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Many
General Managers and Directors of Sales tell me that they establish sales goals
for their sales teams that are not being met. They indicate that they cannot
seem to get their sales people to develop new business and close it, despite the
resources that management is making available to them. The sales people are
telling me that they are not sure how to accomplish the things that they are
being asked to do.
There
is no doubt that it is tough out there but the strong sales people will not only
succeed but regard this as an opportunity to prove something to themselves and
their management. Sales people with the ‘right stuff’ want to know how to
develop their skills. The others spend their time figuring out why these things
won’t and can’t work.
The
skill set that made sales people successful during the boom years is not
necessarily the skill set that will help them succeed during the tough times.
When all that was required was to answer the phone, follow-up and book the
business, the expectations were different. As a respected business associate put
it so well, “What we had were farmers who harvested the field, what we need
now are hunters to locate and close in on new business.”
Not
everyone is capable of making the transition from ‘farmer’ to ‘hunter’.
Some will pick up the tools of the new skill set and embrace the transition;
others will simply not be capable of doing that. The onus is on management to
ascertain who in their department will make the cut and how to hire those who
have it in them to be e hunters. It all goes back to having the right people
in the right positions if you want to succeed.
In
other words, it all boils down to the point of hire. General Managers who
assumed their positions during the mid-nineties often don’t know what to look
for in a potential candidate. Experience in the past is not necessarily a
predictor of success in this economy.
The
interview process can be very subjective. I have worked with sales people who
were great people but clearly not suited to conducting an aggressive sales
effort and uncomfortable with the process. It is unfortunate but those people
are being set up to fail and it is not their fault – it was bad ‘hire’ for
which management needs to take responsibility.
Here
are a few steps that managers can take and tools that you can use to make the
best possible hiring decisions. They are not infallible but can be predictors of
success for hiring good sales people:
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Personality
Inventories:
Decide the
specific traits that you are looking for in a successful sales person who can
work well in your organization. There are many of these inventories on the
market, one that I have used in the past is PDP, which is very simple and
assesses four traits. These tools put a bit of objectivity into the hiring
process and cut through some of the 'glow' of the interview process. As Bob
Alter, President and CEO of Sunstone Hotels once said, " A candidate looks
the best they are ever going to look during the interview process."
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Questions
to ask. Give careful thought to the questions that you are
going to ask a candidate. These should include specific questions regarding
successes and challenges. "What was the most difficult selling situation
you have encountered and how did you handle it?" Solicit the input of your
staff and other successful sales people into the development of your list of
questions. Make sure that you ask the same questions to all potential candidates
so you have a basis for comparison and write down the answers. The best sales
interview question ever asked to me and one that I use is "What one thing
in your life have you over e or are you over coming?" Good sales people
over e obstacles in their personal and professional lives in order to be
successful.
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Involve
others in the process.
Have
other department heads interview the potential candidate as well as someone in
your sales department with whom this candidate will have to work. Record their
input in the interview file. This also puts the interview process into
perspective and allows some objectivity. I can recall sitting in front of a
panel of interviewers and fielding questions from all of them. It allowed me to
see the dynamics of the management team and gave them a chance to pare their
impressions of me in the same situation. If they can handle this and respond in
a thoughtful but honest manner, they can deal with presenting your hotel to a
Board of Directors.
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Can
they sell you?
Put yourself
in the place of the decision maker at one of your accounts. Who are they and how
will they react to this person? Does this person project the skills to connect,
establish rapport and build a relationship with the contacts at the accounts and
in the market that you are considering them for? It was once suggested to me
that I was intimidating to potential candidates by virtue of my presence and
position. My response was that if I intimidated them, how would they deal with a
contract negotiation with a senior executive at one of our accounts. Do they try
to qualify you, i.e., ask questions about your expectations for the position,
and do they try to close you? Do they try to 'sell' you on their qualifications
and how they can benefit the hotel?
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Never
make a decision based on one interview.
No
matter how desperate you are to fill a position, take your time. Call them back
for at least a second if not a third interview. This gives you an idea of
whether or not they have more than one suit. It also allows you time to think
and view them over a period of time. The 'aura' that they may have projected on
the first interview may not be as glowing the third time that you see them. Let
them know your time frame for making this decision.
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Make
the expectations for the position perfectly clear.
Do
not underestimate the difficulty of the position or the market. Let them know
what you expect in terms of booking activity, call goals and follow-up. Give
them an incentive to run for and how you will schedule regular reviews to
evaluate their skills and progress. Also, outline the potential consequences of
not achieving their objectives.
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While the above are not the
only things to consider, it is a good guideline to use in the interview process.
Once you have hired a candidate, treat them well and give them the tools to do
their job. Provide training and an orientation program to acquaint them with the
property's operation. Have them spend time in each department (yes, include
housekeeping and maintenance). The responsibility of hiring well is yours.
Once you have assembled an 'A'
sales team, you will be positioned to increase market share and revenue. Without
a dynamic sales force, you are at the mercy of market trends, not leading the
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Carol
Verret, Owner of Carol Verret Consulting & Training, is a twenty-year
veteran of the hotel industry. She arrived in Denver in 1984 in the midst of an
economic downturn and quickly established herself as an expert in sales and
marketing in hotel turn-around situations, applying her formula for REVPAR
improvement. To learn more about Carol Verret, Consulting and Training, visit
her web site at http://www.carolverret.com
Send
email to
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