FIVE LASER-FOCUSED TALENT
STRATEGIES TO BUILD A
HIGH-PERFORMING SALES TEAM
FIRST WHO, THEN WHAT
In Jim Collins’ NY Times Best Seller, Good to Great, there’s a chapter called First Who, Then What. In it, Collins makes
the point that great companies always consider the “who” questions before the “what” questions. His point is simple:
companies must get the right people on the bus, and the wrong people off the bus, before figuring out where to
drive the bus. He uses the metaphor to emphasize the ultimate rigor needed to make the people decisions that take
a company from good to great.
Larry Bossidy, former Chairman and CEO of Allied Signal (and then Honeywell, when acquired by Allied Signal in 1999)
outlined his “people priorities” in the Harvard Business Review:
“I devoted what some people considered an inordinate amount of emotional energy and time – perhaps between 30%
and 40% of my day for the first two years – to hiring and developing leaders. I’m convinced that Allied Signal’s success
was due in large part to this commitment.”
Despite overwhelming evidence and numerous examples cited by Collins, he concedes that in most organizations
today, talent management takes a back seat to almost every other undertaking in a company.
Managing the Who
No doubt, prioritizing the “who” questions would help most organizations make better people decisions. But many
companies face a second, even greater challenge – the lack of a successful talent management process. To truly
leverage the human side of business sales, leadership must have a clear line of sight. Without a clear set of standards
and procedures, leaders have little ability to retain and grow their most successful sales people.
For these companies, creating a talent management system looks like a daunting task. But a quick calculation makes
it easy to understand why doing nothing can cost your sales organization more than moving forward with the
development of a talent management system.
In his book, Top Grading, Dr. Bradford Smart quotes national statistics that estimate the current cost of a hiring
mistake at more than $800,000 for an individual who is compensated in the $50,000 - $100,000 range. Now think of
your own example – someone you hired who didn’t work out or someone on your current team who’s not working
out now. To find out what that one bad hire may have cost your company, use our Cost of a Bad Hire Calculator to
identify your bottom line expenses.
Any way you slice it, it’s a costly, frustrating situation that no sales manager wants to face. But a clear definition of
success and five laser-focused talent strategies can help you recruit, select, onboard, develop and retain top sales
talent for your organization.
STRATEGY #1 – KNOW THE DNA OF YOUR PERFECT NEW HIRE
What does success look like in a sales role in your company? It may not look the same as success looks in other
companies. It also may not look the same as it did last year in your own company because of shifting go-to-market
strategies, a merger or acquisition or the changing economic environment. Don’t be satisfied with a generic
definition of success. Everyone wants an employee who is highly motivated, intelligent, disciplined, has positive
energy, etc. But those generic characteristics could apply to almost any professional role in almost any company.
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Instead, define what success looks like in a sales role at your company and incorporate that definition into a hiring
profile. Unclear job requirements in the sales organization lead to positions that are not well matched to the
strengths of an individual.
To get the right person into the right job, hiring managers need definitive hiring profiles complete with sales job
descriptions, desired behavior profiles and interviewing tools to help reveal levels of sales competency. Hiring
managers should detail job descriptions and performance expectations down to measurable levels of knowledge,
skills and behaviors. Then qualified candidates should be validated based on industry knowledge, required skills and
job performance in their previous companies.
Giving managers the ability to pinpoint the desired characteristics, along with defining performance potential
consistent with the organization’s broader objectives, will lead to placing the right people in the right positions.
If your sales organization hasn’t defined the DNA of your top performers, then your hiring profiles are probably off
target. Start by asking the top performers on your sales team these three questions:
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3.
How would you define success in your current sales roles?
What specialized knowledge do you possess?
What particular skills and behaviors make you successful?
Using these questions as a starting place will help you
build a success profile. When you consider a new
candidate for your team, you will be able to assess him
or her against the top performers in your sales
organization.
Creating a Success Profile
Once you determine some common competencies and
behaviors of individuals currently performing this job
successfully, you can create a very specific success
profile for this individual and this job. A success profile
differs from a hiring profile. It is a not a job description.
