If working with top performing Technical Sales Representatives and Sales Leaders is important to your business success be mindful that your time and effort could result in selecting a person that is not willing or able deliver the results you need.
Building a high-producing sales team begins with the hiring of ‘high potential’ individuals. Also, great sales team performance is built with strong leadership guided by best practices.
CONSIDER THIS!
No one I know intentionally sets out to hire a warm body for roles that produce sales revenue. They know producing revenue is critical. The Best Process for producing sales revenue is always demanding.
That sounds straightforward and probably what you already know but think over your past experiences.
- Has your recruiting and hiring process always avoided the Warm Body Trap?
- Do you know why hiring the wrong person happened?
- What can you do to avoid the Warm Body Trap and this very costly mistake?
Let’s start here:
WHAT EXACTLY IS A WARM BODY?
- Simply put, a Warm Body is any employee or person that consistently does not perform according to expectations over time.
- A Warm Body is an individual, probably long on personality but short on the willingness and skills to deliver quality results you need for growing your business.
- This person will go through the motions but constantly needs help meeting even the basic requirements of their responsibilities.
- A person that avoids the hard work necessary for performance success.
- Performs in the critical role with the minimum work or effort.
- Attends meetings but contributes little or nothing to the discussion or outcome.
- When asked – routinely cannot project the probability of incoming orders or their timing of receipt and expects you to understand.
- This person is found on most Mondays and Fridays working from home, going through the motions for the 1st part of the day and doing something else unrelated the rest of the day.
- A Warm Body is unlikely to respond well to training and coaching.
Does this sound familiar? How does this happen? Can you avoid this costly mistake?
HOW TO AVOID THE WARM BODY TRAP?
The answer to this problem points to your candidate qualifying and interviewing process.
- Increase your potential to attract qualified people by expanding your pool of candidates.
- Using on-line services, outside recruiting agencies, personal contacts, internal interest.
- Post a comprehensive job description that attracts experienced, qualified people.
- Your description will reflect your views and drive your selection process.
- Start your engagement process with a telephone call or online Zoom or Teams meeting to assess minimum qualifications.
- Set the appointment for an in-person meeting only if you are satisfied.
- Ensure the interview process is structured, documentable with repeatable steps.
- Proper execution and engagement with every candidate is key.
- Allow adequate time to avoid a rushed interview and assessment process.
- Stay on schedule and do not leave out key questions.
- Ensure your compensation package includes adequate incentives to attract a bigger pool of qualified candidates.
- Make sure your assessment includes relevant objective and subjective factors.
- Include other team members in important parts of the assessment process.
- Ensure all are using the same ‘playbook’.
- Discuss performance standards and the candidates previous experience with them.
- Be certain your company culture places a high value on the sales function, and it is evident to the best candidates.
- Remember that an individual can always learn your product and how it may be applied. Move on if:
- This person does not convey strong customer development knowledge.
- Little or no priority on providing support to a customer with a real problem.
- Struggles with communication is evident.
- Not certain how best to position for success in large companies.
- Leans toward selling and creating wins on low price rather than value.
- Is uncomfortable or lacks confidence in group settings so avoids them.
IMPORTANT: A sales team can not achieve ‘World Class Status’ with any member that meets the Warm Body profile.
IMPORTANT: The ‘Warm Body Problem’ is a constraint to greatness that requires months to reveal itself, possibly losing a couple of current customers or well-qualified orders along the way, and definitely lost time.
HOW TO AVOID THE WARM BODY TRAP!
Develop and apply a ‘Profile of Best Person’.
- Business Owners and Senior Leaders know Finding & Winning qualified orders is a critical need and there is no substitute for the performance necessary to growing revenue.
- A comprehensive description of the position should include priority responsibilities, key performance metrics, important attributes of the person you think best.
- Apply your Company Mission and Values Statement to the discussion.
LOOK FOR THIS PROFILE:
Your Best Prospects Will Be:
- Smart, proven, aligned with your company’s performance standards. (KPIs & OKRs)
- Have the experience to onboard faster, generate the results you need sooner and fit well in your plan.
- Personally driven, dependable, motivated and possess a strong work ethic.
- Responsible handling confidential company information.
- Reliable at predicting incoming orders & revenue.
- Persuasive and professional in a group meeting or presentation.
- Skilled at building strong relationships based on client confidence.
- Adept at working independently and making great decisions.
Your Best Candidates Are:
- Clearly Describing the best sales process in some detail, particularly the part that involves Finding & Positioning to Win.
- Describing how best to retain and build existing client relationships.
- Presenting themselves as a person that embraces integrity.
- Able to master product specifications and asks great questions.
- Placing a priority on submitting comprehensive RFQs and application inquiries.
- Being highly collaborative and values contributing to the success of others.
- Embracing a result oriented New Business Development process.
- The individuals that convince you they get it, can demonstrate it and add value.
At some point Ask Yourself: Would you buy a product or service from this person?
SOME FINAL THOUGHTS:
This Warm Body Trap is real and can be avoided. You set your own trap with poor preparation and an equally unsatisfactory process execution. This process will require a strong leader with the patience to know and show, guide and apply accountability to the process.
There are many variables, and they are not covered in this post. Let’s talk about your situation to determine what can be accomplished for you and your organization.
All Questions are Welcomed!!
Thanks for Your Time. Bye for now.
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