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How to Build A World-Class Coaching Program for Field Sales With Sebastian Jimenez

Sebastian Jimenez, the mastermind behind Rillavoice, the speech recording and analytics software for external sales and service teams, joins us to share invaluable tips and insights on creating an exceptional coaching program for field sales experts. In this engaging conversation, we dove into the critical factors to measure and analyze in your field rep coaching programs, the significance of maintaining the proper talk ratios during your sales pitch, and strategies to achieve the perfect balance.

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Find Sebastian Online:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sebastian-jimenez-690149149/
Website: https://www.rillavoice.com

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Episode Highlights

The Importance of Metrics in Sales Coaching Programs

Sebastian emphasizes that it’s important to look at the end dollar value each salesperson brings and their conversion rate and cost of sales. By analyzing the value of the figures thoroughly, it’s possible to identify the top-performing sales reps, learn from them, and implement their strategies with the rest of the team. However, this process requires ongoing effort and monitoring to ensure everyone performs at their best. The discussion highlights the similarity between a coach implementing a new system with a sports team and a sales coach implementing new strategies with a sales team.

Trey Gibson: What are the top metrics you recommend your customers track and are important to have as part of a good coaching program?

Sebastian Jimenez: To be profitable in your sales process, it’s important to look not only at the end dollar value brought in by each salesperson but also at their conversion rate and cost of sales. If a salesperson is bringing in more money than the others but also getting more leads and their close rate is low, their cost per lead may be higher, making them less effective than other salespeople with lower costs per lead. So, it’s important to consider all these factors when determining the top performer.

Trey Gibson: That’s really good. So you should ensure each salesperson makes enough sales while ensuring the cost of getting those leads is worth it.

Sebastian Jimenez: Right. You should also see how long it takes for sales to happen, and if someone is able to close deals quickly, you should learn from them and follow their methods.

Basically, the process involves identifying the top-performing sales reps, figuring out what makes them successful, and replicating that with the rest of the team. This usually involves going on ride-a-longs and analyzing recordings of calls or in-person interactions. It takes a lot of time and effort, and then you need to ensure the rest of the team implements the new strategies. It’s similar to a coach trying to implement a new system with a sports team – it takes ongoing effort and monitoring to ensure everyone is performing at their best.

The Ultimate Speech Analytics Software For Outside Sales And Service

Rillavoice is a cutting-edge speech analytics software designed specifically for outside sales and service businesses. One of the most exciting features of Rillavoice is that it allows sales coaches or managers to gain a deeper understanding of top-performing techniques while also helping them identify areas for improvement. With Rillavoice, sales reps can dramatically improve their communication skills and boost the effectiveness of their sales efforts.

Trey Gibson: So let’s go ahead and kick over to what Rillavoice does. Can you tell us more about it?

Sebastian Jimenez: Absolutely. Rillavoice is a premier speech analytics software for outside sales and service, ideal for businesses such as solar, roofing, HVAC, restaurant and supermarkets, medical sales, and more. With over 12 million outside sales and service professionals in the United States interacting face-to-face with customers, the Rillavoice mobile app can record and transcribe conversations, analyzing and providing feedback to improve sales. As a sales coach or manager, Rillavoice enables a clearer understanding of top-performing techniques, revealing where low conversions often occur and highlighting the language top-performing sales reps use. By utilizing Rillavoice, your sales force can improve communication skills and boost sales effectiveness.

The Importance of Talk Ratios in Sales

Trey Gibson and Sebastian Jimenez discuss the impact of talk ratios on sales performance. The conversation highlights how talk ratios can significantly impact sales and how even low-performing representatives tend to have a talk ratio that is too high. It emphasizes the importance of keeping a dialogue going and not delivering a commercial when engaging in effective sales strategies.

Trey Gibson: Have you found any statistics on your product that may be helpful to know for our audience?

Sebastian Jimenez: We discovered three significant statistics that can greatly impact sales performance. The first statistic may seem simple, but it holds immense value. Simply put, top performers talk more. It’s not rocket science, but it’s often overlooked. We found that high-performing salespeople have a talk ratio of 45% to 65% during appointments. It’s important to note that this ratio differs from door-to-door sales. During a scheduled appointment, it’s crucial to keep talking.

For example, some low performers talk almost 85% of the time.

While typically, the top performers spend between 45 to 65% of their time communicating. The distribution is heavily condensed within this range, indicating that, on average, homeowners are speaking for nearly 50% of the interaction. Comparatively, average representatives talk more than 72% of the time, while low performers speak almost 85% of the time.

Trey Gibson: Really? Huge difference.

Sebastian Jimenez: A significant difference exists between just lowering the talk ratio from 72 to the low 60s. This has been observed through both data analysis and customer feedback. We’ve had instances where a representative started with a high 70s talk ratio and saw significant improvement with a lower ratio. Interestingly, even low-performing reps tend to have a talk ratio over 80% during presentations, which often results in a monologue that fails to sell the product or service effectively. Essentially, they end up delivering a commercial rather than engaging in effective sales strategies.

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Key Quotes

“If you’re just doing trial and error without a plan, you can’t go back and see what to fix, and that’s how we’re going to develop a killer system.” – Sebastian Jimenez

“We measure this thing called ‘talk ratio’, and the top performers typically talk 45% to 65% of the time.” – Sebastian Jimenez

“You try to set the agenda first and say, what I want to talk to you about today are three simple things; I want to talk to you about your current payment solution with ” ” I want to talk about some of the pain points we’ve identified from our previous conversations, and I want to talk to you about how our products will help you with those pain points.”
– Sebastian Jimenez

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

Chris Pierce is a mental toughness expert who trains sales professionals to double and triple their results. He’s here to help you learn how to do the same.

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Guest At A Glance

Name: Chris Pierce

What He Does: As a mental toughness expert, Chris has a proven track record of empowering sales professionals to double and even triple their productivity. With an impressive background in sports psychology and a wealth of experience training elite surfers, Green Berets, and Army Rangers, his techniques are second to none. Chris currently resides on the picturesque North Shore of Oahu, where he is continually refining his methods to help individuals reach their full potential.

Find him Online:
Web: thechrispierce.com
Instagram: @chris_pierce
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-pierce-748a568/

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Episode Highlight

Preparation isn’t Planning for the Best Case Scenario:
Preparation isn’t just about planning for success, but also planning for when things get tough. Creating a plan for how to handle difficult situations and practicing it beforehand is crucial for success.

Chris Pierce:
Lots of folks go through the process of figuring out who they are and what they want. They make a plan and create a vision board, which is super cool. But the next step is all about how you reconnect to that when things get tough. So for example, you’re running, you hit mile 20, you gotta have a game plan ready for what thoughts and emotions you’ll have in that moment.

But it’s not just about thinking and feeling the right things, it’s also about having a solid plan of action for when everything feels like it sucks. So, what actions are you gonna take when the pain sets in? And the key is to practice that plan long before you actually need it.

Trey Gibson:
Wow, that’s interesting! I can envision the benefits of having a pre-determined strategy to combat the urge to give up when faced with challenging obstacles.

Chris Pierce:
Right! Because if you can’t do it when things are going well, then how can you do it when things are getting really tough?

Connect with Your Core Values and Goals Daily:
This could be through journaling, sending a video, or simply asking yourself two important questions each day: What am I going to continue to do? What am I going to do differently?

Chris Pierce:
Staying connected to your goals and aspirations is crucial, especially when you hit those 20-mile markers. Trust me, I know it’s tough. Whether it’s a knee acting up during a workout or a rude customer at the first door you knock, it’s easy to feel discouraged. But when you’ve got your connection to your vision board and your personal core values, you’ll be able to push through and keep going.

Be 1% Better Everyday:
Making small improvements every day can lead to huge progress and success over time. By focusing on what works and what needs to change, you can make incremental improvements and achieve exponential growth.

Chris Pierce:
So, there are many things you can do to improve your game, but it’s crucial to figure out what exactly is holding you back. One super easy and effective thing is asking yourself two questions every day – and you can do this in your head or with a video, voice memo, or phone notes. So, the questions are: What is one thing I’m going to keep doing? And what’s one thing I’m going to do differently? Simple, right? This will make you reflect on your day and focus on making changes instead of just obsessing over your results.
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Top Quotes

“Because if you can’t do it when things are going well, then how can you do it when things are going horribly?” – Chris Pierce

“You have a team of people working for the common goal…but the team always has a new player on it, which is the client.” – Chris Pierce

Want to be a guest on our podcast, Inside Scoop on Outside Sales?
Please email Amanda Foster at amanda@spotio.com to see if you’d be a good fit for the show!

• Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?
• Why do you want to be a sales manager?
• Can you describe a past incentive that motivated you?
• What qualities make you good at sales? How about management?
• What area challenged you the most in sales and how did you overcome it?

Operational Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• What do you look for in new sales rep hires?
• What is your training plan for a new sales rep joining your team?
• What method is the best performer for training new salespeople?
• How do you approach setting goals?
• How have you addressed a sales rep that is missing quota on a regular basis and what did you do to resolve the situation?

Leadership-Style Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• What is the best motivator for a sales team?
• How would you describe your management style?
• How do you set goals, track progress, and ensure performance for and from your team?
• How do you recognize performance?
• What is your approach to conflict management amongst members of your team?

Role-Based Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• How do you prepare quarterly and annual performance reports and what data do you need for them?
• What do you know regarding sales forecasting? What tools & software do you employ when you do?
  
• Can you explain as you would to someone who if not familiar with us what we do?
  
• How will your strengths and weaknesses help and hurt you in the sales manager position?
  
• How do you divide your time in a week to the various responsibilities of your job?

