Sales

Riding the Hiring Wave for Summer Success

What will you be doing this summer?

Well, hiring managers, that depends on what you do this sales quarter. Your and your team’s actions NOW will determine whether Q3 will be a “summer’s dream” or if you will spend it catching up and trying to save the year.

As you may already know, the summer months tend to be slow for hiring, due to both distracted candidates and companies that have decisions-makers on vacation. So right now is the time to make up for any lag that may start setting in on June 21^st.

Here are some tips to help you soak up the summer, all the while accelerating your business!

Prospecting in the Wild!

I’m a big animal lover. I have a dog, a Cavalier King named Murphy, who is smart, good looking and can hunt down food like no one else… from tables, gym bags, backpacks, you name it. Murphy is most notably known for once devouring a whole five pound box of Godiva dark chocolates, wrappers and all, and lived! He is also an expert at pulling tablecloths down when no one is around.

Speaking of hunting, today my colleague discovered that a ‘critter’ has been eating his peanut butter crackers. The critter apparently completed said task twice this week, successfully getting into metal desk drawers and carefully creating a round hole in the package and feasting on his catch!

If Murphy or our office critter were in sales, they would KILL their quotas! They’re true hunters who “eat what they kill”.  

Why I DON'T Hate Cold Calling

My role as BD Consultant at Hobson Associates is to form relationships with new companies as well as renew ties with past clients who have benefitted from our recruiting services. I’ve made hundreds and hundreds of cold phone calls, and I’m still astonished that the individuals I call are extremely eager to hear about how Hobson Associates and I can be a resource to them. And I can also truthfully say that so far only two people have abruptly hung up on me! [That’s OK, when that happens, I go ahead and call their competitors…they usually DON’T hang up!]

Know what else? I must admit that I love cold calling. It is truly a science of its own. There are so many variables to earning a firm’s business, and no mathematical equation can equate a new client. To every problem, there is a solution. During my time at Hobson so far, my takeaways for successful cold-calling are simple:

Great Products Don't Sell Themselves, Great Salespeople Do

I call BULL$HIT on that. Sure, you need to start with a great product in order for your company or startup to get off the ground. But, you will also need phenomenal salespeople to reach and appeal to buyers who won’t be swayed by just product features.

Sales, along with Marketing, are there to show prospects just how innovative your SaaS product truly is, and why it’s worth paying for. The best sales reps do this with ease — however they’re not the majority. And of course, as a sales leader, you’re always looking to spot these top sales reps who can take your company to the next level.

So who are they? The product evangelists of the world. Those who can “sell ice to Eskimos”. As a software sales recruiter who talks with talented (and sometimes not-so-talented) people every day, let me tell you what I’ve seen…

4 Things You Need to Know When Interviewing for a Tech Sales Job

So, you’ve decided to make the leap and start interviewing for a new sales job with a tech company or start-up... We’ve got tips to get you from square one to job interview to offer, courtesy of siliconrepublic.com

Do your research

Hiring managers and recruiters can tell within just a few seconds who did their homework before an interview and who didn’t. That’s why, to get ahead of other candidates in the interview process, you need to do more than a quick Google search.

So, beyond reading a company’s mission statement, some things to consider: have you read any customer case studies? Are there free tools you could sign up for? Did you search for product reviews online? Digging into more resources will make you more prepared and it won’t go unnoticed.

2017 Sales Teams: the New Normal

SDR, LDR and BDR… what is the difference?

Sales, Lead and Business Development reps in a SaaS sales context…. are these just different words for the same role?

Times have changed and so has sales. As a business leader in today’s competitive landscape, your team can’t afford to fall behind. So what’s going to really set your organization apart? Your modern sales team, of course. But what does it look like?  From my experience as a recruiter who builds technology sales teams of every level, I can tell you that the single most important thing you can do to improve your sales and lead generation results is to specialize your sales roles into the following:

All About That Base

Why do sales people get so fixated on base salaries? This is a question I have continuously asked myself since I started recruiting salespeople for tech companies, but is something I have come across a lot lately. I get it, you want to be guaranteed money upfront. You are worth “x” at your current company so you think it only makes sense to make a move unless you get a nice big bump up on your base salary. Right? Not exactly…

Fantasy Football & Hiring- What Type of “Player” Are YOU?

According to Chicago-based employment research firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Fantasy Football will cost US employers $17 Billion in lost productivity. So naturally, I started the first ever Hobson Fantasy Football league this year!…

…Last week 8 of us sat in the 'War Room' (our recently renovated Conference Room) agonizing over each pick we’d all spent hours (after 5PM of course) studying trends, and relying on ESPN Senior Fantasy Analyst Matthew Berry’s hot takes and advice!

I’m Sorry I Can’t Help You

I’m sorry I can’t help you but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to help you or that you are helpless…oh hell!

My boss calls me a “classic people pleaser.”

I counter with the lyric from Jewel’s 1990’s ballad, “In the end, only kindness matters.” My boss says Jewel was high and that people pleasing will make a recruiter crazy. Or broke. Or both.

My Completely Anecdotal, Totally Unscientific – Yet Completely True – CEO Hiring Survey Says:

In the last week, I polled some CEO’s I know and respect about their hiring preferences in Sales. Eavesdrop at your leisure.

“When it comes to hiring a Sales staff, what is most important?”