Next Time You Hire a Sales...

What stuck with me from the book "Zero to One" is the question: "what is the most inconvenient truth you'd stand by?" Probably my answer would be: sales people are not "made," they are "born." Today that idea stood challenged as I read through the first chapters of the book "The Sales Acceleration Formula" by Mark Roberge. The author was SVP sales at HubSpot and one of the first to join the company in its early days. Unbelievable but true: Roberge did not have the right profile, he was a technical/analytical person who could code. Still, he managed to build one of the most successful sales teams out there.

My head was spinning - "WHAT CHANGED?" - I asked myself. I must admit, with some embarrassment perhaps, that I like sales "role models" like Jordan Belfort (the real man behind the main character in the movie "The Wolf of Wall Street") and Don Draper (the fictional character in the series "Mad Men"). When did "pick-up the phone and start dialing" go out of practice? Well, I don't think it ever did but what changed is that the power balance shifted and buyers have become "empowered." They don't like being "chased."

Roberge brought some convincing arguments with the help of data and (modest) statistics. What sets top performers apart these days is traits like:

• Coachability
• Curiosity
• Preparation

He added: you need to measure and experiment if you want to consistently pick the top performers. A person who excels in one industry might underperform in another. It is time for sales leaders to use analytics to determine which traits are most in tune with success in their industry. While I was shocked at first, I also saw the opportunities. Nemeon is a data organization and we already build sales dashboards for sales executives. Maybe it is time to take it up a notch and build full sales cockpits that also allow sales leaders to score traits they consider must-haves for success in their business. Interested to develop this together with us? Give me a call!