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[00:00:13] Lee Brumbaugh: Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Sales Against the Odds. I’m your host, Lee Brumbaugh. Thank you so much for stopping in. Today, we’re going to do things a little bit differently. Today kicks off the first installment of a series that will be focused on how to stop hiring the wrong salesperson.
[00:00:32] Lee Brumbaugh: Fairly straightforward. I know that many of you founders, owners, you’ve gone to hiring that first or that second salesperson and found you weren’t successful. Becomes a revolving door of people that come into your organization. They’re not able to help the organization scale like you did when you were that first and often the original salesperson.
[00:00:52] Lee Brumbaugh: The challenge is with selling is that when you find that first candidate or that second candidate to be successful in that sales role, there’s so much that you need to do outside of just finding the individual. Today, we will focus again on a three-part series that helps you not only prepare for bringing in that candidate, finding that all-star candidate, but then be able to execute once they’re on board.
[00:01:16] Lee Brumbaugh: The first installment will be today. again, the series will be How to Stop Hiring the Wrong Salesperson, and the first installment will focus on setting the table for what you really need. How do you know you’re prepared for that salesperson and make sure you find the right talent and be able to hit the ground running with them?
[00:01:35] Lee Brumbaugh: The second installment will focus on finding that all-star, and the third installment will focus on executing with that rep once you’re onboarding. So setting the table, finding the all-store, all-star, and then executing the onboarding. As I mentioned today, we kick off with setting the table, and I want to focus on just five simple areas that you’ll be able to work within your business to know that you’re prepared and ready to hire that first candidate or make sure that you get the next hire correct First thing that we need to do is rethink the job description.
[00:02:10] Lee Brumbaugh: I almost went with lose the job description, but in today’s world, we want to rethink it. So many times we work with companies, we work with clients, and when we think about the job description, they have that reaction. they had this sales rep that probably wasn’t cutting it.
[00:02:25] Lee Brumbaugh: They’ve now either exited the organization through you, or they have now decided to pursue another endeavor, and you’re going to have to react because that salesperson wasn’t cutting it. You’re already behind target for the year, and now you need to find that great candidate. And because you’re reacting, you’re saying, “Well, I’ve already got this job description that’s been prepared.”
[00:02:44] Lee Brumbaugh: You dust it off, you post it on Indeed, and you think you’re ready to go. So what I want to challenge you to do is, first off, rethink the job description focused on what you need to accomplish. A great job description really entails what you want that candidate to be good at to make sure they’re successful in the role.
[00:03:02] Lee Brumbaugh: So let me give you some examples. When you think about the bullet points of what that person has in experience level, is it focused on new business? is there a focal point on expanding accounts? Is it a focal point of taking their network and being able to leverage it into your industry?
[00:03:19] Lee Brumbaugh: These are the areas that need to be at the top of that job description, looking at the experience and how that will transition to what they need. It’s more than just what they’ve done, though. It’s also looking at, do they have a history of developing new leads? Are they looking to enter a new marketplace?
[00:03:38] Lee Brumbaugh: Which is very different than somebody that has come into a book of business and be able to take a list of your past clients and been able to work those forward. Are they really good at inbound? Are they going to be able to find all their new leads, or will some of those leads be generated through you and your SEO and AEO efforts?
[00:03:54] Lee Brumbaugh: Are they building a pipeline from scratch, or are they taking a top 100 list and really cultivating that? You want those areas, you want that job description to really match what you need that seller to do. Because at the end of the day, it’s very different from somebody that has built a new book of business in a new marketplace from start to finish versus somebody that’s come across and taken a top 50 list and had to cultivate it.
[00:04:17] Lee Brumbaugh: Make sure you build that job description to set that person up to really bring in the person that understands what you really need in that role Second, define your target customer. Only seventy-nine percent of companies have a clear ICP, and this is critically important. They need to understand, are you going after the oil and gas space?
[00:04:36] Lee Brumbaugh: Are you focused on downstream? Is it midstream? Are you breaking into manufacturing companies? You want them to understand what is the target customer. We’ll start with the industry itself. So many times we work with clients, they say, “I need to take this individual from a competitor. They have to understand exactly our book of business and how we sell into.”