Behavioral Interview Questions for Sales Managers

• When your team didn’t achieve sales quota, how did you ensure they reach their next quotas?
• Can you describe a time when you had to let a salesperson go?
• What is your process for making decisions?
• How do you prepare for presentations?
• How have you used analytical skills in the past to solve a problem?

The face-to-face job interview is the most vital part of the decision-making phase of the talent acquisition process.

Whether you’re a hiring manager interviewing sales manager candidates or applying for a leadership position yourself, this guide will prepare you with questions so that you can find the best candidates.

The types of questions you need to ask before hiring a Sales Manager:

• Personal Interview Questions for Sales Managers
• Operational Interview Questions for Sales Managers
• Leadership-Style Interview Questions for Sales Managers 
• Role-Based Interview Questions for Sales Managers
• Behavioral Interview Questions for Sales Managers 
• Tips for Interviewing Sales Manager Candidates
• Tips for Getting Hired as a Sales Manager
  

Personal Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Personal interview questions are designed to get to know a candidate and whether he or she will fit in at the organization’s culture. These interview questions ask for details about the interviewee’s personality and how that translates into a work personality. Work process and work ethic are two other areas addressed by personal interview questions.
Some examples of personal interview questions and answers include:

Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

The answer to this question reveals a lot about an interviewee. First, they want to know the information a person shares, i.e., work experience, goals, and past job history. Second, they look for indications from the content that can be signs of a match for the position—or not.

HubSpot suggests that an excellent answer to this question is broad enough to hit all the high points on your resume but not so general it overshares. It should demonstrate forethought about what would be appropriate information to match the candidate for the position, as well as a positive take on past experiences.

Anything that is rambling and disorganized, off-topic, or complaint-filled could indicate the candidate is not suited for a leadership position.

Why do you want to be a sales manager?

Responses to this question can help an interviewer uncover the motivation behind the move to management. In many cases, the applicant has been in the field for the company, and successful at it. Since the sales management position often is not compensated as highly as a successful salesperson nor does it require the same set of skills, it is essential to understand why the candidate would want to make a move to management.

Per HubSpot, there are several appropriate responses. One could be a passion for the company’s mission and a desire to effect more impact upon its success. Another is wanting to serve as a leader in the organization to help shape the future of the company.
Wanting more money or looking for a change of pace are not satisfactory answers to this question.

Can you describe a past incentive that motivated you?

This question takes many forms, including “What motivates you?” However, by including experience, the interviewee must not only share insight into what drives their work ethic but also add a real-life example from a his or her work history to support it. Motivation is a vital factor in successful sales management.

An excellent response to this question will indicate a program where the candidate’s satisfaction came from helping others overcome a personal challenge. Another could be an example that proved they derive pleasure from improving systems. Other satisfactory responses for motivation reveal that the candidate appreciated gaining a new skill or valued developing leadership skills.

What qualities make you good at sales? How about management?

A two-part question like this one helps determine if the candidate knows the difference between the two jobs. The interviewer wants to ensure that someone who is a fantastic sales rep can also be an excellent sales manager, as the two positions require different skill sets.

Answers that reveal the best candidate for sales management demonstrate the differentiation between vital skills for sales and the essential skills for management. Candidates shine even brighter than their competition if they share how their skills as a rep will transform once in the role of sales manager. The crucial information revealed here is that the candidate understands that what made them successful as a salesperson is not what will help them succeed as a sales manager.

What area challenged you the most in sales and how did you overcome it?

This question requires the interviewee to demonstrate his or her work process for a potential employer. The challenge is significant, but how they overcame it is the most pertinent part of the answer. The hiring manager wants to understand how the potential manager problem-solves and ascertain whether that skill can translate to problem-solving for his or her team.

Answering this question can be unnerving for an interviewee that wants to highlight their successes rather than discuss their difficulties. However, a willingness to share a past problem and its outcome is key to communicating the insight gained.
Moreover, the best managerial candidates can explain how their work process translates to overcoming other challenges, as well as how to systemize it as a team.

Operational Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Operational questions drill down on specific skill sets candidates have. These sales manager interview questions are specific by nature and reveal the qualifications of a candidate.

From ideas on how to hire and train new salespeople to how you would manage those that are struggling, these questions are designed to find out if the candidate can do the job.
Some examples of operational sales manager interview questions and answers include:

What do you look for in new sales rep hires?

Identifying and acquiring new talent is a critical skill for a successful sales manager. Sales manager candidates should be able to describe their ideal salesperson’s attributes for the interviewer.

Candidates will shine even brighter if they can also identify red flags for potential hires and qualities the candidate would avoid in their talent identification process.

Handshake, a mobile sales and B2B e-commerce platform, recommends that interviewees use their answers to highlight their talent acquisition strategy. These responses will convey what the potential sales manager values in a salesperson as well as provide a glimpse of what kind of team the candidate envisions.

Candidates would be wise to highlight how these qualities would further the mission of the company and fit within the established culture.

What is your training plan for a new sales rep joining your team?

The interviewing manager wants to know that candidates have a detailed, organized, and engaging plan to bring on new team members. The amount of detail and thought put into this process

indicates that the candidate understands the importance of helping others achieve their potential as quickly as possible.

Sales Drive, LLC, a sales ability test organization, recommends that the best plans will include many factors. The training plans should include setting goals for new team members to be proficient in an area by a specific date. Programs should also have dedicated training on the technology employed by the company as well as access to any resources available to the new team member.

The method should include times when the sales manager would introduce them to key people throughout the organization and socialization with the other team members. The plan should also include assigning a mentor to help new salespeople in day-to-day activities.

What method is the best performer for training new salespeople?

Talent development is another crucial area for sales manager’s success. When a hiring manager asks this question, he or she wants to know that the candidate has a proven method that they can repeat with new hires, much like the onboarding process. It is not feasible to oversee every activity by the new sales rep, so knowing how the sales manager sets a foundation for his or her team is key.

When answering this question, candidates should be specific about what they do and give examples of how their training method has worked in the past. For those candidates that haven’t yet trained new salespeople, calling upon past training experiences they will emulate would convey the information a hiring manager needs.

How do you approach setting goals?

A significant part of a sales manager’s role is to set achievable and desirable goals for their team. Any hiring manager wants to know that a candidate has a robust system for establishing goals that motivate the team members while maximizing their performance. This skill is crucial to a sales manager’s success as a leader and as a rainmaker for the organization.

The best answers to this question have a thought process outlined with a reasonable amount of detail. Some great features would be an understanding of how SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) goals work, as well as a reliable process for sales territory planning. Furthermore, the incorporation of tips and tricks from the candidate’s days in the field would be appropriate here.

How have you addressed a sales rep that is missing quota on a regular basis and what did you do to resolve the situation?

This question requires a candidate to give more information on their management style, but using a real-world example and outcome. Handshake suggests these questions are a powerful way to get insight into the candidate’s ability. Moreover, the candidate’s answer ensures how they handle failing performance is in-line with the company’s standards and philosophy.

The best answers to this question, per Handshake, are those that identify how the candidate pinpointed the problem with the rep’s process, how the candidate proposed to fix it, and whether or not it worked.

Leadership-Style Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Leadership-style questions seek to uncover the candidate’s management method. These should address particular tasks and situations a sales manager candidate would face in the position, including areas like motivation, meeting goals, recognition of performance, and conflict management.

Similar to operational interview questions, leadership-style interview questions help hiring managers to see if the candidate has the management approach that fits with the job and the organization.

Some examples of leadership-style sales manager interview questions and answers include:

What is the best motivator for a sales team?

A significant part of managing salespeople is keeping them inspired and enthusiastic about their work. A sales manager candidate should always know his or her team members well, and how to get their best work out of them. 

Hiring managers want to know that the sales manager they hire realizes the significance of this area, as well as the nuances it can have as it applies to individuals.

Salesdrive recommends skipping the standard money-motivation answer here and instead communicate the need for an individual approach to motivation. Age, sales territory type, experience-level, and personality styles can affect what motivates people in unique ways. Candidates should instill confidence in the hiring manager that they can manage all these moving parts toward a well-oiled machine of sales performance.

How would you describe your management style?

Hiring managers often want to hear candidates describe their leadership style in their own words. Word choices and the examples given reveal the tendencies of potential sales manager candidates to behave in specific ways, and not all of them are the proper fit for an organization.

Candidates should bear in mind the culture of the organization in their answer. A leader’s management style must fit within the company’s management style, especially when the sales manager position is a stepping stone to other leadership roles in the company.

Hiring managers should be as open-ended as possible with their questions and refrain from leading the candidates’ answers in any way to get the most candid and accurate responses here.

How do you set goals, track progress, and ensure performance for and from your team?

Setting goals is a significant part of a sales manager’s job, and it is vital to have a process for it. However, setting goals is not enough; a sales manager should also have a method for tracking goals, too. Measuring performance toward goals is a vital motivator for most salespeople. Hiring managers want to see how the sales manager candidate’s process translates into the team culture.

Setting and tracking goals is a process question (and could also fall under the operational category, too). Candidates should have a succinct but thorough description prepared. However, ensuring performance queries speak to leadership style. An excellent answer here would reflect the organization’s values and style, as well as the candidate’s.

How do you recognize performance?

Motivation and recognition often go hand-in-hand in a sales manager’s daily efforts. Also, it takes more than money. Few things are more encouraging for salespeople than feeling they are admired and appreciated. Hiring managers want to see the variety and creativity a candidate has for valuing his or her team members’ hard work.

Compensation is an integral part of recognizing the efforts of salespeople. However, savvy sales managers also have other ways to identify best-practice behavior. Candidates should explore their options here if they have not managed people before, and those candidates who have led people should offer creative ideas with examples from their past work history.

