As I was rereading the post I realized I had forgotten to include my favorite site of them all www.indeed.com.

You can post an ad there and look at resumes that have been posted. The site “scrapes” other job boards, so its a favorite of job seekers.

With tools like these, it is easy to find the 20 applicants you need for every sales position.

Salespeople who have one prospect and have to make the sale usually end up putting too much pressure on the sale – and blowing it.

Hiring salespeople in some ways is like making a sale – the more applicants you have the better off you are.

You want to go into the sales hiring process with lots of choices.

I don’t need to tell you how many losers get hired for sales jobs. In my experience one of the biggest reasons for hiring sales losers is because managers find “this great candidate.”

You know the kind: he’s an amazing sales applicant, he’s got previous sales experience, previous industry experience, went to a great college, comes recommended by your buddy at Kiwanis Club….

So you spend the entire hiring process justifying why to hire your one candidate.

Total mistake. Yet, every month all across American business (and UK, Australian, Jamaican, German and Indian business based on our experience) sales managers are justifying hiring that one applicant.

What’s really sad about this is you can have a floodgate of applicants for nothing.

Two sources are standouts in getting lots of applicants for your next sales job:

Simply Hired let’s you post jobs to their stream here:

http://www.simplyhired.com/a/add-jobs/request?type=feed

And of course there’s the venerable www.craigslist.org.

Post to both and review a minimum of 20 applicants before making a hire. It’s the best way to make a great sales hire.

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The problem comes in in the hiring of top performers. Most managers who are in charge of the hiring process are TOTALLY CLUELESS on how to spot one of these Tiger Woods of sales. On top of that they fail to approach the project systematically.

Here then, is your definitive, if abridged guide, for hiring a top sales performer:

Step 1) Write an ad that speaks to top sales performers. The mind of the top sales performer is different from that of mere mortals. Top sales performers think of themselves in very concrete terms, By that I mean they are motivated by practical values – money and power. Mention the money and be specific. If they can’t make a lot of money they are not going to consider applying.

Top performers are also very strongly ego driven. Make sure you appeal to their sense of being able to reach heights reserved for only the superstars. Mediocre salespeople want it safe, top sales performers want the stars.

Step 2) Advertise for your top performer. There are a lot of choices here on how to attract good applicants to apply for your sales position. Our clients are reporting that www.Linkedin.com has become a good source of applicants, but it is not free. On the other hand there’s www.SimplyHired.com – the best part is its free. Post your job here (but be sure to make sure you’ve done Step 1 above) http://www.simplyhired.com/a/add-jobs/request?type=feed

There are many other places to advertise your need for a top sales performer. Be sure your website and Facebook page has a place for applicants to apply. Also, set up a Twitter strategy to get the word out.

Step 3) Evaluate your sales applicants. Here is where most sales managers screw things up, so pay attention. You do not want to read resumes for previous sales experience or previous industry sales experience. Most managers do, but most sales hires are weak. You decide whether you’ve got the guts to do it right here.

Applicants should at this point be evaluated with a validated series of personality profiles. We offer them and you can sign up to try one on yourself here. If you don’t use ours, make sure that the one you use is offered by a company that knows something about hiring salespeople. Most, in our opinion, don’t.

Step 4) Interview your applicants, but not like everybody else. At this point you have filtered your applicants for qualities that top performers exhibit. This means that they have the personality style of top performers. It does not mean they’ve done anything with their talent. Some people call this emotional intelligence. My Dad used to call it getting off their asses and doing something.

Your interview must be scripted. No winging it. Your interview must ask tangential questions. Don’t ask the same stupid questions that every other sales manager does. You must ask questions that get them to show you were they have demonstrated:stick-to-it-iveness, follow through, the ability to overcome adversity and discipline. Make them show you where they have been great in their lives.

Also, you don’t sell in the interview. Pretend you’re boring. Be an engineer. Make them sell, but don’t get all excited with them. Maintain control.

Step 5) Evaluate references. There are some amazing tools out there to support reference checking. It gives your references a chance to anonymously respond to your request for information on the applicant. They cost but they are worth the investment.

That’s the system. Five steps to hiring a top sales performer that take eight weeks to implement. If you’d like more information on how to implement the steps, take a look at www.advancedhiring.com

Unlike other professions where an MD, DDS or LLD comes after the name, there’s no “SSM” degree.

Sadly, most sales managers don’t really know what makes a good salesperson. As a result, they persist in hiring people to sell for them for all the wrong reasons.

Sales applicants who “handled themselves well in the interview,” “got past their screener” or “who have years of sales experience” are deemed the best candidates. And, so the cycle continues: bad sales hire after bad sales hire after bad sales hire, all join the ranks of sales teams.

In having studied good salespeople for nearly 16 years, good salespeople have one thing in common – a “sales personality.” No other criteria are common to top sales performers.

What is this “sales personality” of a top sales performer?

It is a combination of the right personal interests, values and personality style.

In 16 years of research we have found top sales performers are “high practicals — where money or power are their highest values. And they are strongly ego driven, confident communicators and rule breakers.

Start looking for salespeople with these personality characteristics and watch your sales hiring success ratio rocket to new heights.

I’ve heard those I consider weak Sales Manager say “I don’t want salespeople to be too entrepreneurial because they won’t stick with me.” But there is no separating top salespeople from the entrepreneurial drive.

A smart Sales Manager, on the other hand, realizes: Top salespeople produce 7 times the sales results of a mediocre salesperson¹. A mediocre sales hire causes your sales department to be stuck with low average sales results per salesperson.

