In our continuing series on how to screen a sales resume, today we touch on:

Does there seem to be a logical progression of promotions throughout the salesperson’s resume?

Most companies, after a set period of years, will typically enhance a salesperson’s title to reflect increased stature and seniority. This is usually awarded in concert with achievements at the “lower” level, but not always.

If you see this logical progression, this simply tells you that the candidate is well-regarded, but will not necessarily tell you that they can sell at a high level.

If they have solid achievements alongside steady advances in promoted titles, then this is certainly a positive.  Accolades, as we’ve discussed before are the hallmark of a great sales resume and are an absolute “”must have” in order for you to even consider them for a live interview.

However, if the salesperson has been at the company for five or ten years and their title never changes from “sales executive” to “senior sales executive” or another some such thing, this may be an indicator that you have an underperformer on your hands. This is especially true if the sales achievements in the time period mentioned are sparse or worse yet, non-existent.

However, if you see a strong progression of title changes, as well as diverse job experiences such as promotion to a specialty sales role along the course of their time at a particular company, then you’ll probably want to interview them. This is especially true if this progression of promotions is in your company’s industry.

Remember at this stage of the interview process, you’re only at the  second step of the whole hiring process, what we call the “Six Step Hiring System” which we do teach to our Academy students.

Your main goal at this stage is just to do one thing: determine if they are worthy of your time in a live interview…nothing more and nothing less.

Bottom line here is this: if you see a logical progression of steady promotions, mixed with top accolades, get ‘em in for a live interview. This sales rep could be a keeper.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

What do you think? We want to know, don’t be shy. Post a comment below.

Although the mutual fund industry repeatedly tells you that “past success is no indication of future success” when investing in mutual funds, I far prefer to put my retirement savings in 5 star funds instead of 1 star ones, don’t you?

Likewise when screening a new sales hire, the presence of recurring, frequent past accolades in a sales candidate are about the closest thing you can get to guaranteeing future sales success with any new sales hire.

When screening a sales resume for accolades, you must keep three things in mind:

1. Where are the accolades?

As we discussed in previous blog posts, accolades do in fact, rule the day. When screening a resume the big thing to look for is not only do they have some, but almost as importantly is, where are they placed in the resume? Are they at the bottom of each paragraph? Are they at the top?

The real key is the higher they are, the more important they are to the candidate. As a sales manager, this is a very important point when screening sales candidates: the higher they are under the category for each job they have had, the more important they are to the candidate.

You want a candidate that has an overabundance of “drive to succeed” – a person like this lists their achievements first, not last. However, if a candidate does not have any accolades, then knock them out immediately. Bottom line: the higher on the resume the better, the higher and more prominent they are in the text, the more important the accolades are to the candidate.

2. Are the accolades consistent in each job they have had?

You need someone to produce consistent results. Anyone can catch “lightning in a bottle” once and have one really good year. But can they perform at a consistently high level for you year in and year out?

“One warm day in April does not make a summer”…and likewise,  one lone Pinnacle Award from 1998 does not make a great salesperson!

You want consistency – so look for strings of accolades at every sales job they had. Look for national rankings, regional rankings and local rankings, all three are important. The more there are on multiple years, the better.

3. Compared to what?

Do the accolades have a “…out of 165 sales reps” qualifier that tells you truly where they were ranked versus their peers?

It’s one thing to be “#2 in the country”, but if there are 3 reps in the country, its not quite as meaningful. Obviously, the sales rep who was “#2 in the country out of a sales force of 303” is a little bit more impressive of a statistic. Check for documentation of these rankings when you interview them, if you think it looks fishy.

But always, look for these qualifiers to get a better sense of where they truly stand versus their peers. The higher the ranking out of the more peer sales people group, obviously the better.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

Post a comment below and tell me your insights on accolades. Do you think they’re as important as we state here? We welcome your comments.

Say this in a group setting at first (at your first sales meeting to establish your credibility as a leader if you need to.

After this is done, talk with them one-on-one. I’ve always found that holding frank one-on-one conversations with every member of the sales team is essential to success. In no uncertain terms, tell each salesperson what you expect of him, reiterate their one minute goals. And reinforce to them that you both want the same things, right? When you discuss this with them, align their goals with your goals. 

Whatever you do however, be extremely clear on your expectations. They should know what minimum performance is – and if they don’t – then shame on you and shame on them! Shame on you for not repeating it over and over again and shame on them for not knowing it.

Once this communication is established, appeal to their passion for achievement and desire to make money. However, be very clear that if they don’t produce what is needed you will find someone who will. Don’t make it a threat; just tell them as you would state any other fact, like the sky is blue.

That’s just the way it is. Tell them that you are here to “achieve at the highest level”. Tell them “I’m not her to finish 30^th in the country, I am here to finish first – and neither should you”. Leaders can do everything right but if they don’t set an expectation of excellence – they can never expect to be successful.

 To learn even more tips and techniques about how to be a top sales manager, we’ll be posting nearly every day, so stay tuned for more gret tips on how you too can become a top sales manager.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get your choice of free sales management training courses.

Post a comment and tell me on how you encourage your people in reaching the highest level of achievement.