can do this quite easily via some persuasion techniques that need not to get explained, however it statistically can be done in 5 days. The United States Army can do it in a more expedited manner, but they are the United States Army.

Regarding collaboration, not many managers let their employees voice their opinion in a manner where they feel confident that no ramifications will come of their candor. This must change.

One of my employees told me I was wrong the other day and yelled at me. I was glad because she was right. Therefore, we had a chat and fixed the problem.

Many managers are afraid of collaboration because negative opinions of some workforce practices could be voiced. I say the phrase, “I’m wrong” to my employees all of the time. That is, if I am.

It was hard to do at first, but to gain a collaborative environment that is the only one a manager can sustain success within, they must take accountability.

This hurts the honest, hardworking sales professional, because many sales representatives don’t think into the future. Instead, they think about their commission check this month. This train of thought and the resulting actions are the biggest barriers between the sales representative and true success.

It has come to the point where, as the owner of a company, I have minimal expectations from my vendors and only speak up when customer service hits a certain low. Even though we went with another real estate broker, with one, I actually had to teach customer service to.

Therefore, when I find a sales representative from a vendor that works hard and knows what they are doing, I cling on for dear life.

Starting today, as a sales professional, get in the mind frame that “average” is not good enough. In today’s society, average seems to pay somehow, but I can guarantee you that it’s not going to get you rich. As a sales professional, you can exploit others’ mistakes to an extent far more than you thought possible. Here are some ways to do so:

- Start thinking more positively

After spending 7 years in sales and owning a sales and marketing staffing agency, I appreciate the fact that sales can be tough. As soon as you send an email from your inbox with the word “Sales” in the signature, you are a step behind.

Unfortunately for many, but fortunately for you, this underdog mentality has plagued the culture of many sales teams in many companies.

People favor extroverted, outgoing people. If a sales person fakes this excitement and has a thought process that lends itself to the quick sale, the customer will know.

To rise above the pack, you must cease to let the negativity in your office control your way of thinking. Begin to shy away from the group that speaks badly about clients or the group that openly shares disdain for their job. This is the first step to creating your own culture of positivity.

- Get into the habit of learning and start thinking about sales in terms of business

Many sales representatives live in a vacuum meaning that they are around people who consider themselves sales representatives instead of business professionals.

To rise above this, you must learn to think like your customer. Many sales representatives sell to C-level executives, but the lack of ability to put themselves in the clients’ shoes renders them all but replaceable. Getting a MBA is not going to do, caring for the client is a much cheaper start.

To take advantage of the “status quo,” by starting to read business books. See the world the way a target customer does. Once you do, it will improve your numbers dramatically.

- Start doing research on your clients and be more client oriented

Although 400 people look at our company’s website per day, vendors come all the time unprepared to sell us something. It has come to the point where I would be amazed if they did some back research.

Right now, our company is looking to hire an outside vendor that is going to cost a lot money and, seemingly few sales representatives have come without doing research on my company. The odds of us cutting them a 5 figure check is zero. I don’t have the time to explain what is already on the web.

As a sales representative, it is imperative that you become engaged with your client. It is a must that you do research on them and that you do your best to see things from a business prospective. Success as a sales professional is contingent upon how you can help your clients and how much you care about their success.

Start implementing these techniques and watch your sales numbers increase as well as watch your career begin to further.

Unknown to me, this almost set the status quo of what work should be: miserable to the point where coping mechanisms are necessary. I was lucky that my father was always a nose-to-the-grindstone type, and having a successful brother took me away from the mentality of lazy work, but when I worked for someone else during college, I accepted average management.

Thinking back and coming strictly from a psychological and persuasive standpoint, the coffee company in question had brilliant advertising. In an indirect manner, the company told us that mornings are not fun. They associated mornings with a person who is not beautiful. Immediately, this paints an ugly picture in the human brain. After all, a cosmetics company wouldn’t have an actor with messy hair promoting their products.

In society, every morning, when a person wakes up to prepare to go to work, they feel that it is okay to not enjoy coming to the office. After all, Joe on the coffee commercial wasn’t happy. However, it’s not that he wasn’t happy, it’s just he wasn’t well put together: unhappiness is just immediate association.

People who work for leaders enjoy work. People who work for managers associate the word “work” with negativity. Phrases like “I worked until 8 o’clock,” have a negative connotation in our society.

When the consumer is told that work is a necessary evil, it allows poor managers to keep doing what they are doing – nothing. They have a “Take it or go elsewhere,” mentality. They are insecure and unhappy, therefore the employees should suffer.

Society’s low expectation for managers does not always apply to the aggressive, mean managers.

Managers who sit in their offices, are afraid of being seen and who do not grow others should be held just as accountable as the people not taking up their own growth. Hiding in your office is no excuse. To be a good manager, you have to buck the trend of laziness, thus leaving yourself open to rejection.

Another good example of the advertising world indirectly allowing the common manger to keep his job would be a recent energy drink commercial.

It begins with a scene depicting a man waking up in the morning with a face on him as if he were going to a funeral. The man has messy hair and he is wearing scruffy clothes.

Advertisers know a lot more about the human mind than we might assume while watching the latest hackneyed ad. Advertisers tell humans that it is normal to associate work with negativity.

