Journal logo

Hire Hungry Talent

Hungry and clueless beats content and knowledgeable.

By Joshua WarrenPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
Like
Just how motivated is your sales force?

"I've made a huge mistake...."

This was all I could think after the latest run in I had with Joe. You see, I had an extensive hiring process for the last two pieces to our team's puzzle.

I probably interviewed 20 different people—all with varying levels of experience, all intelligent, and all top notch in their own way. I remember when Joe came for his interview, he was impressive. I must admit, I was a little infatuated with him even before he walked through the door.

Joe's resume was like the Mona Lisa of resumes.

Experience? ✔

Leadership Experience? ✔

Longevity in the industry? ✔

Great references? ✔

Meeting Joe in person didn't disappoint either. He was impressive. He was tall, nicely dressed, had a firm handshake, and very good presentation skills. This was the guy I wanted to hire. This was the sales person I HAD to hire.

Because I still had one spot remaining, and I had pressure from upper management to fill it ASAP, I took a flier on Matthew. I really didn't want to hire him, but the other three people I called to offer a job to declined. One had already found a position, one didn't like our pay structure, and the other never returned my calls. I was up against it, so Matthew was the guy. His resume looked as though it had been put together by his mom.

Experience?

Leadership Experience?

Longevity in the industry?

Great references?

Not only that, but basically all he had on the resume was a list of his activities while attending high school. His ONLY saving grace was how much he followed up and how eager he seemed to get in, learn, and make something happen. You could tell he was a stand up/good person. Outside of that, he was not what I was looking for.

Fast forward a little. Two months in, here were the metrics of activity for each:

Joe:

  • Phone calls weekly -- 23
  • First appointments weekly -- 6
  • Second appointments weekly -- 2
  • Sales weekly -- .125

Matthew:

  • Phone calls weekly -- 127
  • First appointments weekly -- 20
  • Second appointments weekly 6
  • Sales weekly -- .500

Joe was averaging 1 sale per 184 calls and Matthew was averaging 1 sale per 254 calls. Neither great, but what did it tell me? In the end, after 60 days the person I didn't want to hire had 4 sales and the guy I thought had hung the moon had 1 sale. It was obvious what was happening. Joe wasn't making enough calls and he wasn't engaging in enough activity. As a matter of fact, Joe was down-right lazy.

I dug a little deeper. He was coming in every day around 9:30 or 10, and leaving by 3. Everyone in the office loved him though and he was pretty amazing at dishing out advice on how to sell, how to close out deals, how to source deals, etc. As a matter of fact, he did that a lot more than anything else.

So, when I went in to confront him about the metrics, I was a little surprised at his defensiveness.

"Our rates are just way too high"

"I am getting zero support here, that's not what I was told would happen"

"I'm too busy mentoring and trying to help Matthew"

2 months later, Joe was gone. No, I didn't fire him, he found another position that "met his needs more than we did." I later found out that after 6 months he was gone from that gig as well...same reasons.

What did I learn from this? I learned that almost nothing beats hard work. Nothing slays a sales goal like internal drive and hunger. I learned that no one can teach drive and hunger—the person either has it or they don't. I learned that the shiny object isn't always a diamond. I learned that I'll do my best to ere on the side of giving people opportunities based upon how willing they are to do the dirty work.

I did make a big mistake. Luckily, I learn from those pretty quickly.

To success.

advice
Like

About the Creator

Joshua Warren

I'm a business guy, a husband, a father, a follower of Christ. I know quite a bit about what I know...

I write about business, sales, personal life, and everything in between. I get a kick out of winning, success, everything in between.

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.