Effective Interviewing
Approximate reading time: 2 minutes
In This issue:
- Effective Interviewing: Two Tips
- Lessons from Sales, IV
- More FSTD Content: Blog Posts
- Upcoming Public Workshops
When it comes to hiring, it’s a “buyer’s market”…right?
Let’s face it. Eventually we’ll start to hire people again. With all the
people out of work, that’ll be a breeze. Stop! Let’s assume for just a minute
that the people doing the lay-off’s did the right thing and got rid of their
“dead wood”. If that’s even partially true (logic tells me it is), we’ll have to
sort through a lot of dead wood to find truly qualified people.
With that in mind, here are 2 tips that will dramatically, immediately
improve your chances of finding a winner.
Tip #1: Never describe the job specifics to the applicant until you have the
information you require to make a quality evaluation.
The rationale is quite straightforward. Let’s say you describe the job as,
“This job requires good interpersonal skills, good problem solving skills and
the ability to work alone in the bottom of a cold, dark, damp hole.” Then you
ask the applicant, “What are your job strengths?” Chances are you will get the
answer, “I have good interpersonal skills, good problem solving skills and I
love to work alone in the bottom of a cold, dark, damp hole.”
If the person you are interviewing truly wants the job (…there are a lot of
hungry people out there …) they will present themselves in the very best light
relative to the job. For you to make an accurate assessment of the person
relative to the job, you need to know what they offer, not just what they
want
you to know.
Tip #2: Never tour the work place and/or specific workstation until you have
the information you require to make a quality evaluation.
The rationale here is similar to the rationale above. For some jobs, it is
important to assess the applicant’s compatibility to the work environment. If
the work environment is that “cold, dark, damp hole” and the applicant sees or
hears about it, what kind of response do you thing you will get when you ask,
“What kind of a work space is best for you?”
Typical questions to assess the applicant’s compatibility to the workspace
are:
- Let’s say you are offered the job. It is your first day and you walk up
to your workspace for the first time. You have never seen your workspace up
to now. What would you like to see?
- What type of workspace is best for you?
- When you look up from your work area, what do you want to see?
- In what physical conditions do you work best? (If you have already told
the applicant that the workspace is at the bottom of a cold, dark, damp
hole, guess what answer you will get to this question?)
Conclusion: It is a buyers market ... if you ask the right questions when hiring!
How well does your company bring on new talent?
Contact us to learn more
about Effective Interviewing Skills.
Lead On!
 George
George posts regularly to the blog at TroubleShootingLogic.com. |
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Lessons in Sales, IV:
Managing the Process
New Customers Don't Just "Magic Up"
You've been really thinking about this. You want to get everyone on board around sales.
You are committed to leading by example. Now what?
Define Success. More revenue, of course, but for
this to be a real win, a long-term win, you must instill new
expectations, new systems and new habits. You want, I think, for
this to be your last taste of up-and-down sales. Maybe it's just
me, but I think that you want a stable pipeline.
A Stable Pipeline. That is, to experience more closed deals at
the end of the process, we are going to have to implement systematic
approaches to
- Generate More Leads
- Quickly and Correctly Qualify those Leads
- Pitch and Close those Leads
- Learn from our Experience so that we get better over time.
Successful pipeline management requires both a Macro- and a
Micro-view. That is, you must
have the capability to see the big picture of the pipeline as a
whole, as well as the individual prospect and where he or she is in
their buying process.
In Macro- terms, we want to see the
classic funnel shape, with a LOT of initial prospects, people who fit
your customer profile, at the very top of the funnel. Handled
well, a certain percentage of these prospects should be converting into
confirmed leads. A number of those should be converting into
Requests for Proposals. A certain percentage of these RFPs should
be going in the "Win" column. If we're experiencing poor sales
at the end, we are improperly managing one or more segments of our
pipeline. Our sales process must flag this to us and provide
clear "Next Steps" to address the shortcoming.
In terms of the Micro- view, we also
need the capability to track where we are in the relationship building
and mutual education process with each individual prospect. Unless
you wish to compete solely on the basis of price, you will need to be
proactively building a mutually respectful relationship with your
prospect so that, when "bid time" comes, he or she is (almost) already
sold. Wherever your prospect "is" at the moment, your sales teams
needs to have concrete steps to take to move the relationship forward.
Outstanding Pipeline Management = More Sales. A totally
learnable process and skill set. Simple but not simplistic.
In upcoming issues, we will be sharing concrete strategies and tips for
guiding each phase of the sales pipeline.
All the Best,
Rob
PS. Some of you may be saying "we already do this."
Do you do it well? Do you have a healthy funnel? Does
each person on the sales team know their role to move the prospect(s)
forward? Are there hard measures? Is there real
accountability? If you answer "no" or "maybe" to any of these
questions, you have room for improvement. Stay tuned to these
newsletters. Check out our
blog or
give us a call.
PPS. I will be presenting two workshops on the CODE sales process at the upcoming National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) Conference in Louisville, KY on September 2, 2010. If you are in the area, please consider joining us at that event. Email me if you'd like further details. |
- Trouble Shooting Logic
- August 24-26, 2010, Atlanta, GA
- September 20-22, 2010, Atlanta, GA
- October 25-27, 2010, Atlanta, G
- The Sales CODE, September 14-15, 2010, Atlanta, GA
- Performance Coaching, September 23-24, 2010, Atlanta, GA
- Mastering Involvement, October 28, 2010, Atlanta, GA
- Trouble Shooting Logic Train-the-Trainer (T3), November 8-19, 2010, Atlanta, GA
- Experiential Expertise Train-the-Trainer (T3) - Openers, Initiatives and Low Elements - November 30-December 1, 2010, Utica, MS
- Experiential Expertise Train-the-Trainer (T3) - Trust, Low Ropes, High Ropes and AlpineTower - December 2-3, 2010, Utica, MS
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