What is your approach to conflict management amongst members of your team?

Sales management requires a person who can bring out the best in their employees, and someone who can manage employees when they are at their worst. However, hiring managers need to know that the person they put in the sales manager role can handle conflict within company-approved methods and techniques.

An excellent response to this question would be an example of well-executed conflict management in the past. If the candidate has sales management experience, it could be a story about exactly what the hiring manager wants to know based on past events with teams.

However, the sales manager candidate who has never settled a fight between direct reports could share a story outside of work that fits the bill. The important thing about the answer is that it demonstrates a leadership-style that complements the company’s culture.

Role-Based Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Role-based questions are looking for information about how the job demands will work with the candidate’s personality, as well as the resources they need to do their jobs well.

Like the leadership-style questions, these sales manager interview questions address specific parts of the position and situations a sales manager candidate would face day-to-day. Sometimes role-based questions explore how a candidate feels about the duties of a sales manager and how he or she balances the responsibilities involved.

Some examples of role-based sales manager interview questions and answers include:

How do you prepare quarterly and annual performance reports and what data do you need for them?

Like the other questions in this category, how a candidate prepares performance reports and the data they use shows a hiring manager how the candidate intends to manage the salespeople on their team. The methods they use and the data they require also communicates a level of the candidates’ technical skill and proficiency.

The best answers here are detailed but brief and perhaps best illustrated with a real-life example. Candidates that walk the hiring manager through an analysis done in the past will demonstrate the candidate’s experience and expertise in this area. Hiring managers should look for a repeatable process and a solid understanding of data analysis from the candidate’s answer and example, if presented.

What do you know regarding sales forecasting and what tools and software do you employ when you do?

Accurate sales forecasting is crucial for any organization. The leadership team depends on these numbers for many long-term strategy and expansion plans. Interviewers need to know whether the candidate is equipped to provide this crucial information to the team.

HubSpot recognizes that sales managers make data-based decisions for their teams frequently. When sales managers don’t use data, they use emotion, which can be detrimental to the team. The ability to analyze data and make accurate predictions based on it is a crucial skill for a sales manager. Hiring managers want to hear in an interviewee’s answer a level of comfort analyzing data and applying it to management decisions.

Can you explain as you would to someone who if not familiar with us what we do?

The ability to answer this question shows an interviewer a few different things. First, it shows that the candidate understands the company’s mission (or that they researched the company before the interview). Second, it shows how they communicate ideas to others. Finally, it demonstrates their command of the company’s offer and value proposition.

HubSpot recommends that candidates work on how they convert complicated instructions into easy-to-understand messages. Sales managers often communicate complicated directives from senior management to their team. The sales manager candidates’ ability to translate this information will help hiring managers assess whether the candidate is a proper fit.

How will your strengths and weaknesses help and hurt you in the sales manager position?

The strengths and weaknesses question is another query with two levels. Interviewers want to know what the candidate thinks are areas where he or she excels and what areas need improvement. However, since this question is tricky to answer, the interviewer is likely also analyzing how a candidate reacts under pressure.

Per The Balance Careers, a website source for personal finance and career advice, the best answers to this question involve relating how your strength can have great pros but comes with a list of cons as well. When you can show how a great strength like determination can lead to both your success while causing challenges along the way, it shows the hiring manager that you have a healthy dose of self-awareness.

How do you divide your time in a week to the various responsibilities of your job?

Sales managers have multiple priorities and tasks associated with them, making time management an essential skill. Employers want to know a candidate can use his or her time wisely, prioritize appropriately, and avoid effectively the distractions that occur throughout the week.

Like all interview answers, the Balance Careers website advises, thinking this one through beforehand is a good idea. Candidates that present a detailed explanation with a logical foundation will impress a potential employer. A candidate is even stronger when they can support their explanation with specific examples. If the candidate does not have the sales manager experience, a sample from their sales job can serve instead.   

Behavioral Interview Questions for Sales Managers

Behavioral questions want to know how the potential candidate will react to situations on the job. These sales manager interview questions usually ask the interviewee to describe a situation and his or her actions within it. Per Top Echelon, a recruiting software company, there is no “right answer” and will depend on the candidates’ experiences.

Some examples of behavioral sales manager interview questions and answers include:

When your team didn’t achieve sales quota, how did you ensure they reach their next quotas?

Missing sales quota is a standard area sales managers have to address with their teams. Interviewers are looking for leadership behavior when they ask this question. They want to hear about what happened and the candidate’s reaction to it. The response is, in many ways, the critical part of the answer.

For sales manager candidates that have led teams before, sharing how they reacted to this real-world situation is critical. For those candidates without sales management experience, adapting the question to a time when they missed sales quota (assuming they have missed quota at some point) can provide the same insight. The important thing with this answer, as with all behavior questions, is to provide a real-world example.

Can you describe a time when you had to let a salesperson go?

Handshake suggests that this question wants first and foremost to know how a candidate deals with a team member who is underperforming. As with all behavioral questions, asking this question could also be working to discover whether the potential sales manager is an appropriate fit for the organization.  The interviewer is looking for concrete examples from the past to confirm the candidate’s personality will work for the company.

The best answers here are genuine with as accurate a recounting of the situation as possible. In other words, candidates should be brief, stick to the facts, avoid emotion and refrain from defending his or her decision.

What is your process for making decisions?

This question is seeking an example of the type of behavior the hiring manager wants in their new sales manager. When an organization values decision processes, they will ask about a potential new employee’s method to look for similar values. On the flip side, the organization could also use these questions to eliminate candidates as well.

Candidates should be thorough in their responses to this question. The hiring manager wants to hear a process, so a step-by-step accounting of decision-making is ideal. Like all behavioral questions, past examples are helpful because the candidate can also include the outcome of the decision made using the process as well.

How do you prepare for presentations?

Presenting is a crucial skill for any management position. The word prepare indicates that the interviewer is concerned about the development procedure before the presentation, meaning how the candidate qualifies the audience’s needs and adapts content to meet them. Also, organizations often ask potential employees to make a presentation to see the candidate’s behavior in action.

The best answers to this question would include details about their method of preparation. For example, the candidate could share the closed and open-ended probes he or she uses to uncover the expectations of the audience for their presentation. Hiring managers might also consider doing a role play here to allow the candidate to demonstrate their qualifying process.

How have you used analytical skills in the past to solve a problem?

Per Salesdrive, sales managers should be able to analyze data and make conclusions from that analysis. People who do not solve problems using data will rely on emotions, which are not as dependable. The interviewer seeks to understand if the candidate has this vital skill, and also whether they employ data analysis in his or her problem-solving process.

Behavioral questions are not hypothetical. The idea here is to share a real-world example. Therefore, the best answer will include an experience when the candidate’s data analysis skills helped solve a problem. Succinct answers are best but should include enough detail so the hiring manager can get a sense of how the data analysis applied to the solution.

Tips for Interviewing Sales Manager Candidates

Interviewing sales manager candidates is a key responsibility for senior management and other hiring managers. It requires exchanging relevant information about the organization and the candidate’s work history, ethics, and personality to find a match. However, time is limited, so staying on task is critical, too. While anything you learn about a candidate in an interview is essential, here are some sales manager interview tips that will help in the conversation.

A director should focus on five main areas when hiring a sales manager, which include:

1. Personal attributes of the candidate, from who they are to what motivates them to why they want to position in the first place
2. Skills sets of the candidate, including what they look for in new hires, how they train salespeople, his or her method for goal setting, and interpersonal communication and management skills
3. Management approach of the candidate, which covers how they motivate people, their management style, and their approach to team progress and performance
4. Work style of the candidate, encompassing how they approach reporting, forecasting, recruiting, self-awareness, and time management
5. Actions and reactions of the candidate, bringing in examples of past performance on areas like decision-making, presentation prep, and personnel management

Tips for Getting Hired as a Sales Manager

The interview is a crucial point in the hiring process. A candidate that seeks to land a new position would be wise to prepare a lot and research even more for the interview.  When preparing, however, some areas might need more attention than others.

Here are some interview tips that can help:

Preparing succinct but comprehensive answers to common open-ended questions for interviews

Gathering many real-world work experience examples to share along with explanations for the hiring manager’s consideration

Organizing any samples of work method, including step-by-step plans, spreadsheets or presentations to share with hiring managers to illustrate his or her process

Finding ways to positively spin negative past work experiences and discuss areas of work experience that create inappropriate emotional responses

Researching the company culture and mission to align answers with the organization’s philosophy

Demonstrating command of the differences between sales skills and management skills

Cultivating self-awareness for what strengths the candidate brings to the position, as well as preparing a plan to overcome weaknesses that could impede his or her success

The interview provides an opportunity for both interviewer and interviewee to learn as much as they can about each other to see if it is a fit for both.

Hiring managers want the best candidate to make their job’s easy; candidates want to get the job to make their lives easy. With so much on the line for both sides, preparation is critical.

By preparing for each sales manager interview question category and ensuring the purpose behind the answers, hiring managers and sales manager candidates will be as prepared as possible to find a match that works for both.

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Questions or comments? Contact SPOTIO at info@spotio.com or comment below.

SPOTIO is the #1 field sales enablement platform designed specifically for outside sales managers and reps to squeeze every drop out of their field sales efforts.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

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Sources:

Brudner, Emma. “15 Job Interview Questions to Ask a Sales Manager Candidate in 2018.” Blog.hubspot.com. Web. 18 April 2018. Web. 9 July 2018. <https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/interview-questions-to-ask-a-sales-manager-candidate>.

