An Interesting Quote from Jack Welch - Great Sales People

I have always faced challenge with hiring good sales team members. I have been following a simple rule of thumb, if a sales team member uses "Strategy", "Corporate Strategy" more than 15 times in internview. I do not hire the guy. I believe that sales all about focus and execution. There is executive management who is paid and measured on corporate strategy.

This week's business week, Jack Welch also asserted the same philosophy, thought you might find it interesting.

Revenue growth is at the top of my to-do list. What should I look for in hiring great sales professionals? -- John Cioffi, Westfield, N.J.

Good news. You're halfway there, because you realize that great salespeople are different from you, us, and most everyone. Which is not to say that salespeople shouldn't have the qualities you look for in every hire: integrity, intelligence, positive energy, decisiveness, and the ability to execute. It's just that they need other qualities, too.

Four to be exact.

The first is enormous empathy. Great salespeople feel for their customers. They understand their needs and pressures; they get the challenges of their business. They see every deal through the customer's eyes. Yes, they represent the company, and yes, they want to make it profitable. But they are geniuses at balancing the interests of the company and the interests of the customer so that, even at the end of difficult negotiations, both sides would describe the process as more than fair.

Not surprisingly, then, the second quality of great salespeople is trustworthiness. Their handshake means something. They see every sale as part of a long-term relationship, and customers usually respond in kind.

Third, great salespeople have a powerful mixture of drive, courage, and self-confidence. No one likes cold calls. But the best salespeople are so eager for business that they make them relentlessly and have the inner strength not to take inevitable rejections personally.

Finally, the best salespeople hate the "postman model." No offense to letter carriers, but the best salespeople love to get off their set route in search of product and customer opportunities. In that way, then, they are just like you. Revenue growth is at the top of their to-do list. But unlike you, or any other boss for that matter, it's also at the middle and bottom. That's what makes great salespeople so special.

Hope you can use this for your next great sales hire,

Enjoy !