It’s not just a coincidence that almost all caffeine advertisers depict a person who is in ruins until he drinks their product. At that point, he is well dressed, well groomed and has the positive outlook as if he were an executive of a Fortune 100 company.

Getting to this point, I have had to fight people at every resistance point possible. There were those who external individuals who fought me. They were my bad managers. I just didn’t accept it. There will be more bad managers in the future, but that’s for a later date.

In closing, very smart, persuasive and talented adverting executives at that coffee company have indirectly allowed managers to get away with having subordinates of my generation that don’t like their job. The commercials set psychological standards that said low moral is absolutely okay.

Do you think that things would be different if in the commercials, the person drinking the coffee was a nicely dressed, manger with a happy workforce around him?

Without this type of thinking within the group of the company’s employees, the firm will seize to reach its full potential. Therefore, upon interviewing potential candidates for any open position, there are certain questions that these organizations should focus on. Below, you will find a list of these questions paired with some potential answers and / or explanations.

1. In what ways can you help us grow this business?
Upon being asked this question, the candidate should light up and become energized because the entrepreneurial thinking employee should be naturally relieved that they are interviewing with a firm that, despite a horrific economy, is looking towards growth.

The best answers to this question are upfront answers that clearly state what the candidate can bring to the table. If they truly think like a business owner, they will be able to answer the question like a business owner.

2. What would you do if you made a million dollars here?
The best answer to this question would be something of this sort, “I would keep going.” For an entrepreneurial firm, there is no start and there is no end. There is only survival via growth in the bottom line or face the complete opposite: death. There is no grey area with the growth or death question.

Therefore, the progressive firms should look for someone who doesn’t have a goal in mind. Instead, their thought of the obtainment of a million dollars would just be a feather in their cap.

3. Why would you want to manage somebody under you?
People who work best in entrepreneurial environments want to manage others because they are firmly aware that they have solid leadership abilities and want to put these traits to use. Essentially, the entrepreneurial employee will feel that they have a brand new car sitting in the garage waiting to be used.

3A. How would you go about hiring that person?
This is a very good situational interview question as the company can see whether or not the potential employee has problem solving skills that lead to financially sound resolutions. Posting an ad on a job board is not the answer the hiring entity should look for nor is it an answer they should they accept.

4. What would you do if a client was very unhappy…and they wouldn’t listen to you and the boss was out of the office?
This question is more geared towards younger, less experienced employees. However, all entrepreneurial companies are very customer focused and the answer to this question should be, “Do whatever is human possible.”

5. What are your persuasion techniques?
Persuasion, when many think of the word, immediately associate the noun with the word “manipulation.” As a matter of fact, you can’t persuade anybody to do anything unless you care about dealing with people and you feel that having them doing a particular action will somehow benefit them. Otherwise, they will see right through you.

Therefore, the entrepreneurial company will look for an answer from the job candidate that alludes to them having a firm grasp on the theory that intelligent people can be persuaded, but not manipulated. This question is one that not many can formulate a solid answer to, but when the progressive company finds a person that can formulate a good, persuasive answer, they’ve found their guy/ gal and should make an offer.

With that being said, there is one key thing to remember. To truly implement these plans effectively and get what you want out of your next job, they have to begin day one if not from the point when you get the offer.

Why we outsourced our commercial real-estate lease negotiations.

Our firm just paid a good amount of money to hire a specialist to go out and negotiate our latest commercial real estate lease and find the better brokers. The reason being is that there was such a lack of integrity among these individuals that the hassle was not worth it.

Since our firm knows sales quite well, these brokers proved to be such bad sales representatives that consistent interaction with them was starting to make us sick.

The reason for their lack of skills was the lack of integrity they displayed as they gave a feeling that only their best interest was at mind regardless of whether or not we were happy.

If you go for the quick sale with a client, you’re not going to form the relationships that are required to get to the next level of your career. There are a lot of ethical problems amongst sales professionals. Ensure that you don’t fall into the trap.

Start to really study your new industry.

People buy expertise and clients like when a vendor comes to the table with fresh, creative solutions that they have never thought of for. If you become an expert at what you do, you will sell a tremendous amount. Conversely, if you don’t bring much to the table, one of your competitors will.

Pick up a few sales books and begin reading.

Life has to be about continuous learning. Yes. We all learn best from personal experiences, however reading expert opinions on sales related topics will inevitably expedite your “experience learning.” I will be the 1st to admit that reading is a pain, but it’s well worth it. Sales professionals must take the time to continually improve and upgrade themselves.

Write a weekly paragraph to your boss.

To make sure that you are progressing as required, don’t wait for your sales manager to come to you, go to your sales manager. Ask them if they would not mind if you wrote a paragraph as to the week’s accomplishments or setbacks and include any other pertinent news. This is the definition of being proactive. If you don’t know where you stand in the company, you will not get ahead. Plus, documentation of any work never hurts.

Stay away from any negatively thought of sales representatives

It is guilty by association. You don’t have to be mean, you just don’t have to go out to lunch with them. Also, chances are that their moral is low and you should always surround yourself with positivity. Politely avoid continuous interaction with them at all costs.