Gracey, Brandon. “5 Sales Manager Interview Questions.” Handshake.com. 2 April 2018. Web. 9 July 2018. https://www.handshake.com/blog/sales-manager-interview-questions/.

“10 Questions to Ask When Interviewing a Potential Sales Manager.” Salesdrive.info. 22 March 2016. Web. 9 July 2018. <https://salesdrive.info/interviewing-potential-sales-manager/ >.

Doyle, Alison. “Sales Interview Answers About Strengths and Weaknesses.” www.thebalancecareers.com. 16 April 2018. Web. 10 July 2018. < https://www.thebalancecareers.com/sales-interview-questions-about-strengths-and-weaknesses-2063465>

Doyle, Alison. “How to Handle Interview Questions on Time Management.” www.thebalancecareers.com. 12 May 2018. Web. 10 July 2018. < https://www.thebalancecareers.com/time-management-interview-questions-2061286>.

DeWitt, Kaylee. “100 Behavioral Interview Questions to Help You Find the Best Candidates.” www.topechelon.com. 21 June 2018. Web. 11 July 2018. < https://www.topechelon.com/blog/placement-process/top-behavioral-interview-questions-list-examples/>.

https://www.talentsorter.com/70-interview-questions-can-ask-hiring-sales-managers/

https://www.topechelon.com/blog/recruiter-training/how-to-sales-manager-interview-questions-ask/

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SPOTIO’s Founder and CEO Trey Gibson gives a unique interview with D2D expert Sam Taggart around the topic of how to handle an underperforming rep.

Interview Transcript:

[beginning of recording]

Trey:  Alright. So, hey everybody out there. This is Trey with SPOTIO, and Sam, you already know him, he’s with D-to-D Con, D-to-D experts, and all the other fantastic things he’s got going on. So, he stopped by our office in Dallas, and just wanted to talk for a few minutes about some of the issues we hear about from our customers, that they’re experiencing out there in D-to-D world, and get your advice on them, because you’re the best at this. So, we want to get your advice on what they can do to get better and to improve. So, where should we start? There’s so much to talk about. Let’s start off with…one question that I’ve thought about as well, from my sales team and meeting with others, is: how do you handle an underperforming rep? What do you do in that situation? You’ve got a team, and one, they’re underperforming. Let’s say you have a couple underperforming: one, they’re just not working, the other, they’re putting forth the effort, but they’re not getting the results. What are some insights you can drop on us for that?

Sam: Well, in the 18^th century, they’d just hang them.

Trey: Yeah, that’s illegal now, so… (light laughter)

Sam: It depends what decade we’re talking about. No, so…

Trey: Millennials.

Sam: Millennials, okay. They wouldn’t go for that, I guess. No, so, I think, honestly, the answer to that question, it’s a big answer. I’ll try to consolidate it.

Trey: It’s huge.

Sam: I was like, “Well, that’s a big question.” No, but, honestly, you’re going to have the 80/20 rule – I don’t care who you are, what company, what you’re selling, you’re going to have your top performers that are going to do 80% of your production, right? The real question is, how do we really motivate the middle of the pack to kind of become those top performers?

Trey: Okay, so you kind of divide it, you’ve got your top, middle…

Sam: Yeah, so I divide it into three. I have my top, that I’m going to spend a lot of time with, because in my opinion – let’s just take alarms. If I have a 100 account rep, it’s easier for me to turn him into a 200 account rep versus if I have a 30 account rep, it’s harder for me to turn him into a 60 account rep. Does that make sense?

Trey: Yeah.

Sam: So, I’ve found that taking the low-level guy – and, if you’re that guy, I’m sorry, but it’s taking that guy to double his numbers, my ROA, it’s a lot harder than taking the middle guy to go become a top performer. So, I kind of put them in buckets. I spend a lot of time on my top guys, because they’re the ones that I need to keep around forever, then I’ve got my middle bucket, that I’m like, they’re at least working, they’re doing their thing, and then I have my low performers, and I need to know when is it time to turn and churn and say, it’s part of the job, there’s turnover, right? But, I think there’s also the flaw of a leader, where they run into the fact that they just assume…they label everybody sucks, I’m the only one that’s good, and they put labels on everybody.

Trey: “Why can’t everybody be like me? I’m just going to do it myself.”

Sam: Yeah, and they never give anybody a chance, nor the proper tools, nor the proper training, nor the proper support, so really, it’s an inward thing. How I’d answer that question is, how do I motivate my guys, it’s like, well, look at your own leadership capacity, because I think a lot of the times, people think they’re the best – they might be the best rep, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re the best coach, leader, motivator, mentor, right, and that rep, if he feels like, “Okay, I’m going to go work for you today,” if he feels, it’s like, “I’m just making this guy, sitting on his throne back at the office, I’m going out there, doing the grunt work, I’m going to make him money?” No. So, you have to kind of say, “Look, I’m here working for you, rep. It’s my job to make you successful.”

Trey: So, that’s why I heard you say you go out with them.

Sam: I go out with them, that’s the first thing. The best way to motivate somebody is show them. Don’t be like, “Go out there and hustle guys!” It’s like, “Good luck!”

Trey: “I’ll be here in the AC!” (light laughter)

Sam: Yeah, “You’ve got this today!” It’s funny, because we were sitting in your CRM, and you see the pain points of some of the customers, and they’re like, “I have these 13 canvassers, and I don’t know if they’re working or not.” I’m like, “That’s because you’re not out there with them.” It’s plain and simple. So, my first advice would be looking inward, and lead from the front, would be the second one.

Trey: So, for that middle-of-the-road rep – because that was a lot, and I want to spend a little time on this. To get that top performing rep to go up, how do you do that? Because, they’re already self-motivated, right? There’s some level of talent there. So, how do you get them to make that next step? Is it just more support, like, “Hey, let’s take some of the admin work off your plate,” and stuff like that? Will that free them up?

Sam: Yeah, I think tools is a big one. In certain industries, I’ve watched in solar and roofing, and some of these more complex deals, I’ve watched tools slow people down. They don’t have enough time, because they’re having to manage the build and this and this and this. So, that’s one, but I would say also, there’s a mental capacity. So, think of speed of the leader, speed of the team, right? So, if you help people remove this barrier that’s like, what’s the law of the lid, right, it’s kind of like, what do people see as good, and you help remove that, through either you just go blow minds, you introduce them to networks that blow minds. Like, take door-to-door con, for example. I had reps that thought selling 100 deals in alarms was really, really good, they go there and watch a bunch of people on stage doing 400 every year, and they text me now, come August they text me like, “Dude, I did 200, I doubled the top rep ever in my company’s numbers.”

Trey: Simply because they didn’t know it was possible.

Sam: Yeah. They didn’t even understand what was possible. So, if I’m some small company, and my best guy is doing X amount, it’s kind of like, was that even that good? But, to everybody else, it’s really good, because he’s your best. So, removing the law of the lid, and whether that be you having to show your muscles and be like, “I will show you how to do ten in a day. I’ll show you how to do whatever,” just to go prove points, but that would be one. It’s more of a mental game. When I went from 300 accounts to 400 accounts in alarms, it wasn’t I changed my pitch, I got this much better at closing, it was just like, oh, I knew that that was possible.

Trey: You almost expected it, a law of attraction kind of thing?

Sam: Yeah, I wasn’t satisfied with three in a day, I was satisfied with four in a day. My levels of satisfaction changed.

Trey: Good stuff. So, expand your mind – Tony Robinson. I’ve read some of his books, he’s great.

Sam: Exactly.

Trey: So, on recruiting, would you – let’s take your solar experience, you’ve spent a lot of time with solar customers lately. Would you rather hire an experienced solar sales rep or bring someone on and train them?

Sam: Very good question. I actually ask this question a lot, because I do a lot of these podcasts, right? So, I just went to a solar company and was with them for about a day, and they were like, “We just don’t touch solar guys,” and I was like, “That’s interesting.”  You go to some companies, and they’re like, “All we do is poach everyone else’s dudes.” So, it’s funny, because I get mixed, so I have to kind of play like, “Okay, what is the industry play?” and then I’ll tell my opinion. My preference was, I liked fresh, because I can groom them exactly how I wanted them. This is Sam talking. I could tell you, there’s no right or wrong in this answer.

Trey: But, you also had a process – you had tools, training.

Sam: There was a process, exactly.

Trey: So, you knew what the heck you were doing.

Sam: I knew I could take a guy who was willing to work these hours, and he’s going to work the hours because he plugs into my system, right? So, the system forces him to work the hours. As long as he’s out there and says what I say – literally, I had a dance to my sale. I had a 16-step dance, and I’d make my guys do in my meetings, and if you’re watching this, Jenny, Nick, all of the guys, they remember the dance, I was like, “Just follow the stinking 16-steps,” and I knew guys would close. So, I liked the fresh. When I recruited experienced guys, they’d kind of be like, “No, you can’t do it that way!” I’d be like, “It’s working. I can do it this way, and we do it this way,” and then I’d have to kind of try to cater. So, I liked that, and then I found that there’s some cool hacks on how to recruit from outside, the experienced guys, because I also – my second, third, fourth year managing and stuff, I was like, “I need to go find the experienced guys, too.”

Trey: Do a little bit of both, yeah.

Sam: So, a lot of that, it’s just like, understanding and seeing them where they are, and then helping them see if they follow you, you’re the one that can take them to a new level.

Trey: Got it, you’ve got to get buy-in.

Sam: Yeah, you’ve got to get them to buy-in, to if they follow you as their leader, think that you’re the William Wallace, you can get them to buy-into say, “Look, I see where you are, and you’ve gotten to somewhere where that’s phenomenal. Congratulations. But, by following me, I can take you to here,” and they have to be able to trust that.

