Hiring an ineffective digital salesperson can hurt business. According to a study by the Society for Human Resources Management (SHRM), replacing a bad hire could cost a company up to five times his or her annual salary.
If you’ve ever hired (and subsequently fired) a bad digital salesperson, you’ve probably felt this pain in your bottom line. And while hindsight is 20/20, there were telling signs during the interview process you seemed to overlook. Here are five signs to look out for during the next hiring process.
Pay Attention to Candidate’s Credentials
A telltale sign of an inexperienced salesperson is a simple lack of on-the-job digital sales practice. A survey by Robert Half revealed that 36% of surveyed executives felt the chief factor resulting in a bad hire is a poor skills match. No matter how you slice it, refined digital media know-how is necessary in the world of sales. Always fact-check to ensure candidates are telling the truth, too. A study by Accu-Screen, ADP and The Society of Human Resource Managers revealed 53% of resumes contain lies.
However, if a candidate lacks prior on-site sales experience, he or she could still be a good fit if they’ve been certified to sell digital adspace. The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) offers a certification program to provide salespeople with the knowledge and confidence they need to excel in today’s digital marketplace. Bentley Dye secured his current positions as Digital Account Executive at KENS5, a Gannett Company, with the help of the IAB certification. “After my certification I was much more marketable. I’m confident that the IAB certification played a large part in helping me to secure the new opportunity,” claims Dye. “It gave me a base knowledge of several digital products that I was not selling in my old position, which helped tremendously when I transitioned into my new job, where those products became available to me. I constantly tell clients that I am IAB certified and am one of a very small group of people that can make that claim. I believe that it builds credibility with anyone who is familiar with the IAB, and even those who are not when I explain what it is and the process I went thorough to become certified.”
Locate Ambivert Personalities
Common logic says the ideal salesperson is extroverted; that is, they like to socialize and network with people. And being talkative is a sign of a real closer, right? Not quite.
Turns out, extreme extroverts and intense introverts are outperformed by ambiverts- people whose personality lands somewhere between the two poles. Over the course of a three-month study, amibverts sold 24% revenue than introverts, and 32% more than extroverts. Why? Because extroverts tend to be overly charismatic, sometimes failing to listen to a customer’s wants and needs. Ambiverts can be assertive and sociable while maintaining astute listening skills- a perfect recipe for a successful salesperson. Look for a balanced discussion during the interview process.
Look for a Social Seller
Networking and social selling is key to prosperous selling. In fact, using social media to sell increases profits. In 2012, 78% of salespeople who sold using social media outperformed those who didn’t utilize social sites. And LinkedIn is the number one social selling channel, with Twitter and Facebook trailing closely behind.
Consumers and business buyers are using social platforms to do research before buying. And if salespeople use it correctly, they can positively impact their sales quotaand revenue. If your candidate lacks a LinkedIn profile, or doesn’t share relevant content to establish thought leadership in your specific industry, you might want to pry a little deeper as to why not.
Hire the Modest and Humble
This is similar to the ambivert scenario, but slightly different. In order to pinpoint the characteristic traits of top-earning salespeople nationwide, sales strategist and author Steve W. Martin administered personality tests to over 1,000 salespeople. What exactly did he find? That 91% of top salespeople had medium to high scores of modesty and humility. Salespeople are required to sell themselves, and your product, but if they’re being ostentatious and “me-oriented” during the interview, you could have a problem. Look for salespeople with team-oriented mentalities instead.
Find Achievement Oriented Salespeople
Martin also found that the highest-earning salespeople scored very high on achievement orientation, focusing on hitting goals and constantly measuring their performance.
If a candidate is truly concerned with achieving company sales goals, their resume and dialogue will reflect it. They’ll talk about strategy, hitting company quotas, surpassing quarterly team targets.
Learn more at iab.com/topics/certification/