By running the numbers, you can easily see how when you manage a sales department you can’t afford to have weak sales performers. Salespeople who are excellent give you a dramatic increase in sales results – because of their drive toward entrepreneurialism.

This might be the most important insight a top sales manager arrives at. Once you fully understand the implication you realize how essential it is to concentrate on getting top salespeople.

How do you motivate these entrepreneurial top sales performers?

I recall years ago in one of my first meeting with my Sales Manager. He sat me down and said, “If you want to be successful in sales, think of sales as having your own business. We do all the work. We create the product. We bill for it. You are the sales company we hired to sell it for us. You get 15% of everything you sell.”

That was the catalyst! I got 15% of everything I sold and the company did all the work. What a deal! I owned my own business for no capital – and they were even giving me a draw until I got up and running.

Determine whether the applicant has the real entrepreneurial drive by using the AHS ValuesMatrix™ and StylesMatrix™. Do this before wasting time in an interview, not after.

I came across this video. Do you think this guy understands entrepreneurialism? Leave your comments below.

Thanks to Gary at biiwii for posting this video.

I think we all get way too focused on us and what we want and forget that it’s not really about us at all.

We’d be a lot better as people – and our nations would be a lot better as nations if we started asking ourselves “what can I give” not “what can I get.”

Most of us don’t get the Big Lesson that Rick Elias did. We are fortunate to live in an age when we can instantaneously share it, though.

To a great 2012!

Ever since discovering Your Time and Your Life (The Insight System for Planning, 10 Audio cassettes and Study Guide) in 1990 I’ve taken planning very seriously. Hobbs says in this vintage tape series that it’s ironic and counterintuitive, but the time spent planning actually saves time. As the self-diagnosed poster child for Adult Attention Dyslexia, I am convinced that without my daily lists of tasks I can find myself Googling basket weaving and really thinking that I am doing something of value.

For me, the ritual of annual goal setting is a sacred one. I usually start on Christmas Day. I like to make sure there’s plenty of coffee ready, then I lock myself away in my office.

I used to do my goal planning session in one day, but I have begun recently to take more time. I have found shorter stretches of time work better for me, as I can come back and look at my work and make changes.

I start with a review of all of my goal setting notes from previous years. I have my notes from as far back as 1990. I like to flip through them recalling where I was sitting in that year when I wrote them out. But most importantly, I like to see which goals I have reached and which ones I missed.

There’s an insight I get from this exercise that has allowed me to improve year by year. It’s almost as if each year I’ve gotten better at realizing how far I can stretch myself.

And I do stretch myself. For example, when I was 16 I was diagnosed with cancer of the spinal cord. The surgery left me with a long scar down my neck and fused bones in my spine – definitely not the kind of physical condition to run marathons. Yet, I’ve run two so far.

When I actually get down to the actual planning I start by reviewing what Hobbs calls “Unifying Principles.” Essentially they are my values. What do I believe in? What are my redlines? What are my ideals?

From there I develop Personal Goals. They include Physical, Spiritual, Social and Family Goals. I do personal goals before I do business goals. I learned from Michael Gerber of E-myth fame, that ultimately, everything we do in business is really for ourselves. How far we are willing to put ourselves out is rooted in, first and foremost, who we are personally.

After these steps I get down to business goals. This is actually the part of goal planning that takes the most time because my Unifying Principles and Personal Goals are fairly static year to year. Too, because I wear more than one hat I must go through each position I hold and identify what I need to accomplish in the coming year.

One thing I added this year to get me started was to read a short book by Bill O’Hanlon called “A Lazy Man’s Guide to Success.” I am attaching a link to the book here. Bill has given permission for me to distribute it for free, so I am taking him up on it.. Enjoy

And here’s to a great 2012 for all of us.

The agent took us to a penthouse apartment overlooking the Mediterranean. When my wife, Leah, stepped on to the balcony to see the view of the sea here is a livestream of what she saw. Live cam from my office window (Israel is 7 hours ahead of the U.S.)

“All this for $135,000,” said the agent. My wife was entranced. One look at her and I knew it — I was dead. Right there. Nowhere to go, but sign the offer.

Israelis don’t believe in mortgages like we do in the U.S. so it was cash on the barrelhead. And of course, getting the place to an American standard took another $65,000. Still not bad for an unobstructed 270 degree view of the Mediterranean, the Mountains of Lebanon and Har Meron in Tsefat.

You can’t beat the weather in Israel during the Holidays – it’s 75 F and perfect running weather.

We went on a tour of Holy Places over the past few visits. Really awe inspiring. Here are some links:

Footsteps of Jesus:

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/israel/footsteps-of-jesus

Jewish history in Israel:

http://www.otisrael.com/Tourism_Eng/Tourist+Information/Discover+Israel/Places+in+Israel.htm

If you are a hockey fan, Israel is growing a league:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203518404577094442294814390.html?mod=ITP_AHED

Wishing all of you a Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah.

THE BEST TEAMS ARE ALWAYS RECRUITING
Top sports teams have great benches

I am mystified when I talk to sales  managers who say they have a good team and are, therefore, not looking.

How can they predict what kind of turnover is going to come their way? And why do they deliberately recruit under pressure?

The easiest and most effective way to build a great team is to "always be recruiting."  Let the world know that your sales department can always make room for a salesperson with great potential.

Then, as applicants come in, run the tests and only talk to the great ones.

A top sales performer generates 7 times the revenue of an average performer. It is easy math...