Trey: So, have a combination of both. You’ve got the new ones, they’re going to take longer to ramp, right? So, the experienced ones, if they’re going to follow you, they’re ramped up quicker, so you’re going to start seeing results a little faster, so you’ve got a good mix of both.

Sam: Yes, because then I can leverage the experienced guys, and that’s another powerful way to recruit experienced guys, is say, “Look, I’m good at recruiting the new guys. I need support leading these guys,” and now, they want to be a leader, they want to feel like they’re making a difference and impacting, so that’s another powerful way to recruit those guys.

Trey: Absolutely. You mentioned hours – I’m curious, did you have a schedule that your team would work, or that you expected?

Sam: Yeah, usually we’d go out around like 8pm, and then come home at like, 8:30.

Trey: Yeah, 30 hard minutes, that’s intense.

Sam: (light laughter) I know. No, I consulted this roofing company, and I trained them on the power hour. Well, the power hour to me is in the morning, you read, you pray, you work out, this hour, right? They called me a couple weeks later, like, “We’ve tripled in sales, man! We’ve implemented your power hour!” I was like, “Tripled because of the power hour…what do you mean?” “Well, we spent one hour – one full hour – knocking!” (light laughter) And I’m like, “You’ve tripled in sales…” (laughter)

Trey: What were you doing before?

Sam: Yeah! I was like, “It’s more the power eight hours…”

Trey: That’s great.

Sam: So, my schedule was simple. I went from 2pm until 9:30pm, and if I wasn’t on the doors at 2:15, I was feeling really jittery.

Trey: Yeah.

Sam: I did a podcast with a guy, Mitch Matthews, out in Georgia, a couple of weeks ago, and this was the first hour he took off from his schedule, and you could tell in the interview, he was like, “I should be out knocking. I should be out knocking,” and it’s like 11 o’clock in the morning. He knocked from 10am until 9pm every single day for eight months straight.

Trey: I’m guessing he was successful.

Sam: Well, he’s a Golden Door award winner, he’s doing the workshop at door-to-door, he has a thousand pest control accounts. So, you know what I mean, but it’s the guys that can say…the interview I did with Ty Williams, he’s the VP at Vivid Solar, he’s like, “Your schedule makes you violent,” and I like that.

Trey: That’s good.

Sam: Yeah, he’s like, “Your schedule makes you violent.” If you can have your schedule be your boss, you literally can do things that no one else can do, because you’re literally so dialed in and disciplined to that regimen.

Trey: So, when you would go out – let’s say for you, it’s two o’clock. Are you driven off of results or time? For instance, “I’m going to knock for five hours,” or is it, “I’m going to go until I get five deals,” or is it both, “I’m just going to keep going”?

Sam: I’ve found, so there would be like once a month, I called it, “You get your go and you’re done,” so, we called it “two and done,” “one and done,” “four and done,” whatever that number was, right? And, I would change it for different guys, I’m like, “You can’t do one and done! You normally do three.”

Trey: “You’re a five and done.”

Sam: Right, “You’re a five and done, and then you can go home.” The fourth of July is a day that I would do this. I’d be like, “What’s everyone’s goals?” and I’m like, “Surprise! We’re not going to make you knock until nine tonight on the fourth of July, which I normally would do,” and I would say, “Look, if you get three before three, then go home at three. If it takes you all day, it takes you all day.” But, I would do that as a treat, not as an everyday thing, because then what people do, is they lower, lower, lower that standard, like, “Well, I’ll just knock like 30 doors and I’m done,” and then they don’t care about the result. So, I’ve found that I was driven off of, I’m going to stick to my schedule no matter what, and if I’m at four by four o’clock, and it’s like, dude, I’m crushing today! This is going to be a big day!”

Trey: Yeah, keep rolling.

Sam: You know what I mean? Because I think what happens a lot of the time is people are like, “Man, I made three grand already today!” instead of, “Oh, dude, I have an opportunity to just finish out this day strong and go make nine grand,” or whatever that number is, right? So, I think letting your schedule still be your master, but leveraging the fact that you should never be complacent.

Trey: That’s good. What about…we talked earlier a little bit about the best technique, or kind of the “hack” is the fancy word for winning the first 30 seconds at the door. So, you knock on the door, they answer, and you’ve got to kind of…that’s your time to shine. I’ve seen videos of you doing it, so I kind of know what you do, but what do you think? What’s a good technique for that first kind of interaction to get it, because that sets the tone for everything else after?

Sam: I’ve watched terrible and I’ve watched phenomenal. I think that’s probably one of my biggest strong suits, but everybody that watches me, they’re like, “Well, I’m not like you Sam. That’s not my personality,” and so, after studying this a long time, I’ve found – because I try to impose my personality on everyone, and what I’ve found is that actually, it did the opposite effect. When a guy tried to be Sam and not him, he then came off really inauthentic, faking it, and then the customers could see right through that. So, my step one would be be you, but not the robotic version of you. Most people are, “I have my script, and I do this,” it’s like…if you were to go talk to a friend, how would you initiate this conversation? So, it’s like, be very…almost too comfortable with that person, where they’re like, “Wow, this guy is just like really chill.” A lot of my approach is never like, “Hi! I’m Sam!” I’m not like that when I talk, I’m like, “Hey, what’s up? I’ll be super quick. Let me tell you kind of what’s going on.” I know what I’m doing, I gain authority by my tone and confident as heck, and they’re like, “Wow, this guy is actually pretty chill,” and they let their guard down. So, I think some simple hacks would be, be chill, be you, don’t try to be somebody else, and then kind of pay attention to what they’re interested in. So, I call that kind of building a bridge. It’s kind of like if you notice they have little kids, don’t be like, “Oh, I have kids too,” if you don’t have kids, but just be like, “Hey, I’m guessing you have around a two or three-year-old,” and they’re like, “How’d you know?” “Because I have a two or three-year-old. I’m at the same stage, dude.”

Trey: A SpongeBob toy or whatever.

Sam: Exactly, “I have that same SpongeBob thing,” and then you start laughing about the SpongeBob toy. So, it’s creating that bridge in any way that you can, whether that’s sports, family, occupation, their yard, surroundings, things like that, I think that’s another powerful tactic to use, but don’t make it fake, make it like, “I really do have a two and a three-year-old,” you know what I mean?

Trey: Absolutely. Okay, let’s see, what else do I want to go over? A couple of other things. So, you’ve done podcasts, you’ve interviewed the top people in every industry – there’s nobody else in the world that knows more top performers than you have talked to. What’s a commonality? No matter pest control, alarms, whatever, but what do the top one percent do that the rest of them don’t?

Sam: That’s a really good question. My goal is actually…have you ever read the book “Tools of Titans”?

Trey: Tim Ferriss? Yeah.

Sam: Yeah, so my goal is to take the podcast, kind of like he did, and then find those commonalities, and make my own “Tools of Titans” book with the podcast.

Trey: Coming out December 2019!

Sam: Yeah, “Launching D-to-D con, 2020!”

Trey: “Buy your ticket now!”

Sam: “Sign up, free registry!” No, but, the goal is to find those, and I’ve started to categorize them in the university. So, I cut up the podcasts into these two-to-three minute clips, and I put them in the university, but I found…and it sounds so dumb, but it’s like, these top performers, their work ethic – your hard work is their lazy, would be the easy way to put it.

Trey: Wow.

Sam: So, it’s like, when people think, “Oh, I’m grinding, I’m working hard!” it’s like, I go shadow this guy and I shadow you, and it would almost be embarrassing – and, it doesn’t necessarily mean hours.

Trey: Yeah, that was going to be my next question.

Sam: This is where I think a lot of people get confused. It’s like, “Well, I work the same hours that you do, Sam.” Like, you do, you are on the job from this time to this time, but you on the job versus me on the job, in that same exact time, the productivity of what I’m doing versus what you’re doing. So, my hard work with every customer is I am persistent, I’m grinding, I’m focused, I’m not just like, “Oh, this is not my deal.” People are like, “Oh, I would have given up like three no’s ago,” but I’m grinding with that person, then he says, “No,” and I’m like, “Okay,” and then I move on.

Trey: So, it’s like the focus, yeah.

Sam: It’s the mental…it’s the focus and the mindset, you’re so dialed in when you’re working, it’s crazy to watch. I mean, they get phone calls and Facebook…you just look at some of these guys, and it’s like, that’s all so irrelevant to them when they’re on that door, when a lot of people are like, “I’m dealing with this, and I’m dealing with this, and I’m fumbling this, I’m going to take my 15 minute break.” It’s like, these guys pee in a freaking cup, they freaking run door-to-door, I ride a scooter door-to-door.” When I’m talking to somebody, it’s like, “You’re my sale. 100%, you’re my sale.”

Trey: Focused.

Sam: It’s so focused.

Trey: Did you personally learn to do that, or is it just how you are?

Sam: No, I had to learn it. I wasn’t naturally just like, “Boom! I’m amazing.” Every year, I had to get better and better and better, and what I found when I dialed in, is I had the same amount of hours in a day as everyone else did, but it was like, how do I maximize those hours? So, the scooter is the easiest example to use. It’s like, I was in a neighborhood in Texas, and some of these neighborhoods, they’re super spread out, right? You’ve got land here. So, I’m like, “Dang, early on, from two to six, no one’s home, and I’m walking…” I felt like just a weird dude, walking around the neighborhood.