It’s a profile of your perfect seller’s DNA. It’s a
combination of the success competencies - knowledge
required to effectively perform the job, and the success
behaviors - what competencies look like in action when the job is being performed effectively. A behavior is not a
success behavior if it can’t be observed or measured. It’s only by defining the DNA for the role and the candidate that
you can effectively source, evaluate and develop the role moving forward.
The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Think of the success profile as the gift that keeps on giving. When you start by clearly defining the knowledge, skills
and behaviors people need to succeed in your sales organization, you’ve painted a picture of what success looks like.
The success profile will then further provide an integrated set of tools for:
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Selecting and acquiring talent
Onboarding and assimilating
Managing and rewarding performance
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Developing and retaining talent
Workforce planning and talent review
Leading and promoting
The Importance of Getting It Right
A Harvard Business Review study concluded that up to 90% of all hiring decisions are based on the interview, yet a
similar study by Michigan State University found that interviews reveal only a 14% accurate view of the candidate.
That’s why a well-structured interview process is so important.
Once a success profile is in place, you can leverage interview guides to identify your top candidates for the job.
Creating an interview guide will allow you to reliably identify characteristics in candidates that lead to successful
hires. Ask questions designed to verify competencies and behaviors. Use open-ended discovery questions to force
the candidate to articulate concrete examples. Open-ended interview questions might start with a phrases like, “Tell
me about a time,” “Walk me through,” or “Describe for me...”
How It Works
Competencies  Behaviors  Interview Questions
Competency  Client Interaction
Behavior  Proactively expand key relationships throughout the client organization
Interview Question  “Tell me about a time when you lost a key relationship within an account. Describe your
situation, your response and what if anything you do differently now when managing relationships in your account.”
Luca Lazzaron, former Senior Vice President WW ESM Sales at BMC Software adopted this approach. He created
formal role expectations, performance assessments and interview guides for key sales and software consulting
positions. After the implementation, he noted the following immediate benefits:
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The interview process was more rigorous and focused on the key qualifications needed to be successful.
The candidate’s qualification or lack of qualification emerged quickly based on the evidence and knowledge
gained in the interview process.
The process created a common organizational language and saved time in preparing and conducting the
interview and in discussing hiring decisions with the leadership.
Hiring decisions were made more quickly, fairly and confidently through the use of a clearly defined
systematic approach.
A talent management program should provide the structure and techniques to accomplish all the above. It should
also validate a qualified candidate based on personal characteristics, knowledge and job performance in previous
companies. Lastly, it should give managers the ability to pinpoint the desired characteristics and performance
potential that is consistent with the organization’s broader objectives.
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STRATEGY #2 – FIND A DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Based on the current economy and today’s unemployment numbers, you’re probably inundated with a large number
of résumés when you post any sales position. As you’ll learn in the development of your success profile, a history of
success at another company doesn’t necessarily guarantee a candidate’s success in your company. Your success
profile will make your decisions clearer in the recruitment process by better preparing you to spot and qualify the
talent you want.
Defining success profiles and assessing candidates against top performers within your organization will ensure that
you hire the best talent for your sales organization.
Wading Through the Resumes
Even with all the advances in communication and technology, the résumé remains the main source of qualification
used by most companies. Once you have a detailed success profile for each role in your company, you can use it as a
validation tool to quickly screen the résumés you receive.
Though the résumé is a good start, be aware of the challenges of selecting the right candidates to interview. Most
companies create a job description for an opening and then post the job description in the marketplace. This process
allows applicants to alter their résumés to better fit your job description.
A recent Cors Survey on Human Resource Issues revealed that:
46% of HR professionals believe falsification on résumés is significant, very significant or extremely significant. Those
résumé items falsified most often include:
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Length of Employment
Past Salary
Job Responsibilities
Skills
So when screening résumés, keep in mind the strengths and limitations of this particular tool and scrutinize each
résumé accordingly.
Use a résumé to:
Recognize the résumé’s limitations:
Determine past behaviors to predict future success
It may be too brief to make a hiring decision without indepth discussion
Chronologically review to reveal patterns
It often focuses on accomplishments instead of
competencies and skills
Examine specific accomplishments highlighted
It tells “what” the candidate has done, but not how or
what others thought of the performance
Get a sense of individual’s growth, decision making and
overall capabilities
It can be structured to hide gaps or problems in
performance
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Check References – It’s Worth Your Time
Some résumés include a list of references, while other candidates prefer to provide their references upon request.
