fbpx

Main Navigation

Sections

Social Media Connect
Our Other Brands
  • Lifestyle Media Group Logo
  • Tampa Bay Business & Wealth Magazine Logo
South Florida Business and Wealth
South Florida Business & Wealth
Columnists

Hiring Benchmarks What are your milestones for landing the right employees?

| Greta Schulz

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

A midsize advertising and marketing firm was looking to expand. It truly needed an account executive to go out and call on organizations in the area to try to develop business for the firm.

Denise was in charge of interviewing for the new account executive. She sought someone with at least two years of sales experience within the industry, good communication skills and a college degree.

So, let’s break this down:

• Sales experience in the industry. Why? Are you the same as everyone else? Do you want someone to sell what he or she sold before, the same way they would sell your service? Are you sure?

• Good communication skills? Who’s going to say they don’t have good communication skills?

• A college degree. There are certainly pluses to having a degree—I have one myself—but I don’t think that is the reason I or most others are successful. I truly believe it’s the fire in their belly.

Here are other things to look at, in benchmarking a candidate:

• What level of the organization does your business development person need to be talking to? Is it a CEO? If so, has this candidate successfully called on that person before and consistently gotten to him or her?

• What is the cost of your product or service? If the average cost is $10,000, and this candidate has been very successful with $500, but never sold anything much more than that, this could be an issue.

• Where is your product or service when it comes to pricing competition? Are you more expensive, about the same or the price leader? These are distinctions that need to be addressed.

• How long is your selling cycle? Is it one or two calls? Or is it intricate, long and has many layers of decision-makers?

If you can match up these things closely with a candidate, then that person is worth looking at seriously. There are other criteria, but first address what you really need and don’t worry about the “experience” she has. If the person’s so good, why is she leaving?

Most organizations don’t take the time or energy to do this step well.

If someone tells you he’s good, or if her résumé says she has experience in your industry, that’s not enough. You need to first identify the qualities that will make this candidate successful for your company, not just any organization.

For a breakdown of the benchmarks and how to identify them, email greta@schulzbusiness.com. ♦

Greta Schulz is president of Schulz Business, a sales consulting and training firm. She is the best-selling author of “To Sell is NOT to Sell” and works with Fortune 1000 companies and entrepreneurs. For more information or free sales tips, go to schulzbusiness.com and sign up for “GretaNomics,” a weekly video tip series, or email sales questions to greta@schulzbusiness.com.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/3″][/vc_column][/vc_row]

You May Also Like

Stephen Garber
Reaching Out
December 16, 2020

More Columnists Posts
State Legislature Drops the Job Growth Ball
 |  Drew Limsky

By Gary Press   With Florida facing historically high unemployment because of the COVID-19 pandemic, one would think our state government would be pulling out all of the stops to

Rethinking Sales Today
 |  Greta Schulz

Today, more organizations increasingly are facing more competition, rapidly changing technology, slower market growth and less product differentiation. This trend requires business development professionals to manage more accounts, build stronger

The Future of the Office
 |  Frank Papandrea

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text] As I talked to my many office tenants in the first few weeks of the national shutdown, they were pleasantly surprised

Is your sales manager managing time well?
 |  Greta Schulz

Is your sales manager balancing priorities properly? How do you know? Today a big question faced by most executives is, what is my sales manager doing and what should he

Other Posts

And Justice For All
 |  Frank Papandrea

By Monica St. Omer   Monica St. Omer has been working with me for eight years. She is my right-hand but so much more. She is a wonderful soul who

Keeping us connected
 |  SFBW Staff

As a company that doesn’t directly serve the general public, SBA Communications might be called the quiet giant of the South Florida business scene even thought it’s on the S&P

Lessons learned
 |  SFBW Staff

As I write this column, South Florida has yet to enter into a phase one reopening, lagging the rest of the state. I hope readers and their businesses are negotiating

The Unseen Enemy
 |  SFBW Staff

[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text] As I wrote my column in March for the April issue, the COVID-19 virus was just starting to wreak havoc in

Drew Limsky

Drew Limsky

Editor-in-Chief

BIOGRAPHY

Drew Limsky joined Lifestyle Media Group in August 2020 as Editor-in-Chief of South Florida Business & Wealth. His first issue of SFBW, October 2020, heralded a reimagined structure, with new content categories and a slew of fresh visual themes. “As sort of a cross between Forbes and Robb Report, with a dash of GQ and Vogue,” Limsky says, “SFBW reflects South Florida’s increasingly sophisticated and dynamic business and cultural landscape.”

Limsky, an avid traveler, swimmer and film buff who holds a law degree and Ph.D. from New York University, likes to say, “I’m a doctor, but I can’t operate—except on your brand.” He wrote his dissertation on the nonfiction work of Joan Didion. Prior to that, Limsky received his B.A. in English, summa cum laude, from Emory University and earned his M.A. in literature at American University in connection with a Masters Scholar Award fellowship.

Limsky came to SFBW at the apex of a storied career in journalism and publishing that includes six previous lead editorial roles, including for some of the world’s best-known brands. He served as global editor-in-chief of Lexus magazine, founding editor-in-chief of custom lifestyle magazines for Cadillac and Holland America Line, and was the founding editor-in-chief of Modern Luxury Interiors South Florida. He also was the executive editor for B2B magazines for Acura and Honda Financial Services, and he served as travel editor for Conde Nast. Magazines under Limsky’s editorship have garnered more than 75 industry awards.

He has also written for many of the country’s top newspapers and magazines, including The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Miami Herald, Boston Globe, USA Today, Worth, Robb Report, Afar, Time Out New York, National Geographic Traveler, Men’s Journal, Ritz-Carlton, Elite Traveler, Florida Design, Metropolis and Architectural Digest Mexico. His other clients have included Four Seasons, Acqualina Resort & Residences, Yahoo!, American Airlines, Wynn, Douglas Elliman and Corcoran. As an adjunct assistant professor, Limsky has taught journalism, film and creative writing at the City University of New York, Pace University, American University and other colleges.