Little Red Warning Flags

Do you know those things that happen during the day that make you go, hmmmmm?   Do they happen to everyone, or am I just special?   Don't answer that.     When you hire a new sales rep there is this honeymoon period.   You are in love with what that new sales rep can potentially do and they are in love with the potential of a new job.   Sales reps are famous at selling themselves to a potential new boss.   But when the rubber hits the road, can they deliver?

During the honeymoon, you might notice a couple of things.   You know, little red flags.   You notice them but you ignore them because, well you are on your honeymoon (of sorts).   Equate them to a marriage.   It might be like the spouse that puts the toilet paper on the roll wrong, or leaves the toothpaste cap off.   It isn't enough for you to get a divorce but you might take notice.

Here is what I want to tell you.   LISTEN TO THOSE LITTLE RED FLAGS.   Take note of them.   Actually even write a memo to the file and perhaps if they are severe enough, have the audacity to actually speak to your new hire about them.

Over my lifetime of hiring and firing sales reps, I have gotten better at listening and paying attention to those little red warning flags.   But it still hard.   I guess I believe in people.   I am a glass half full kind of girl.   I don't want to believe that these little warning flags could turn into great big red storm warning flags.   It seems though that unless you head those little warning flags off at the pass, they will inevitably turn into a much larger storm and problem.

CRM is your friend when it comes to a new sales hire.   Measuring performance and tracking metrics is incredibly important.  But what I will also tell you, is it is important to have those same metrics recorded for your best and top sales reps.   For example, if you generate potentials through a lot of cold calling, you need to track a couple of key metrics.

• Average number of calls per day (notice I did NOT say dials).  Watch for reps that artificially inflate their metrics by recording a new call for an immediate call back.  I actually had a rep that recorded in 5 minutes, 5 calls to the same prospect and logged them all as separate calls.  

• Number of potentials/opportunities recorded per week.

• This will give you an average # of calls to new potential ratio/percentage.   This is an important number so that you can back into the number of calls required per day/week in order to generate the number of potentials/opportunities you need to make your quota.

This also gives you a baseline metric/goal for your new reps.

When your average number of new potentials to # of calls placed is 10% and your new (supposed seasoned professional new rep) is only 3%.  This is a pretty big red flag. 

Good CRM usage and measurements will help you identify if your little red flags should be heeded sooner than later.

If you have made a bad sales hire?  Cut your losses quickly.  You can lose a LOT of money if you let it drag out too long.   Have those metrics ready, present them as expectations to the sales rep and you will find that they can't hide behind excuses.

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Lori Hanken has been in sales and marketing for over 30 years. She is passionate about service and providing value to her vendors, prospects and clients. Lori is currently co-owner of Total Displays with her husband David. They help people look great at events, trade shows, in retail, museums and develop long partnerships with customers and suppliers. If you would like to learn more, email her at lori@totaldisplays.com. She is an open networker, connect with her on LinkedIn here.

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