A how-to on hiring sales talent, describes Hunter/Farmers, compensation programs, and personalities suitable for sales

1. How to Hire
Exceptional
Sales Talent
Lee Porter
Sales Maven

2. What role are you trying to fill
An aggressive outside or outbound

salesperson to drive new business
 A nurturing salesperson to attend to
the needs of your existing customers
 Or both?

3. The Hunter
Hunters are impatient, action

oriented, persistent and focused
on goal attainment.
 They dislike paperwork, but enjoy
being turned loose to operate
independently.
 Most are highly social risk takers. They
are motivated by and respond to
rewards.

4. The Farmer
Farmers like developing and nurturing

customer relationships, attending to
ongoing customer needs and helping
solve problems.
 Farmers are great at follow up, most are
detail oriented and good at paperwork.

5. Which do you need?

6. Most companies need both
Don’t expect Hunters to be great at

customer service (although some are),
follow up (outside the sales process) or
paperwork. Don’t expect Farmers to
spend their days cold calling.
 Many organizations have successfully
teamed Hunters with Farmers.
◦ Hunters bring home the bacon
◦ Farmers fry it up in the pan

7. What salespeople do
Prospecting

◦ Acquire names, contacts, referrals
◦ Research and prepare for calling
◦ Make the call
 Get through to the decision-maker
 Assess interest or need
 Make the appointment for consultation

8. Consulting

◦ Conduct an assessment of needs and
analyze situation.
◦ Gather all needed information.
◦ Assess and interpret buying signals.
◦ Move the process forward by securing a
commitment for presentation.

9. Presentation

◦ Develop a proposal that matches the
needs revealed by the customer in the
consultation.
◦ Make the presentation TO THE
DECISIONMAKER in a professional,
polished and persuasive manner.
◦ Answer all questions and objections.
◦ Secure a commitment for decision.

10. Closing

◦ Negotiate program/product mix.
◦ Secure agreement on terms for delivery,
payment, and other details.
◦ Get contract signed, paperwork
completed.
◦ Initiate any internal processes
◦ Follow up with client, internal
stakeholders, etc.

11. Your new hire should be good
at ALL these processes

12. What’s the cost of making a poor
hire?
Wasted management resources

(time, training effort, etc)
 Wasted salary and other hiring costs
 Risking customer relationships
 Damaging morale on the team

13. Effect of eliminating low-performers and replacing them with mid-
performers
Analysis of team performance--team
size=10
Individual Sales Number of Individual Total Sales 10% increase 20% mid- Replace quot;No-
Target = $100,000 Salespeople in Sales Revenue for across the performers only hopersquot; with
Category Revenue Team board mid-performers
Over target
(130%) 2 $130,000 $260,000 $286,000 $260,000 $260,000
Near Target (85%) 6 $85,000 $510,000 $561,000 $612,000 $680,000
Below Target
(30%) 2 $30,000 $60,000 $66,000 $60,000 $0
Total $830,000 $913,000 $932,000 $940,000

14. What’s the candidate’s track
record?
◦ Success in past sales is the primary
indicator of future sales success, with
one caveat: motivation.
◦ Great sales people are passionate
about their product. Is your sales
candidate highly motivated, excited
about the possibilities and ready to
commit wholeheartedly?

15. What’s the candidate’s track
record?
•What obstacles has this person
overcome in their past experiences?
•Attitude is EVERYTHING in a
salesperson. How does your candidate
manage their attitude on a daily basis?

16. How goal-oriented is your
candidate?
Do they have personal goals, how are

they managed?
 How have they felt about goals set for
them in past sales positions?
 What is their process to achieve goals?

17. Your expectations

18. How long will it take?
◦ How much training will the candidate require
to be fully functional in the sales position?
◦ Is there a steep learning curve to your
products or processes, and if so, is this
person a quick study or will they need lots of
handholding along the way?
◦ Are you prepared to provide the training they
will need in order to be successful?
◦ Are your expectations realistic as to how long
this will take?

19. How long will it take?
Have you analyzed your own sales cycle well

enough to set appropriate targets and goals?
 Is there an existing pipeline for your
salesperson to work or will they be starting
from scratch?

20. How does your compensation
package fit?

21. How does your compensation
package fit?
◦ Hunters and Farmers have very different
perspectives on the risks associated with
compensation. Hunters generally have a
higher tolerance for risk (and a higher taste
for reward). Farmers’ personality usually
means they are happier knowing they can
perform consistently and get consistently
compensated.
◦ Many companies have moved away from
straight commission sales, and for good
reason. Managing behavior is much easier
when your plan allows you to compensate
for desired outcomes.

22. The death of
commission only
sales?
Disadvantages
Emphasis is on volume not profits

Little or no loyalty to the company is

generated
Wide variances in income between

salespeople
Tendency for some salespeople to skim

their territories
Advantages
Service aspect of selling bypassed or

ignored
Pay relates directly to performance

Pay is often excessive in boom times and
 and results achieved
very low in recession periods
System is easy to understand and

Strong tendency for salespeople to sell

compute
themselves rather than the company and to
stress short-term rather than long-term
Salespeople are provided with the

Reluctance on the part of high-paid
 greatest incentive possible
salespeople to move up to management
Company's selling investment is

Turnover of sales personnel tends to be

reduced
excessive when business turns bad or as
the company searches for sales staff who
can deal with the commission only
environment both professionally and
personally (income ups and downs)

23. Base + commission model
Improved ability to manage behavior

 Better security, harmony and
teamwork
 Sliding scales according to Hunter or
Farmer designation
◦ 80-20 for Farmers
◦ 70-30 for Hunters
Additional bonus pool for rewarding

specific behaviors or successes

24. Results?
Lower overall turnover

 Greater cooperation and intra-team
mentoring
 Unintended consequence? Loss of top
performers due to ceilings (these folks
were probably overpaid)

25. In summary
Hire to fit your company culture

 Commit in advance to providing
adequate training
 Set realistic goals
 Establish adequate accountability
measures
 Manage for success

26. For additional help
Sales Training (classroom and customized)

One-on-One Coaching for Sales

Sales Management Coaching

Sales Processes/Systems Consultation

Leadership and Executive Coaching

Lee Porter
lee@trebuchetgroup.com