Hiring a Salesperson Can Be a Costly Mistake if You Don't Have This

Hiring a Salesperson Can Be a Costly Mistake if You Don't Have This

Frequently, small business owners as well as larger companies set themselves up for a failed relationship with their new salesperson. I have seen this time and time again, even been in the shoes of that salesperson.

Tenured and successful salespeople can be thought of as jacks of many trades. Although they specialize in driving the sales cycle, they are usually educated and knowledgeable in areas such as finance, marketing, operational efficiency, commerce, and ROI. It is for that reason that they can identify inefficiencies quite quickly within the organization that they represent. After all, it's their job to discover and address their clients' inefficiencies. If those inefficiencies are not resolved by management, the salesperson will not be successful to his fullest potential, or like in most cases he will start looking to become a part of a better managed organization.

The resulting situation is awkward for both the business owner/manager, as well as for the salesperson. The business owner/manager assumes that he has hired an incompetent salesperson, regardless of what is on his resume, while the salesperson struggles and is left with little choice but to dust off his resume again. Unfortunately the business owner/manager rarely steps back to analyze the experience in detail as objectively as possible, especially if the salesperson was hired on a commission-only arrangement, which is typical in small business or entrepreneur-owned and managed businesses.

Often, the business owner decides to hire a salesperson because he has become too bogged down with operations (eg. logistics, product sourcing, or distribution) to devote enough time to marketing and sales, or has decided to grow the business and expand market share. Both are valid reasons for hiring salespeople provided that the business owner has defined a clear purpose and direction for his business. This is critical. If the business owner has not clearly defined a purpose and direction, how can he convey these to the salesperson, and furthermore, how then is the salesperson expected to convey this critical information to potential customers? And if he doesn't, how are potential customers going to differentiate between the business owner's and salesperson's products and services and those of their competitors? Do you see the domino effect of not clearly defining the purpose and direction of your business?

From its very inception every business, company, or organization must implement a strategy. This strategy will help position the business within its industry, and lead to the development of a competitive advantage, which will help it to win and retain market share. By defining a clear strategy, the business owner will be able to develop a unique competitive advantage, or unique and documented processes that are the reasons behind why his business is different, maybe even better than his competitors. It is then possible to create a unique selling proposition (USP).

Once you have a strategy, are capable of proving your competitive advantage, and can rattle off your USP in your sleep, you are ready to consider hiring salespeople. Too often I have worked with companies that allow, even encourage their salespeople to create and define their own USP. Do you have so much confidence in your salespeople that you will leave the executive responsibility of strategic thinking in their hands? If you as an executive or business owner can provide your salespeople with a concise and powerful USP believe me, they will have respect for you, maybe even love you for it, and will sell your products and services with confidence and success. But it all starts with clearly defining and implementing your business strategy. That is your first responsibility as a business owner.

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