2 Ways to Hire Under-Performers
Hiring salespeople is always hard. Great salespeople are hard to find; they are in good jobs making good money. The hiring process is less than perfect - it is hurried, doesn’t provide clear insight, and the urgency to fill the role can force a decision between non-ideal candidates.
Thus hiring success rates are low. It’s not too hard to implement a hiring process that brings good candidates in and through the onboarding process. The challenge is consistently hiring candidates who are delivering above quota in years 2 and 3. Below are two ways to uncover bad hires that are disguised as good hires for the first 6-9 months.
The 21-Month Underperformer
The Market Maturity Misfit
Companies that offer a new, disruptive solution to a mature market want sellers who are experienced in that market. This is happening now across a broad range of business software applications as AI-driven solutions aspire to disrupt incumbent enterprise software providers.
There is a strong temptation to hire from the incumbents they are competing against. But selling for a small upstart is completely different than selling for an incumbent:
An unheard of start-up vs. established, well-known brand
Immature and frequently changing product vs. mature, proven product
Challenging existing thinking vs. extending existing thinking
Lack of referenceable customers vs. robust social-proof
Hunting vs. farming
Chaotic, ambiguous environment vs. structured, organized environment
Sellers from mature solution providers always interview great and often start out well, especially if they can pick low-hanging fruit from their database of contacts. But over time, the drastic differences between the two selling environments start to show. In order to thrive in a start-up environment, the seller must have a completely different mindset, work ethic, and set of core traits. Sellers with those characteristics are not drawn to large organizations in mature markets, so you won’t find them there.
The net is - while the experience, knowledge, and list of contacts are all attractive, the candidates from legacy providers will often fail out - sometimes quickly, but often over the long term as they are unable to adapt to the unique requirements of selling disruptive technology.
Avoid the $1M Hiring Mistake
Both of these are examples of a costly hiring mistake. With 2 years of missed quota plus 1-2 years of base salary, the cost to the organization is easily $1M. Additionally, the hiring manager is at square one as they work to find a new rep. Better to be selective and willing to extend the initial hiring process than fall for one of these candidates.