Trey: Walked a marathon! (light laughter)

Sam: Yeah, walked a marathon before I talked to anybody, like, this isn’t effective, right? So, I find effective ways to work. So, I got a scooter, and was like, “What if I flew around to everyone’s home and found out no one’s home?” and I worked my neighborhood more effectively, and I was able to talk to more people in that time. Then I was like, “What if I went to businesses from two to five?” So, I said, “I’ll take small businesses where I’ll catch them at work,” and I’d go to small businesses. I just found different ways – I only have this many hours in a day, how do I make those the most productive?

Trey: That’s awesome. Final question, and I’m just curious, because I’m in Dallas, I don’t come from the summer sales world, and I had lunch with someone when I first launched SPOTIO, and they did pest control. I was like, “Okay, I’m curious. What is the most someone has made in a summer?” I was having lunch, this was probably two years ago, and he’s like, “Guess.” I was like, “I’m going to say $60,000,” for three months of work. I’m thinking, if I was in college and I made that, number one, I’d have a land boat, I would probably not be alive today, and he goes, “No. Someone made…” it was in Dallas, actually, a dude made like $340,000 in one summer. I’m curious – I don’t even know if that’s real or not, but what’s the craziest number roaming out there?

Sam: Summer sales?

Trey: Yeah, summer sales.

Sam: Well, that’s super hard, because you’ve got categories. You have a rep – like, just on sales commission, you have a team leader, to manage the team…

Trey: Let’s go rep. Not the overrides and all of that, but just a rep.

Sam: But then, I mean, you’ve also got alarms…

Trey: Okay, so it’s all over the place.

Sam: Yeah, I was like, “That’s a hard question to do on camera.” But, I will give you…there’s, like, for example, I know solar guys that have made over a million, I know pest guys…I had a guy, literally yesterday, “Hey dude? You know what the best feeling in the world is?” pest control guy. “I had one of my reps make a million bucks this year.”

Trey: A sales rep?

Sam: Well, he was a manager, he has teams, but still, he’s over this guy, that he brought…made him drop out of college to go knock doors, his dad is like, “You’re crazy,” and now he goes and makes a million dollars as a 25-year-old kid.

Trey: I was landscaping in college. I landscaped for $7.50 an hour, and then I waited tables. If I knew this world was out there – no one’s recruiting in Lubbock, Texas.

Sam: That’s where I was! (laughter) I was out there, I was like, “What’s up?” They were like, “Knock doors? No.”

Trey: All they want are t-shirts and beer.

Sam: I took this kid out of Wellington, like this southern cowboy kid, he was like, “This isn’t for me.” He wore his cowboy boots every day, “You’re not going to walk all day in those, are you?” he was like, “Yep.”

Trey: That’s awesome.

Sam: I mean, that’s what’s crazy, the income potential – and, that’s with teams. I’d say sales just commissions, I mean, half a million.

Trey: That’s awesome. I was just curious. That story reminded me, you being here, I talked to him a few years ago. Anyway, that’s all I got. Anything else we need to talk about?

Sam: No, I mean, this was fun. I’m usually not the one getting interviewed, so this is cool.

Trey: Yeah. I hope you all found some value in this, had a good time. I always love it when Sam stops by, and I hope to see you all at D-to-D con this year. SPOTIO will be there.

Sam: Yeah, big sponsor! One of our main gold sponsors, so we’re super stoked, so come check them out, and go check out their link. You just launched your new app, which is dope.

Trey: Yeah, we have new version of SPOTIO, so check it out at www.spotio.com and in the app store – you’re going to love it! Alright, thank y’all.

[END OF RECORDED AUDIO]

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As somebody who has personally recruited and hired several hundred door to door sales reps, I have a matter of fact opinion on the subject.

Does this job ad look familiar?

Chances are you have seen or placed a job ad similar to that one at some point in your sales career.

What kind of response did you get?

Did you attract the type of candidate that you were hoping you would get?

During my time recruiting for these positions I tried everything under the sun to find the right candidate.

You know, the one who is going to show up on time, have a good work ethic, willing to learn, has a positive attitude and outgoing personality.

Not so easy to find much less hire because as it turns out everybody else in the hiring world is LOOKING FOR THE EXACT SAME PERSON.

From job ads on Craigslist, CareerBuilder, Monster, Newspaper to $10,000 CareerBuilder ran job fares where we interviewed up to 75 people a day to cold calling resumes, LinkedIn, referrals you name it and I have tried it.

Some with more success than others and all can be a good way to recruit talent but you have to have the right combination of opportunity and offer.

All of my experience boils down to this…

If the job you are offering is a commission only job with no base, advancement or draw and don’t have a locked in place training program or sales process to help make new reps earn money quick then you are going to be very hard-pressed to scale your team to any level over what you can personally hire, train and oversee.

Most business owners that I have met are pretty charismatic people and have a knack for selling their vision and where they are going to take their business.

This is enough to get some people in the door and start working but after that, you need to step your game up in order to continue to find, attract and hire top talent.  More on that below.

Why is it that outside sales companies do not want to give any other compensation than commission when a job is sold?  Many times the commission is earned weeks or months after the sale has happened.

Is it because they feel that a commission only sales rep will be the one type of candidate hungry enough to go out and pound the pavement hard enough to make enough sales?  Maybe.

Why Your Door to Door Sales Recruiting Isn’t Working

But I would argue that the #1 reason door to door, field, outside whatever you want to call it sales companies want to pay only 100% commission is because they simply don’t have the systems in place to hire, train and make a new rep successful.

They can’t guarantee that if a sales rep does x, y and z they will be successful therefore they can’t afford to invest any upfront capital into that rep because they don’t know how long the rep is going to stick around.

The company is thinking that the rep will either sink or swim and if they swim then GREAT we all win!!! if they sink then who cares because I have spent as little time and money as possible  thus creating a turnover machine that rolls downhill gathering up speed until it crashes and dissipates.

It is much easier for a call center, let’s say, or inside sales team to create these processes and replicate them because everybody is in one room, calls can be recorded and listened to, scripts can be displayed on computer monitors, etc.

The activities that lead up to the sale are transparent and readily available therefore providing an opportunity for immediate coaching.

Whereas an outside sales force has to have somebody follow along with the rep in the field  or do roll playing before they hit the field and getting accurate, actual results are hard because everybody is typically out doing their own thing.

Turnover is the Enemy

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how bad turnover hurts you right?  Just because it didn’t “cost” you dollars in terms of payroll doesn’t mean it didn’t cost you in many other ways.

According to this article by SalesManage.com there are both direct and indirect costs associated with sales turnover not limited to the time wasted recruiting and training to the burned leads and territories.  It adds up quick

How the Big Boys Recruit for Door to Door Sales

Go look at any of the larger door to door or outside sales companies and I would be willing to bet they offer more incentives than just a commission check if something is sold.

While writing this post I looked at some Craigslist job ads and came across a large window company that was hiring canvassers at $11 to $15 an hour plus commission.

Now how can they afford to pay canvassers that much money but you can only offer commission?  It must be because they have deep pockets and can throw money around.  Hardly.

I guarantee you they know their cost per lead and per acquisition and it is low enough to provide them a great return on investment (ROI) even though they invest a substantial amount of money up front to hiring quality people.

They can do it because they know for a fact how much it is going to cost them to get that rep trained up and generating leads and from there they know how many of those leads are going to turn into $$$.  They know this because they track the important data and have historical facts on what their KPI’s are in relation to their costs.

You don’t have to be a Fortune 1000 company to be able to attract the top quality talent you just have to stand out from the 1 million other commission sales job posts out there.

Other companies offer advances on future commissions when a contract is signed.  The rep will get $X at that time and the rest is paid when the product or service is delivered.

This puts money in the reps pockets fast and keeps them fed #1 and motivated #2.

In future posts, I will dive into greater detail on how to create a sales process as an outside sales organization and get into the nuts and bolts of it.

How you can start hiring door to door sales reps more effectively:

1) Be able to offer something more than just commission.

If you are hiring appointment setters or canvassers then this is a must. A small hourly pay can go a long way because in their mind they know that at least they are going to earn that and everything else is sugar on top.  If it is not the entire time they are working for you then at least while they are in training and getting ramped up.

For sales reps a draw against their commission in the very least and if you want to get real crazy then a salary or base pay.  Fuel reimbursements, company truck or an expense account can go a long way as well.

Set it for the first week, month or until the first commission check over $X is earned but whatever you do make it something.

A few quick ideas on incentivizing other than 100% commission:

• Hourly pay tied to activity metrics
• Advance on a sale
• Pay per lead
• Pay per door knock – one of our customers paid something like $1 for every door knocked because they knew that for every 65 door knocks or so they would get a sale.

By offering something other than commission you are showing the candidate that you are willing to invest in their success.  If you are willing to invest, even just a little, then it can do a lot for job interest in the beginning and loyalty and attitude in the long run.

2) Show the Candidate What Success Looks Like

There is no better-recruiting tool than a potential new hire talking to other sales reps.

They will enforce that your company is a good place to work where they feel appreciated, receive support and have the opportunity to make good money.

If you are the business owner doing the recruiting then at a certain point in the recruitment process the candidate may become suspicious thinking you tell everybody the same thing and make all the same  promises.

So put them in touch with three of your current team members that are killing it and your candidate close rate will immediately go up.

3) Have a Good Training Program

Some of the best potential doo to door sales reps you will hire will have zero experience in your industry.  If you have a training program or structured system where a person new to your industry can get up and running and earning money quick then you will be in a much better place than if you don’t.

4) Be Able to “Prove it”

By this point, you understand the importance of sales activity tracking.  Do you have your companies DPD (dollars per door) ratio?  Do you know on average how many doors have to knock in order to get one sale?

Use this information in your recruiting efforts.  This is proof that you have a replicable system where you can plug in a new rep and have them making money quickly.  It’s almost guaranteed.  See the sample job ad below.