[00:04:56] Lee Brumbaugh: The reality is that can be a little bit short-sighted. You can get that great all-star rep from the competition. I’m not saying it’s not possible, but the reality is when you post in a marketplace and you’re just looking at grabbing competitors, you’re often going to get their B, C, and even D candidates.
[00:05:12] Lee Brumbaugh: What’s more likely to be successful, though, is finding somebody that understands your industry. I’m based in Houston, Texas. My background was healthcare. I didn’t know a lot about oil and gas when I started in the marketplace, I was able to learn it. And now being able to understand the differences between downstream, midstream, and upstream, I would have a good understanding of how to go in to sell to that marketplace.
[00:05:32] Lee Brumbaugh: Now, if I had to find somebody that didn’t have experience in oil and gas, that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible. But if you’re trying to get them to understand your industry, to open new doors, and they don’t have a history of at least understanding your vertical, it is more of a longer cycle to get that person and, and seller up to speed.
[00:05:51] Lee Brumbaugh: So the takeaway from this is make sure you have a clear ICP. my recommendation would typically be that they have sold in that space. Doesn’t have to be to your exact customer type, but they at least have an understanding of your industry. Next, as you look through in defining your target customer, make sure they understand and have worked in your sales cycle.
[00:06:11] Lee Brumbaugh: Again, if you’re selling into a very specific space that has a nine-month sales cycle, that’s very different than selling into a space that has a two to three-week sales cycle. Those are different sellers. That seller that has to sell into C-suite and has a history of connecting at that level is much different than a seller that has more transactional sales that are on an ongoing and daily basis.
[00:06:32] Lee Brumbaugh: So understand your target customer, understand the industry they need to sell into, what that sales cycle looks like, and lastly, who are the decision-makers? If they’re selling in again to C-suite, that’s a longer sales cycle and it’s harder to break through, and you hope that they have a history of doing that and potentially even connections they could bring forward.
[00:06:50] Lee Brumbaugh: If they don’t have a history of selling into that, but they’ve been able to get to hiring managers, get to operations leaders, that again sets them up for success in that industry. So know your target customer so that you can map out, is it a complex sell? Do they need to understand your industry? And who are the key decision-makers that they know of?
[00:07:09] Lee Brumbaugh: And hopefully you get somebody that at least has some experience with those call points
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[00:07:43] Lee Brumbaugh: Third, think about the type of the role. This really goes back to point one of rethinking the job description. You have to understand the type of role that you’re looking for. Are you looking for a hunter? Do they have history of being able to expand with new logos?
[00:07:57] Lee Brumbaugh: you looking for a farmer? You say, “Look, we have a good book of business. Just think about if we could retain 10% more of our customers, or if we were able to expand with a new product offering, a service offering.” Or you say, “Look, I really want a history of somebody that’s done both.
[00:08:12] Lee Brumbaugh: I want somebody that can expand with our existing customers, but still open up new logos.” It’s okay to have that hybrid-type role. You just want to find somebody that’s had a history of success in that type of role. You want to make sure that they are expanding. They’ve got a history of either prospecting with new business, if you’re focused there.
[00:08:29] Lee Brumbaugh: They’ve got expanding. They understand account cultivation, if that’s part of the strategy. They know how to set clear KPIs and work with them on new prospecting KPIs. how do you expand within existing accounts and do s-so in such a methodical way? There is an art to being able to take an existing account and get on the books quarterly review sessions with those accounts and understand how to develop new champions that can help you land and expand Fourth, define the core responsibilities.
[00:08:58] Lee Brumbaugh: Ties back to point three. You have to understand what are the core responsibilities for that role. We just mentioned that they can be a hunter, they can be a farmer, they can be a hybrid, but once you start to lap, on a lot of other areas and add to it, it can be very cumbersome and confusing to where that rep will focus.
[00:09:16] Lee Brumbaugh: The key thing that you have to recognize is just like a fish going upstream, they will find the easiest path. So if you think about that seller and you give them a book of 100 different accounts, say these are the customers that I’ve worked with in this past, we want to add in a new book of business, a new service offering, or they’ve got the ability to go after new logos, 9 out of 10 sellers are going to go where it’s easiest.
