The seasoned CEO and his wise words.

In my early days as a consultant, I sat down with an elderly business leader, the majority shareholder of the company he presided over. When I asked him what his responsibilities were, he answered the following:

I hire people for my management team who are professionals in their field of work. They should be better than me in what they do.

My responsibility is to orchestrate the team and support them to do an above-average job! There is no place for “prima donna’s”.

This way, we create the best place to work with the best people at work.

It’s now thirty years later, and his words are still very applicable in these challenging times.

Contact me if you want to know more about how I assist business leaders in creating great teams. Call me here: +31 (0)642713033

Will the salesperson working for a top corporation sell for your start-up? Think twice!

The founder of a start-up approached me some time ago with a question about a sales candidate he was considering. He thought that his number one candidate with a background in software sales with one of the big corporations would bring in quite some business. He wanted to know my opinion.

Here is what I answered:

Big corporations are very often well-known. They also have a particular reputation, in many cases a good one.

• The salesperson coming from a big corporation will have to adapt to the selling environment of your start-up, which will demand lots of perseverance, effort and doing much themselves.

• Most prospects haven’t heard of your company, which means working hard to get appointments.

• Because of the lack of brand awareness, getting appointments will be challenging.

• Selling value instead of price will demand quite a lot of effort.

• Getting people to change from what they know to whom they do not know will demand skill, high sales-DNA, and perseverance.

• Getting in front of decision-makers will be a challenge due to a lack of reputation.

Are you disappointed now? Don’t be! There are a lot of good-performing people out there who would love to work in a start-up environment.

What you need is the following:

• Market the position and your company in an attractive way. Boring ads attract boring salespeople.

• Make clear that you are looking for someone who can hunt.

• Spread the news that you are looking for someone who makes a difference.

• Use a sales-specific assessment to test candidates and avoid mis-hires due to emotions and falling-in-love-with-the-candidate. A wrong choice will cost you.

• Be patient; hiring the wrong salesperson because you are losing your patience can be an expensive venture.

Want to know more? Contact me here or at +31 (0)642713033.