5) Ask for Referrals

You already ask for referrals from your customers, but also do so from your current sales team.

Some of the best door to door sales reps I ever hired were referrals from other successful sales reps.  Like minded people typically hang out together.  Success begets success.  Losers hang out with other losers and winners hang out with other winners.

Competing against friends in a sales environment is fun and creates a more enjoyable experience while working.

So your #1 goal is to hire new sales reps and make them very successful at their job by focused attention on training and watching their KPI’s and training up to them and then ask them who else they know may like to work at this job.

Heck, you may even want to offer them an assistant manager position where they can hire and train their own team and get a small override.

Combine these steps to post a much more attractive job ad that will grab the attention of your ideal candidate.

Imagine if you could post something like this:

Don’t just be another pie in the sky job ad amongst a sea of hardly believable rubble.  Have proof that your sales system works then know how much you can invest in a new rep to get them started.

Incorporate all of this into your recruiting efforts to build immediate credibility and become that company where high-quality candidates come because they know the potential.

______

SPOTIO is the #1 field sales engagement and performance management software that will increase revenue, maximize profitability, and boost sales productivity.

Want to see a product demonstration? Click here to see how SPOTIO can take your sales game to the next level.

What You’ll Hear About on This Interview:

• Getting the highest converting leads from existing customers
• The importance of open ended questions and how to use them in your pitch
• How to craft your script using open ended questions to build better rapport with your prospect
• How to properly set a follow up appointment and what to say
• Plus more great takeaways

Although Adam has most of his experience in the home improvement and restoration industry if you do door to door, field or face to face sales and marketing there’s something for you.

Transcription from my talk with Adam from Referral Storm:

Trey: Hi everybody, it’s Trey Gibson with SPOTIO. And today we’re talking with Adam Bensman from Referral Storm.

Hi Adam. How’s it going?

Adam: Doing well, Trey. How are you doing?

Trey: Can’t complain at all. Appreciate it. So real quick, let’s get in. Why don’t you tell the audience a little bit about yourself, your background and your experience?

Adam: Sure, absolutely. So I cut my teeth in sales in the storm restoration industry with zero experience whatsoever, knocking doors, doing sales. And worked my way up to be the chief operating officer of a company, running the sales team of about 17, operating in multiple states.

And after that, I went into the consulting and coaching. And I’ve worked with companies ranging from around 3 million to 11 million, helped multiple companies double in revenue, and have developed a lot of unique marketing strategies that we’ve done in house. Because I’m all about bringing companies more control over the sales process and the sales cycle. And in doing so, was producing 75 leads a day for four bucks a lead in house. As well as, developing a referral strategy that’s helping multiple companies go pretty viral pretty quick. So that’s a quick snapshot of my background and how I’ve gotten to the place I am now.

Trey: That’s exciting and I’m looking forward to swinging back around and talking about those revenue numbers, doubling the revenue, and maybe some more specifics on what you did with those companies. But first, I wanted to make sure our audience knows that I invited Adam to come speak with us because I knew our storm restoration customers would get benefit out of what he’s going to say. But I think all of our customers need to hear what you’re going to talk about in terms of what you’re doing now because I think it can help any business. So, get into a little bit what you’re doing now and Referral Storm in general.

Adam: Super. And just to touch on what you were saying Trey, the beauty of this entire concept and the blog article that I wrote, and it’s going to be up there as well, is anybody across any platform can find value and benefit in applying these concepts and tools. So, I just wanted to add that in quick.

My company Referral Storm, what we’ve done is automated referral revenue for roofing companies. And we found that through running…when I was running a sales team of, no matter who you are, how good you are life gets busy and it gets chaotic. Sales guys forget to do things like ask for referrals. And what I want to do is provide a tool that both harnesses control for owners while also freeing up salespeople’s time and helping them generate more revenue. So we’ve automated everything a salesperson should be doing. But sometimes they get busy enough where they’re not.

And they’re these four things; referral generation, collecting online reviews, handling all key customer communications, and lead management follow-up in order to capture missed sales. And we just created a simple way, with four clicks of a button to automate that whole process for companies.

Trey: Nice, that’s exciting. And so, when you were talking about some of the customers you worked with in the past, doubling their revenue, was it based on those four key principles or was it a combination of this and some more? Would you mind shedding some light on that?

Adam: Absolutely. And I think Trey, you and I both see things very similarly in our psychological approach to driving sales. And my goal of this, I manage big teams. And managing people is hard, it’s exhausting. It’s also really rewarding. But most people make the mistake that they say, “Hey, I want to grow. I want to grow my sales.” And what’s the first thing people think to do? Hire new people. I need to hire more people to make more sales. And unfortunately, hiring more people means usually an increase in overhead, increase in time in terms of management, and an increase in headaches, right. Because we got to train these guys, and get them up, and there might be some turnover.

So my objective in the companies that I’ve helped double, we focus on one thing first. How do we improve our operations and increase profitability per rep? So I always look at everything in terms of profitability per individual. And calculating that number down, and if you can get, let’s say, a 10% increase. And you’re a $3 million company. That’s 300,000 in sales. That’s almost equal to what a rep should produce annually. And again, that number in storm restoration on average is about a half million. I know there’s plenty of guys that do more. But that’s an industry average.

So, what I’ve done is help companies create unique sales and marketing strategies to drive revenue using their current assets and current personnel. Largely, using this viral marketing referral strategy that I’ve developed, it’s kind of the backbone of Referral Storms’ success.

Trey: I love it. And heard a stat, I think it was last week, I actually at a conference with one of our large customers and they were preaching about referrals. And their stat was something like 80% of referrals from existing customers closed. It was like alarming compared to if you go out and I’m kind of stepping on my own feet here, but compared to knocking on a door and getting a lead. It’s going to be a lower close rate. So, I’m all for referrals. It’s easy business, you might as well.

Adam: Absolutely. And here’s the thing. I’m actually in the middle of onboarding a company as we speak with Referral Storm. And they said, “Do we still need our canvassers?” And I said, “Of course you do. It’s the bread and butter of what we do.” But the point is this, knocking doors is hard work. Anyone that tells you otherwise is full of it. And if we can extract the most value out of every person we get in front of, the better off we are. And again, having the right incentive structure allows you to drive those referrals right to you.

Trey: Yeah, you mentioned calculating the profitability per rep and that’s kind of why I made SPOTIO, was really to get down to the nitty-gritty. If it takes me 50 door-knocks to get a lead and it takes you 15, you’re going to be more profitable that I am. But why is that? What are you saying at the door? Are you going at a different time of the day, different territory?

That’s kind of what the whole basis of SPOTIO was built around and I love the fact that you look at it on your side as that way too. Because if you can do more with less, I think that everybody is happy. The reps are happier because they’re making more money, the company has less overhead, and less people to juggle. It’s just an all-around good thing.

Adam: It is. And we both approach it very similarly. Know you’re numbers. Know your KPI’s, as you put it, right key performance indicators. And it’s huge. My raving testimonial right now I just got from a company in Illinois, they’re on their way to quadrupling their company size. I’m not exaggerating, in 12 months. And they are on SPOTIO. They’re a company you know. Steve is one of the gentlemen and David is the rep. I’ll leave their company name for them to disclose at their own excitement.

And I got an email from Dave that was about three pages long. It’s January in Illinois and he’s on track to do 50 inspections on homes. By the way, he started a month ago. He’s done 36 to date and they’re all verified using SPOTIO. So you can pull those stats. And I don’t know, maybe they’re interested in letting you post them.That’s what viral marketing does; January brand new reps, 50 inspections. So, pretty impressive. Again, maximizing that revenue per rep.

Trey: That is fantastic. But they’re out there and I don’t know if it’s snowing there yet, but I’m sure it’s hard to knock doors with mittens on. But I’m sure they’re figuring it out.

Adam: Yep. Well that’s the joys of the referral program. You had to knock so many doors. He said he knocked about 60 to make this happen. And he got a lot of rejection. And once he built that credibility in the neighborhood, and he used the right script, like the one we set out in the article I wrote to peak the interest and leave that open-ended question. He was able to get in the door, built some credibility, and stake a yard sign.

And once people saw that, now he’s got an easier time to canvas the next to it. Because he’s got a warm experience, to reference Sally the neighbor who they’re doing, and how they struggled getting the claim approved. And they didn’t know they had damage. And now they’re getting a new roof and new siding. And they didn’t even know it. And now she’s a brand ambassador. And it goes from there with the right incentive structure, the right body language techniques, the right strategy in terms of referral rewards system, and the right daily plan.

Trey: Perfect. So, you had mentioned the blog post, let’s jump into that. When we talked last year, I had asked if you’d be interested in doing a guest blog post for the SPOTIO blog and you said for sure. And I thought what you came back with was awesome. And the title of it was Set The Hook with Your Pitch at The Door. So I don’t want to steal all of your thunder. Would you mind going into what that is and why you feel it’s important?

Adam: Absolutely, absolutely. Here’s what I found, is there’s a resistance in our industry. And this actually goes across industries. The guys don’t want to follow, or gals, don’t want to follow a script. Because they’re afraid…and Jim Johnson put it well in a recent article I read of his, that people are afraid of being robots. And no one wants to be a robot. And then the idea of throwing scripts is out the door.

There’s a right way to do a script. And it’s having a template or a format to follow. And the way that you have to format this, I’ve called it “The Who and Do What Statement.” The target market, so who you serve, the problem you solve, what is it that you do, and then, your desires that you fulfill. When you get that right format down, who and do what, so who do you serve, what do you do, how do you fill those desires, you can set the hook very well and have a dynamic backbone per script.