Since almost every hiring process includes asking for references, it’s hard to believe that many companies fail to
check those references before hiring a candidate. When asked why, many respond with, “A candidate is only going to
give us positive references anyway,” or “It slows down the process to contact references and play phone tag.”
Bottom line – a person’s references reveal a great deal about the candidate. You may expect glowing references, but
the truth is you might not always get them. With a Reference Check Guide in place, you can create a set of questions
designed to get you the answers you need.
Reference Check Guides – With set reference questions on hand, you can prevent a reference call from turning into a
friendly chat during which you don't obtain the information you need to make an objective decision. You can also
more easily compare candidates and ensure you are asking the "right" questions. Reference check questions might
include, “Tell me about the candidate’s most important contributions to your organization,” and “Describe the
candidate's productivity, commitment to quality and customer service.”
To expedite contacting references, have a contact process in place as well, which could include telling your candidate
to contact the references and let them know to expect a call. When you have trouble reaching a reference, have the
candidate contact them again and remind them of the importance of the conversation. Keep in mind – if you’re
having trouble getting someone listed as a reference to call you back – it may speak volumes about your candidate.
Source the “Not in Play” Players
Just because you have more applicants than openings, you still may not attract the best talent. So while officially
posting the position to the outside world may be a necessary evil, don’t skip your best source for finding a diamond
in the rough.
Very often, you’ll find your best candidates are the “not-in-play players”– salespeople who aren’t currently looking
for a job, but may be interested if they know more details about your open position. Savvy hiring managers are
always recruiting with every call, in every conversation. Here are some techniques they use to find candidates:
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Ask New Hires – Make a habit of checking in with new hires during their first few days and weeks on the job
to get the names of others they might know who might be good players on your team.
Consider Customers and Champions – Ask your customers, “What sales teams have impressed you the most
and why?” or “Who would you buy from if they had a better product?” They may have names of people who
would be a good fit for your team.
Network – Be committed to building your team with the best people you meet and come in contact with.
Over time, work to develop relationships that could lead to someone you know entering into a successful
relationship as an employee with your company.
Reference Checks – An alternate benefit of doing reference checks is to potentially identify more candidates.
After asking the specific questions about your current candidate, remember to add one more at the end of
the conversation for sourcing new candidates. “Our company is constantly looking for good candidates like
this one. Do any other contacts that meet these qualifications come to mind?”
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STRATEGY #3 –TRANSFORM NEW HIRES INTO SUCCESSFUL SELLERS
Top candidates tend to look for a company that can clearly define what success looks like in the role for which it is
hiring. They look for that picture of success to be very consistent throughout the recruitment process. And once
hired, they also expect to be on-boarded in a way that will prepare them for success within your company. So your
onboarding processes, including orientation, job description and ongoing reviews should be treated as integral pieces
of your employee success model.
A good success profile ensures that you detail job descriptions and performance expectations down to measurable
levels of knowledge, skills and behaviors. Mapping your quarterly employee assessments to the competencies and
behaviors from the success profile will be easy for new hires to understand.
The best onboarding practices include an onboarding checklist and a template used to orient new hires and track
progress through their first six months. The list takes the goals and objectives of the position and creates modules of
information around each. A good onboarding program should address:
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Performance expectations – Reviewing what you expect from a new employee can mean a significant
reduction in misunderstandings which often lead to the premature departure of a new hire.
Company|Departmental overviews – Making introductions and providing overviews of departments and the
contacts within them is key to help a new employee get acclimated.
Job description review – Going over the job description once again in the context of the workplace may give
greater clarity and direction.
Company policies and procedures – This might include spending review time with human resources within
the first day or two of employment.
Administrative housekeeping items – Getting a clear idea of how phone systems, computer programs, apps,
inter office email, etc. work will give a new hire confidence and reduce down time in the first few days or
weeks of hiring.
STRATEGY #4 – MANAGE FOR SUCCESS
Again, best-in-class companies turn to their success profile for managing and rewarding sales performance. They use
it to set sales standards, drive accountability, manage to expected results and retain top performers. Extending those
clear sales job descriptions to techniques for coaching and evaluation should be an integral part of your employee
success model.
