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Sales Candidate
I told this sales professional that my client was concerned about the fact that they were not money motivated. The candidate took a breath and said, in a very authoritative manner, “Bob, my family tree ain’t pretty. I have a gift for working hard, I’m smart, and I have invested in sales training and personal development for one specific purpose. I have the ability to change the way my immediate family and their families look at themselves. I have chosen an industry where I can earn what I want to earn. I’ll either work for this company or I won’t. Money ain’t the issue – money solves money problems. I don’t have a money problem. I have a family problem, and I need time and energy when my family starts to develop and I’m focused on that. If that’s a problem, let me know, I’ll find another team to sell for.
Whew, and I’m going to stand in the way of that freight train!?!?
Client
I have a client who cashed out of a venture that netted him over 500 million dollars personally. Scary, and frankly, unfathomable for the human mind to comprehend. He is a low-key, Midwestern operations type individual who never would strike anyone as a deal maker, and therefore, would probably not be hired by most hiring managers or sales managers because he didn’t put money at their top of their priorities.
I spent some time with him to find out how he dealt with the growth he experienced and what drove him to create the monster application he created. He told me that as the business started to kick in and it was clear the application he was using was going to hit big, he made a conscious decision to not concern himself with money. He felt it got in the way and would only distract him from his stated goal – carve an application out to its simplest, most efficient form, so that his creation would undercut every other service provider, yet still produce wonderful high-margin business.
We all talk about hitting it big and closing big deals, but here is someone who experienced it, who went through it, and did it, yet never allowed his motivation to earn money get into his thinking. Interesting…. It’s your choice whether to take it to heart.
There’s a deeper principle at work here in both of these examples, one which I’ll leave sales professionals, sales managers, and mentors who have impact on these individuals.
When hiring sales professionals, never use criteria for hiring or selection that you haven’t drilled two, three steps further. If you use money motivation as a sole criterion for judging the value of sales candidates, you’re going to miss out on professionals whose goals are purer and will take them and your company further.
When teaching or mentoring sales professionals, never teach a student something that can be overdone. Anything that comes out of a trainer, manager, or mentor’s mouth should have this effect on his student – the more the student executes the desired action, the better the results. If it gets them something less (hoarding commissions, turnover, burnout, etc.), then bite your lip and find another way to get a point across.
-- Bob Pudlock is President of Adgrego, Ltd. (www.adgrego.com), an executive recruiting firm that helps companies of all sizes Identify, Assess, and Capture top sales & sales management talent. Contact him at 866.330.0036 or email raisethebar@adgrego.com
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