The key to driving a successful business is having a strong sales team. So why are there so many businesses out there reporting lackluster sales? Why aren’t they hiring the people who are strong sellers? The answer might surprise you.
The problem isn’t that there just aren’t any good salespeople out there or that the good ones are already taken.
The Producer or the Owner
The real issue is that many business owners do not really want good salespeople.
What? It sounds ridiculous, but the truth is that while many owners will say that they want to have strong sellers, subconsciously what they want is to enhance their ego.
If they can walk in each day and tell themselves that they are the most successful person in their company, then their ego feels pretty good, and that’s a powerful thing.
They will even allow poor producers to stay on with the company just to retain that feeling because having poor producers is still better than no producers.
How Are Salespeople Paid
Some owners are willing to hire better producers, but only if they are not paid more than the owner. These owners believe that they should be the top paid person in the company and will not be happy with having a top salesperson if they are earning a higher income.
Fear and Gut
Another factor that keeps a bad salesperson on a team is the owner’s fear of conflict.
They would rather keep on a poor producer than have to deal with the conflict that can result from firing them.
Finally, what makes business owners hire poor salespeople is that they hire with their gut.
They interview someone and they just know in their gut that they are a good fit for the team, so they hire them. They trust their own judgment and when it turns out that they were wrong, they don’t want to go back on their decision. So, the poor producer remains, costing more money than they bring in.
What can a business owner do to change this?
What steps can they take to stop the insanity of holding onto a poorly producing sales team and start building a team that will drive success for the company? They need to take some radical steps.
- Stop being the primary decision maker in hiring. If you are the sole person making the hiring decisions for your company, stop. The combined decision of a hiring panel, either one made up of your own team members or an outsourced group, leads to hiring the most viable candidates. This eliminates making “gut”decisions about a sales candidate.
- Rely on tests. There are tests out there that will give you a profile on which candidates will be the top sellers for your brand. Trust those tests. They are accurate and they will steer you in the right direction for hiring the right person for the job, not just the one you like.
- Start outsourcing. These days, you can rely on outside help to handle the entire hiring process, from recruiting to interviewing, testing and training, even managing your sales team. This leaves you free to focus your attention on more important aspects of the business and trust others to bring in the best possible salespeople for your business.