My career has been spent working for B2B SME’s (small-medium sized enterprises) that have been under resourced and seeking overseas sales growth.  In the seminal work by Steven Watkins, The First 90 Days, one of the strategies after landing in a new job is to build small wins.  I buy into that concept for new salespeople because positive results stimulate more positive activity and a winning attitude renews itself past the probationary period.
 
It is hard to start in a new sales role, learning new product, new sales process and new teammates so lighter lifting may be efficient to make a 90 day impact.   Seek customers in their comfort zone.  Wholly new customer relationships need to be cultivated but are hard to win in the first 90 days particularly if you have a sales cycle that exceeds that short time. An existing customer base that has proven it likes the product, has been set up in the sales system and is receptive to an appointment is a great alternative and a great initiation.
 
Do some simple analytical work.  Perform your A/B/C analysis of existing accounts.  Segregate your B accounts and high C accounts:

1. Chances are the previous rep lost their mojo over the past 5-6 months and did not vet these contacts for new opportunities.They may be sitting at the lower reaches of your pipeline. Eager new minds can be less critical of these undersold opportunities and have enough attention to generate.PS check product returns too for potential conflicts that may have been avoided.
   
2. Smaller customers, or a customer of just one part of the business for a long time may be ripe for cross-sell and up-sell opportunities with complementary products with a ‘fresh pair of eyes’?They also may not be aware of products introduced in the past 12 months.
   
3. Look at the CRM characteristics at these accounts.Have there been any customer organizational changes at these accounts?Don’t just look at buyers but contact the product or engineering managers.Is there a new VP or Director that could be making other organizational changes?Typically, new contacts like to be in contact with other new contacts so they can build their own relationships and not inherit a seller legacy. It is a fresh start for both.Not right yet but after awhile these new contacts can also provide a new referral network within 6-12 months if you win some new projects so keep this in mind as you build your 18-24 month onboarding process.
   
4. Review custom product applications for these accounts for the past two years.If they are currently buying a custom product application are there others in play that have not surfaced?If the custom project never turned into a revenue opportunity could it be won with a standard or modified product?
   

 
Channel partner relationships are critical too if that is a path to market.  Analyze and then hit the road. Go through the same A/B/C exercise for channel partners adding market position to the factors, and ask yourself:

1. Is the ownership team committed to growing your business?
   
2. Is the subject matter expert for your line or product champion the leader you’d want in charge?
   
3. Has the distributor team analyzed their customer base like you would have done for their direct accounts?
   

See https://www.jimthomasintl.com/blog/working-thru-channel-partner-issues for more channel evaluation tools.

As I learned early from one of my Tradewinds colleagues about the spotlight- “first you see the light then you feel the heat” when starting a new role. The metric with additional resources comes with the top management expectation of increased revenue, project wins and expanded sales/customer.
 
There are other tools to use to accelerate the new salesperson investment to break even above expectations, but winning new revenue is a direct path to success. 

Do you want to have a free fifteen-minute call to discuss successful onboarding new rep sales tactics?  Sign up on my web site or contact me directly by phone.  This will be the subject at the late May Tradewinds meetings https://www.jimthomasintl.com/the-tradewinds-councilcopy.html.


Good Selling!

There are four Interview “soft” Questions I always ask Salesperson candidates.  I am usually not the final decision maker but can provide information about the candidates’ soft skills during the interview and their sales process.  I use a mix of behavioral questions to determine if they can tell a story (customers like stories) and demonstrate maturity.  I will also want them to keep their replies short, concise, and on point (like a customer interaction).
 

1. What motivated you to apply for this position?  Yes, it is a simple question, but it will tell you how the person prepared for the interview.
   1. Are they going ahead and moving up a career track or are they escaping something from their past?
   2. Have they read about the company and the position-are they prepared for the interview?
      1. Do they have the experience to excel in the role?
      2. Do they understand the responsibilities of the role?
   3. What motivates them towards change?
2. Tell me about a time when a prospect was hesitant to share budgetary questions regarding the project you were working on?  How did you keep the sales process moving?
   1. All salespersons run into this dilemma.  Salespersons usually had yet to build trust with the prospect and needed to overcome this obstacle. What tools do they use?
   2. I look for someone that is assertive in handling this objection.  Is the salesperson able to obtain this necessary information and build a successful proposal?
3. Tell me about a time when there was a pause or a delay in the sales process-how did you stay in touch with the prospect and keep the sales process moving forward?
   1. All sales projects encounter delays usually due to the prospects multiple juggling priorities.  How did they maintain communications, keep fostering collaboration and retain a positive attitude?
   2. Does the salesperson understand the length of the sales cycle and the buying process at the account?  Ensure that they are in sync with the length of the cycle.  Can they defer their own personal sales gratification for a customer win?  Will they build a long term relationship?
4. Tell me about someone in your past organizations that was a leader and the personal characteristics that led you to admire them.
   1. This question tells you more about the type of person that the candidate respects?  Does this behavior match the culture you are building?
   2. It also tells you how this person is motivated.  Understanding individuals’ motivation is important so that they will successfully graduate through the onboarding, probationary and indoctrination process.  Longer term will they get to break even and be a good investment for your organization.  Can I keep the person at the company five years?  That has been my acceptable BEP.

Everyone has their favorite interview questions and I prepare my questions based on the position requirements, my role in the interview process and the candidates background.  Once I have completed my portion of the interview, I complete a one page assessment of the candidates competency profile and provide a go/no go decision replete with any follow up items that the hiring manager may want to consider.
 
Do you want to have a free fifteen-minute call on interview preparation and strategy?  Sign up on my web site or contact me directly by phone.

Good Selling!