Sales in the Subscription Economy: #1
How to effectively recruit & interview top sales talent, negotiate better, and more:
Sales VPs: you don’t have time to read everything out there, but no worries, I’m doing it for you. I read, curate, and summarize the best content on subscription sales & sales team recruiting on the web every week.
Here’s what you need to know this week:
My Summary & Commentary on Lou Adler’s Book: The Essentials of Hiring & Getting Hired
Key Takeaways:
Attract, recruit, assess, and hire people based on what they need to do and what they'll become if successful.
To find the work you want done, hire people who are capable and motivated to do it. If you're a hiring manager during the interview, tell your candidates:
What you need done and why this work is important
Ensure they've done something comparable using the Performance Based Hiring process
Negotiate the offer based on why this work represents a true career move for the candidate
Emphasize that what you're offering is not a lateral transfer
3 Steps to a More Compelling Job Description
Key Takeaways:
Just like a sales pitch, the description must be “You” focused
Write a compelling headline and description that quickly communicates what’s in it for the candidate – What can they become if they succeed at this job? What will they do day to day? What’s their expected contribution and the resulting impact?
Sales is still a male dominated field, duh. Using words like “collaborative” and“supportive” will increase the number of women that apply. You want this :)
How to Successfully Negotiate Via Email
Key Takeaways:
KISS – keep it simple stupid. If your email is more than 5 sentences, it’s too long. Make one point with the email and GTFP, fast.
Before you hit send, read the email out loud in the harshest tone possible, because that’s how the receiver is going to read it.
Use diffusing language like, “I’m sorry” and “I’m afraid”
If the email is delivering bad news, call it out in the subject line, “This is going to sound horrible”. Though counterintuitive, will help your message land softer.
End the email on a positive note!
Key questions you need to ask when interviewing salespeople (especially for recurring revenue products & services)
Key Takeaways:
How do you keep up with your target customers’ industry trends?
What you’re looking for: Are they putting in the work to talk the talk of their prospects or are they lazy and relying on old-hat selling tactics?
What’s more important: meeting your quota or customer happiness?
You’re looking for: Can they accurately set expectations and act as a consultant for customers – recurring revenue customers who need to keep making the decision to buy from you month after month, year after year?
Tell me about a time you’ve collaborated with the sales team and other teams.
You’re looking for: are they a lone wolf or a team player with a proven track record of successful collaboration. Can they get along with Marketing…?
If a deal is lost, how do you follow up with the prospect?
You’re looking for: Resilience & emotional intelligence: A willingness to learn from mistakes and receive constructive criticism well. Do they blame others or own up to the lost deal?
If you’re like most Sales VPs, your team is struggling to make quota and maybe you haven’t quite found your footing with this whole subscription model thing. That’s okay, I’ve got your back. Request a 60 minute free strategy call now. – I’ll guarantee you 2-3 actionable takeaways in a follow up email after the call.
Nicely done! You’re fully informed for the week on subscription sales & recruiting – now go kick some ass!
P.S. Hit reply to this email and send me your subscription sales and sales recruiting questions – I will actually send you a personal reply and put my 15+ years of subscription sales expertise behind it.