To support the sales rep and your sales managers, make sure you have valid, measurable assessments that transfer
smoothly to sales performance and professional growth opportunities. This approach promotes employee
satisfaction, as talented individuals are encouraged to advance and are recognized and rewarded for taking initiative
and providing more value to the organization.
This approach is equally vital for addressing knowledge deficiencies. Inconsistent enforcement of sales standards and
procedures leads to low accountability and lack of commitment.
With onboarding measurements in place, you can now leverage the success profile framework to build management
processes and tools to support individual and team performance. These tools can be invaluable in helping your
managers to coach, motivate and lead a high-performing sales team.
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Coaching Guides – assist managers in the inspection and remediation of desired selling behaviors.
Quarterly Assessments – depict an individual’s current level of skills and knowledge based on competencies
and behaviors from the success profile.
Developmental Action Plan – outlines a plan to address and close the gaps identified in the Quarterly
Assessment.
Team Capability and Succession Review – combines individual scores to assess the entire team on its current
level of performance and potential.
Best-in-class companies have clearly defined organizational roles and responsibilities and appropriate standards and
measurements in place to evaluate performance. With the right tools at hand, necessary improvements can be made
quickly and companies can advance, strong and ready to succeed.
STRATEGY #5 – RETAIN YOUR BEST TALENT
The Gallup Organization interviewed over 80,000 employees in more than 400 companies and published their
findings in the book First Break All the Rules. The interviews revealed that strength in the workplace could be found
in the answers to just twelve questions. Overwhelmingly, the top performers in the top companies answered
positively to these questions (in this order):
The Measuring Sticks:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
Do I know what is expected of me at work?
Do I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right?
Do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
In the last seven days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
Does my supervisor, or someone at work, seem to care about me as a person?
Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
At work, do my opinions count?
Does the mission/purpose of my company make me feel my job is important?
Are my co-workers committed to doing quality work?
Do I have a best friend at work?
In the last six months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?
This last year, have I had opportunities to work and grow?
Take a minute to consider this – if you asked these questions to your sales team, how would you measure up? It’s
clearly evident that “knowing what is expected” emerges as the most critical component in the satisfaction of top
employees, proving that setting clear expectations is a critical, fundamental thread running through the entire
employee experience, from the hiring process, through coaching, development and retention of top talent.
Developing and Retaining Talent
Developing and retaining your top talent is all about higher sales performance, deeper bench strength, reduced
turnover and more valuable client relationships. The vision of future leadership should be defined and internal talent
should be reviewed consistently so that key roles have contingency plans. Sustainability – the building of the
leadership pipeline – ensures appropriate bench strength to support future business growth.
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Know What Success Means
For a talent development initiative to thrive, it must be supported by a viable strategy at every level, from top
executive leadership to management to sales staff. It should also help drive distinct departmental efforts through a
common vision and belief system.
When you create and utilize a success profile, you’ll leverage it again and again throughout an employee’s lifecycle
for:
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
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Selecting and acquiring talent
Onboarding and assimilation
Managing and awarding performance
Developing and retaining talent
Workforce planning and talent review
Leading and promoting
Summary
It all comes back to where we started: great companies consider the
“who” questions before the “what” questions. Managing the people side
of your business requires building a successful talent management
programs using three critical elements:
A Successful Talent Management
Program Produces:
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Better hires
Enhanced staff development
Reduced involuntary
turnover
Better succession planning
Enhanced coaching skills
1. A simple and consistent set of processes for managing your
people
2. An established rhythm so that you know you are executing the right things at the right time
3. A toolkit to help simplify the management of your people
A successful talent management program will help you achieve quicker time-to-productivity, lower turnover and
improved sales coaching and development skills.
But in order to attract – and keep – the right people in the right jobs, you’ll also need effective a clear definition of
what success looks like, an integrated set of hiring tools and consistent processes for recruiting, interviewing,
onboarding, coaching and developing your talent.
The right investment in talent management will provide your sales organization a clear pay-off where it matters most
– in the numbers.
1 Jim Collins, Good to Great, HarperCollins Publishers, 2001
2 Dr. Bradford Smart, Topgrading: How Leading Companies Win by Hiring, Coaching, and Keeping the Best People, Prentice, 1999, 2005
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