I am a firm believer in doing everything in your power to make sure you hire the right person for the job. This is especially true when you need to hire a salesperson. IBM learned early that there was a distinction between selling and servicing clients and formed two distinct groups with one responsible for new sales and the other for client retention. (Duties of the later included making add-on sales.) Consider similar activities for salespeople in your firm. Be sure you obtain references from former customers, co-workers, and employers … not just friends.

SALARY OR COMMISSION
When you need a salesperson the first question to answer is, "Salary or commission?" A good salesperson would rather work on a commission basis providing there is sufficient money to be made. Provide a minimum token salary designed as a safety net for the one period a year where business truly is at a low point and for the first month or two while your new salesperson learns your business. Should there be an extended delay between sales and commissions (as in the case of future deliverables), you may need a beginning salary guarantee tapering to commissions-only.

To entice the true salesperson you need to prove they can make money. Develop a program that clearly demonstrates how their sales efforts will result in commissions, and how increased sales will bring in increased commissions. If the potential is truly there, and you can prove it is there, you will have no problem attracting highly motivated salespersons.

The selection of a salesperson should not be based on what you believe to be desirable attributes, but what your customers feel are desirable attributes. Here are six measures of a salespersons worth from the customer's point of view with specific suggestions for you as the employer.

PRODUCT KNOWLEDGE
Here’s your question: “Should I look for someone who has a great deal of product knowledge and train him or her to sell, or should you look for an accomplished salesperson and then train on our product line?” Two answers: 1) Nothing turns-off a customer more quickly than a salesperson that doesn't know their product or service inside-out. 2) It is usually easier to train a product person to sell than a salesperson to understand product. Either way works provided you spend the necessary time with your new person to completely understand the product line, then develop a client-oriented feature-benefit list for each product/service they will sell. This is your responsibility.

FOLLOW-THROUGH
Your product/service offering will quickly migrate to the bottom of the selection list if your salesperson says: "I'll get back to you." or "I'll have it for you next Tuesday.", and then don't follow through exactly as promised. Help your salespersons establish a monitor system to track promises with a follow through.

CUSTOMIZED NEEDS ANALYSIS
A good salesperson must have the ability to quickly ferret-out and understand their customer's wants and needs. A salesperson that cannot do this is wasting his or her, your, and your customer's time. As noted, it is your task, not the salesperson’s, to supply customized benefits for each of your products for each customer. It is the salesperson’s job to convey this knowledge to the prospective customer. Again, use evaluative interview techniques.

WILLINGNESS TO FIGHT
Customers need to feel the salesperson will go-to-bat for them to change or modify your company’s policies when necessary. The best salesperson makes the customer feel that customer wants and needs come first whenever possible. Provide your sales force with comprehensive guidelines on what is absolute and what can be negotiated.

MARKET KNOWLEDGE
Your salespeople need an intimate knowledge of the market in which they are selling; who's in it, current trends, what's good and bad, what's outmoded, and what the future holds. They should also be willing to share that knowledge with customers. Provide your sales force with market savvy by subscribing to trade journals, having them join appropriate associations, attend and participate in trade shows, and similar activities.

FERTILE IMAGINATION
The best salespeople put ideas, events, and happenings together to arrive at innovative and imaginative uses for your products or services. Their knowledge allows them to suggest new uses for older products, to locate and penetrate new markets, to invent new sales ideas, and to visualize new products. Good salespeople have good ideas. Provide interactive sales meetings where ideas can be shared and new uses can be brainstormed.

(NOTE TO EDITORS: PLEASE INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING.)
Paul Tulenko is a Small Business Success Consultant based in New Mexico. Additional tips and suggestions are available at www.tulenko.com or call (toll-free) 1-866-TULENKO.