[00:09:39] Lee Brumbaugh: So you need to make sure that they understand, yes, we want to help and land expand with some of our existing accounts, but the core duties that we need you focusing on is getting us five new logos. And how many meetings do you need to have each week to generate the amount of opportunities to go into your pipeline to hit those targets?
[00:09:56] Lee Brumbaugh: It’s very critical that you map 90% of your time should be here. And if all of a sudden you’re looking at your seller and you’re asking them to find new net business, to land and expand with your existing accounts, to help on the marketing side, to help build your KPIs, now you’re creating a lot of confusion and a lot of muddiness to what they truly need to do.
[00:10:16] Lee Brumbaugh: Have them understand this is the most important thing you need to focus on, and if you’re not hitting that area, we’re not being successful together. Lastly, and it ties back to point four, I just said it, define what success looks like. Not only for making sure that seller understands what it means to be a valuable player in the organization, but what it means to have a vision that you can create so you can pull over top candidates.
[00:10:39] Lee Brumbaugh: If you are mapping to an individual that has a target earnings, you want to pull somebody over with high experience, and let’s say you’re mapping to a total target of $200,000 in annual OTE, you want to make sure they understand what it means to get there and that it’s realistic. So many times we’ll start to recruit for all-star candidates, and they’ll be giving them a base of 100,000, and they’ll tell that seller, “But at target, you can get to $200,000.”
[00:11:04] Lee Brumbaugh: Two things typically happen. One, you have a good seller that says, “Let me validate that extra $100,000 that you’re telling me about is realistic,” and they want to dive in the weeds. That’s probably your seller that gets it and understands that they’re used to hitting targets, and they’re going to do it Second area that may happen is the question the seller doesn’t dig in there, and you think that’s great.
[00:11:24] Lee Brumbaugh: They just want to go move forward. That’s probably that seller that’s okay with that $100,000 base and doesn’t want to dig into how they’re going to hit that other $100,000 ’cause they don’t have a history of doing it. You want to hire sellers that understand how to get to $200,000 or $300,000 or whatever that target is, and will map to it and are on the same vision of what that looks like.
[00:11:46] Lee Brumbaugh: At the end of the day, you want a realistic plan, but it’s also more than just compensation. You want them to understand, “Here’s where the company is, here’s where it could go with your help, and here’s how you could be a part of it.” The best sellers are going to come to you because they see your vision of where they can go in the organization, how they can make more money, how they can grow and help you make the organization better, how they could be that next sales leader or partner to you in the organization.
[00:12:10] Lee Brumbaugh: If you cast that vision, you can get top talent. If you don’t cast that vision, you’ll get sales reps that don’t question the incentive compensation plan, are missing targets, and are just looking for that short-term fix in the job versus that long-term career that you really need in that A player.
[00:12:28] Lee Brumbaugh: Overall, before you start to look for this role, make sure you’ve really taken a step back, looked at the job description. Putting it through AI is not going to be enough. Really think about what this role entails and make sure that job description is aligned to it. Second, define your target customer. Not only think about what industry you want to go after, but who are the key decision-makers in it, who are the key contacts they need to develop relationships with, and try and find somebody that understands your industry.
[00:12:56] Lee Brumbaugh: Third, map out what type of role it is. It doesn’t have to be just a hunter or a farmer, but understand where that focus should be and make sure you have alignment to that with your job description. Four, make sure you understand the core responsibility. What is the most important thing that the seller is going to do?
[00:13:13] Lee Brumbaugh: And you’ve got clear key performance indicators that align to what that core responsibility is. And lastly, define what success looks like, not only so that rep can be empowered to hit the goals and targets that you want to hit, but you’re able to tell a story and able to recruit over top candidates that may be passive candidates in the pipeline and in the marketplace.
[00:13:34] Lee Brumbaugh: I hope this is helpful. Make sure you set the table properly. Join us again in two weeks where we come back to, now that you’ve set the table, how do you find that all-star candidate?
