Hiring sales managers? How to be dazed and confused?

French version here: https://curio5ity.com/recrutement-dun-sales-manager-comment-eviter-detre-confus-et-ensommeille-et-comment-ne-pas-letre/

TL: DR

Sales and sales management are two different skillsets and mindsets. Too many people are getting confused about this. And they hire great salespeople on the premise they will be great sales manager. It often doesn't work out.

And when hiring a salesperson or a sales manager, it helps to have a clear view of what you are looking for. Magically, this help excluding people that aren't relevant and choose people who are A-Players.

A friend of mine, John, has a thriving business. Launched about 3 years ago, the business is in full growth mode. But John realises that his growth is stalling. He made mistakes hiring sales people that didn't deliver much. He is now thinking of building a fully fledge sales team and a sales manager. And he just met someone...?

I caught John who, aware I dabble in helping sales organisations, tells me: "It's still early days of my thinking about hiring the person. I know this guy from my network, he is coming recommended, he's is the top sales guy in a business similar to ours and I am thinking to bring him in as a sales manager. He will need to be selling as well as managing the growing sales team. I met him and I have a great feeling".

. If you've been involved in sales in one way or another, you know these scenarios are a daily occurrence. Someone meets a salesperson and has a good feeling, so want to hire him/her. And, more often than not, this decision making process is leading to potential financial troubles.?

So, for the purpose of this newsletter, let's pick throughout what John said and let's look at the potential troubles brewing - I hope not but I talk to too many company and sales leaders who have been in this situation that I sadly know it's a strong possibility.

"I know him from my network, he is coming recommended."

Despite what they would like to think, human beings are emotional animals. We evolved to make decisions very quickly. Why? For survival. Yeap,?us human beings haven't appeared on the planet post WWII, early 19th century or similar. No. We turned up on the planet through evolution through 100 of thousands, even millions of years. And life was dangerous back then. So our brain evolved to be making decisions very rapidly. Based on very little data. And then act. And this habit is ingrained in us.

So far so good. It's great to make decisions fast. Avoid analysis paralysis. But this created loads of unconscious biases in our decision processes. HR professionals call them UBs. And these UBs are more often than not making us take the wrong decision. Or a decision that isn't the best for us.?

For instance, here, John has been introduced to a potential candidate by his network who warmly recommended him. So John has a good feeling about this candidate. The important word here is "feeling". He is most likely to fall under the confirmation biases as "he is coming recommended" and "has a good feeling". So naturally John is likely, unconsciously, to discard all the possible red flags.?

There is a whole range of UBs that hiring managers are falling into. You can see an example of unconscious bias in play here or if you want to read about some specific ones, you can find a list of unconscious biases here.

"Early days of his thinking"

Here is another indication that John is on his way to make a very costly mistake. John is "early in his thinking". So before meeting the candidate, preparing for the conversation with this candidate, had he thought in great depth at the mission of the job? Did he have a clear view of the actual outcome that he would want to see 12 months down the role to judge if the role holder was successful or not? Did he reflect on the competencies he would want to see in a candidate? And the questions that will be asked to test these competencies? Does he have a clear, articulated view of the sales culture of his organisation??

Chances are, all answers to these questions fall under one category: Nope. Not a iota.

It might sound obvious but actually knowing what you are looking for and be prepared to look for it in a robust manner is the best way to not make mistakes. Yet how many CEO, CRO or VP Sales have little awareness of what they are truly searching (emphasis on truly). And ultimately "trust their guts".?

"He's is the top sales guy in a business similar to ours and I am looking at bringing as sales manager.?He will need to be selling as well as managing the growing sales team."

There are two root cause of errors in this statement. The "he's is the top sales guy in a business similar to ours and I am looking at bringing as sales manager." And the other one "He will need to be selling as well as managing"

I'll focus on the beliefs that because he knows how to sell, he knows how to manage. And will keep the belief that, the fact he is performing in a similar business, isn't a guarantee he will do well for another newsletter (clue: nothing can be further from the truth for a whole range of reasons).

The two skill set of selling and managing are actually very different. Worst, the mindset is very very different.?

A sales manager's job is NOT to sell. I often strongly suggest to CEOs and entrepreneurs not to hire a sales manager that should also be selling. Selling is many things but managing sales people is only 4 things: managing their activities, motivating sales people, hiring (turn-over is typically high in sales) and coaching them. A human being able to do this in an optimal manner while in the same time managing a pipeline hasn't been born yet :)

We're in the Rugby World Cup so let me use a rugby analogy here. Let's look at a fly-half and a pillar. They are both involved in rugby. But they have built totally different reflexes. Totally different mindsets. The fly half is physically light, constantly following the game, scanning for openings, etc... A prop has a defending mindset. His focus his mostly in the rucks, working on turnovers and similar. Yet, they are both rugby players.

In short, they are both part of the rugby team. But only an absolutely mad rugby manager would ask a prop to be running like a fly-half. Yet countless organisation leaders do exactly this in their sales team. They ask a prop to be a fly half even if they don't have the same skills or mindset.

(I could also say a French Rugby fan expect the ref to be able to check when people start running, or at least for the TMO to check this but that would be just a cheeky way to make sure people are actually reading this newsletter! If you are, comment and I give you a free assessment of one of your sales people and I debrief it with you)

The solution? Don't mix things up.

1- Do to not confuse the role of a sales manager and a sales rep. They are absolutely different.

2- Make sure you test the sales manager candidate before meeting him/her up on her willingness to manage sales people. In a way that prevents falling victim of your unconscious biases. If you don't have a solution in place, contact me, happy to share some options.

3- Have him/her explain his/her perspective of what sales management is about. It should include the four competencies described above. If he doesn't, she/he might be a good potential. But needs help.

4- Have a clear, razor sharp view of what competencies you are looking for. And build a structured recrutement process or contact me if you want to understand how to do so.

Happy selling!