Why it’s important to know ‘who’ and ‘what’ you are hiring
Does your company expect new salespeople to be able to teach themselves?
Does your company have a strong on-boarding process?
Either way, you need to know your sales candidate’s FIOF- Figure it Out Factor.
The Figure it Out Factor is a score that reflects the candidates ability to ramp up, to figure out the best way for them to start to bring in business for the company. As you can imagine, if your new sales hire cannot quickly get to the other side of the learning curve, you will wind up losing money on what we lovingly call a Sales Ghost
Question. How long should it take a salesperson to ramp-up?
Answer. Ramp-up is dependent upon many factors like; Managements ability to hold the salesperson accountable, the time it takes to understand the companies offerings, the competition, the effort it takes to reach the decision maker and have an intelligent conversation, inside the typical prospects, the sales persons skill, the salespersons tenacity, the typical sales cycle and a formalized 90 day on-boarding plan.
Many companies give way too much freedom to new sales and are wrapped up in the fallacy that ‘product knowledge’ is foremost! I agree, product knowledge is important however, it is not necessary to get started.
How long would it take you to explain to the new sales hire; the company offerings, the internal team and their roles, the position requirements, your brand promise, your elevator pitch, a description of prospects who typically buy your stuff, and the companies unique selling propositions? Maybe half a day?
With that limited knowledge I could start making some phone calls to companies that typically buy your stuff.
I could use my sales skills to get through the gatekeepers and talk to decision makers.
I could then ask them some questions, I could determine if they have problems our solutions fix, fit their finances and expected ROI and see if it made since to talk further.
I could bring whatever technical people with me on the second meeting to see if there was a need for a third meeting or to discover there really isn’t a fit.
So in short, ramp up=your sales cycle plus thirty days.
Sales hiring is serious business. With Sales Development Expert, you can make sure that you hire the strongest candidate for your company, your market, your prospects, your culture, your systems and processes, and your expected results!
Good Selling,
Rocky LaGrone
Head Coach & CEO- Sales Development Expert