In a recent conversation with a Chief Revenue Officer of a technology firm, we discussed the cost of ghosts and the areas of concerns for all new sales hires.
As a sales leader or president of an organization, we typically have three concerns when it comes to new hires:
- Preservation of the good ones
- Flight risk for those on the cusp of making it
- What do with and when to deal with non-performers
So, what is a ghost in your business? They are the sales people you hire and either leave on their own or with your help. Just because they are no longer there, doesn’t mean the effect of their former presence isn’t still haunting you. (This calculator will tell you what yours have cost you over 5 years).
We all know it costs a significant amount of money to find, hire, and train a new sales person. When that hire is a growth hire, it usually comes with a quota that gets tacked onto your top line. What happens if they never deliver on that quota?
Whether the sales person leaves on their own or you show them the door, that quota still stays with you. Are you making up that number personally? Are you sales managers responsible for it? Does it get peanut buttered across the rest of the sales team? Do you scramble to replace them with yet another new hire and risk a repeat? Or are you falling flat in the eyes of the CEO or the Board?
I am in the business of keeping you out of that situation all together. It’s exactly why the CRO I mentioned earlier engages Objective Management Group-to improve the efficacy of his hiring process. Here is a free trial of a candidate assessment to see how it works.
Published on November 28, 2018