So if you look at that script, that example there, the idea at the door is you got to end with two things. One, intrigue them, intrigue them to want to learn more. Two, end with an open-ended question.

Too many people when I’ve been out training canvassers or salespeople at the door, in neighborhoods, in real time, they set themselves up for failure by ending with a close-ended question. And for those of you that may not know, close-ended means theirs one of two answers, yes or no. “So, Hey Trey it looks like you have some sun damage. We’re working with Sally’s neighborhood. Can I offer you a free inspection?”

Trey: Nope.

Adam: Boom, rejection. I cannot stay back in front of the door, right? So I approach that by saying, “Hey Trey, I help homeowners who have insufficiently made claims, get there roof approved. Now, I might ask you, how did the process go when your insurance adjuster was out?”

Trey: Yeah, well great, I have to answer that. Well, we either haven’t had him out yet, or I have. And here’s what happened. It’s great. It leads to the next question.

Adam: Exactly and I like how you put that first. We want to intrigue. So, people say, “Hey, I can’t use that script because what if their adjuster hasn’t been out?” “I love it. That’s perfect. Well, your adjuster hasn’t been out. It’s a good thing that I’m here because I actually specialize in working directly with homeowners on their behalf with the adjuster. Now my objective here today is to hop up on your roof and do a quick inspection, see if I find any damage. It will take about 10 minutes. And I’m going to take some photos for you when I get down. We’ll walk through everything together, whatever’s most comfortable for you. So, is it better that I do my inspection now, or would you prefer me to set a time to come back tomorrow?

Trey: Nice. Yeah. Good.

Adam: So again, even if they don’t have, that’s why the beauty of open ended questions. It really doesn’t matter what it is, because if you ask something they don’t know the answer to, you’re starting a dialogue. So you can stay in front of them longer than a close-ended question.

Trey: Yeah. I think it makes sense, that’s what you need to go in scripted with is that open-ended question. Otherwise, I think if I just started popping off questions here, 8 out of 10 would probably be yes or no answers. So I think naturally you got to have that, whatever that’s going to be. I guess my theory on script is people are just freaking lazy and don’t want to memorize a script so they use the robot as an excuse. But that’s just my theory.

Adam: Yeah. I’d agree with that. I’d agree with that. I know in our emails…and I apologize if I’m jumping ahead here, but when you and I were talking you said, “Maybe some dialogue about what open-ended question are and how to facilitate them.” And I started thinking, what is the easiest way to explain this? And the easiest way that I can explain this is open-ended questions…you can read online, Google open-ended versus close-ended. I’ve done it before and there’s some good information. But the biggest thing is that an open-ended question should keep someone on their heels and force them to think. How are you doing today, is not an open-ended question. Some might argue it is because it’s not yes or no. But what’s the answer everyone gives you. “Hey, Trey how you doing today?”

Trey: It’s either, “I’m busy,” or “good.”

Adam: I’m busy or I’m good. Exactly. Right. So, we want them to think. Two, if you can start questions with one of three words…or three phrases, when something, something, something. “When the insurance adjuster came out, what happened?” So we start out with “when.” The other idea is to start with “what” or “what was.” “What was the outcome of your experience working with the last contractor that worked on your home?” So, “when” or “what.” The other one is “Can you show me.” This is my favorite one. You can’t bring this one out too early in the game.

But I love, I love to get customers engaged because it makes it more fun for them. And everyone like to have fun. People buy from people that they like. And I want to get them to like me. So, when I’m at the door, and let’s say I have that script, “So, how was the process for you with your insurance company?” And then they give me something. And they either have or got approved or not. And all be like, “I’ll tell you what, can I take steps back. I’ll walk five steps. If there’s a big overhang, I’ll walk off the porch, and look up,” and engage with their house. And now they’re curious, “What’s this guy looking at?” “So do you mind showing me what you found or anything you think might be storm damage?”

And now, we’ve drawn them out of the house with the open-ended question. And there’s a lot that happens with [inaudible 00:15:07] in psychology, is we start to walk around the house together. It’s like walking down the street with a friend. You’re shoulder to shoulder. And all of a sudden the tone of the conversation turns casual, casual and friendly. So, again to recap, when dot, dot, dot, what was, or can you show me are three really great tools to use to get people engaged at the door by saying that hook effectively.

Trey: Greatness. Man, that’s awesome. So, all the listeners out there, go and write down three open-ended questions for each of those. That’s your homework. And then put them into play in you next pitch.

I think it’s great because it just opens that dialogue, and at least when I do the sales I think that’s what I like to do. You just make friends with somebody. And you have to talk to do that. If I’m talking the whole time and there’s no dialogue back and forth, then it’s boring. It’s not going to work. We’ve got to get that dialogue and feel comfortable with each other. Like you said, they’re buying from you. They could care less what product you have. If they like you, then they’re probably going to buy.

Adam: Exactly, exactly. Because people buy from people. They don’t buy from companies. And that’s something people overlook. And by people I mean salespeople, not homeowners. Homeowner’s never overlook that.

Trey: Yeah, right. Yeah, so I think what you wrote for SPOTIO is awesome. I’m looking forward to publishing it, along with our talk here. And I think everybody’s going to get something from it.

I want to swing back to, you mentioned lead follow-up. This is one of my pet peeves. And really when I was doing outside sales, I made my money on follow-up. It’s in all my blog posts. I’m not a hardcore closer. I’ll ask for the business. But I’m not going to be like overcome objections and stare you down for 35 minutes until I just beat, dominate the deal, you just have to buy. That’s not my style. I’m more of a mutually beneficial, let’s build a relationship. And if you like, we’re solving you’re problems then you’ll buy from me. That often requires a lot of follow-up. But I’ve noticed in my personal career of hiring and training a ton of salespeople, was that follow up just doesn’t happen. It’s like salespeople get that hunter mentality. I don’t want to move onto the next one. I want to get next one, next one, next one. And I love that you’re working on solving this problem. So is that kind of the same experience that you had is just salespeople just aren’t following up and we need to take it in-house?

Adam: Yeah, absolutely. And theirs two reasons. One, and I’m sure one of my salesman will probably listen to this that I’ve worked with over the time, they get spoiled. They get spoiled with leads. And whether it’s inbound leads, whether it’s canvassers they’re setting lead, there’s complacency. Jeb Blount wrote a book called Fanatical Prospecting, which I think everyone who’s listening to this call, if you do door-to-door sales listen to that book or read that book. It’s a great read.

So, one, people get lazy. And two, they get busy. And three, most people aren’t organized enough to do it. And that’s where SPOTIO really comes in with the ability to take notes and document what is going on so you can stay organized and on top of your follow-ups. Can I share? This strategy is how I sold 40% of my business when I got into sales.

Trey: Let’s hear it.

Adam: And what’s funny is my background was in psychology and natural medicine. I knew nothing about roofs. I knew nothing about sales. I had zero training. And I’m guessing every listener on this call heard this. Trey, have you ever heard this one? “Why don’t you leave your information with me, I’ll review it with my husband? And if I’m interested we’ll call you.”

Trey: Absolutely, heard it a thousand times, I’m sure.

Adam: How did you handle that?

Trey: Back in the day I probably said, “Okay. Cool, when should I follow back up with you?” Then they would probably say, “Oh, no, no, we’ll follow back up with you.”

Adam: Exactly, right. And I just got off the phone with another company this morning teaching this exact technique.

Now what most guys do is they hand their card and say great. And they go back to the office and they’re like, “Man, I got one almost. They’re going to call me.” Sorry fellas, they’re not going to call you. There’s two reasons, one they rejected you the kindest way possible. And two, you didn’t build credibility.

So, without sales experience and no idea of a pitch, I didn’t know how to set the hook. I heard this a lot. And then I started to use this script. And actually I can email it to you after we’re done with our call if you’d like. And it goes like this, “Sure Mr. Homeowner, here’s my card. Do you have any objection if I give you a friendly follow-up call in a few days?” Boom, okay. So, and I’m even going to break this down. “Here’s my card, do you have any objection if I take your name and number for a friendly follow-up call in a few days?” You have to use it verbatim.

The guys that I’ve been out in the field with, they get rejected. And they say, “Adam, it didn’t work.” And we break it down and it’s because they didn’t use it verbatim. And here’s why it works. When we say, “Do you have any objection?” We’re using a psychological tool to get a negative agreement. If I say, “Hey, Trey we just met. Can you give me your number?”

Trey: No, creep. Get out of here.

Adam: Exactly, no. So now I’m going to leverage the instinct to say no by using a negative agreement. So that’s step one. Step two is I want full control. I want their name and number to follow up.

So, as I do this. And it’s hard to see in an audio call. I queue my language, I pull my pen, and I stand shoulder to shoulder so they can actually see my paper. I’m using body language to assume they are going to give it to me. It’s going to make them a little uncomfortable. If they were not wanting to, they’re going to give it to you anyway. Truthfully, I’ve never been rejected. The one time I was, it was a commercial property, he said, “Come back tomorrow.” So I figure that was a success.

So, the other reason that it works, we get control, and we also plant the psychological seed that says, “I’m going to call you in a few days. Do you have any objection if I give you a friendly follow-up call in a few days?” So we’re hinting in the fact that I’m going to call you in a few days. The other thing is we say, “friendly follow up.” Most salespeople want to follow up saying, “Hey, did you talk to your wife yet? Are you ready to buy?”

Trey: Yeah.

Adam: It doesn’t go over very well. I’ve sold 40…and I wish I had the actual stats, this is before CRM, and it was on paper. I’m guessing that it was around 40% of my business was sold on this technique.

So then I get the number. And I follow up my question with this, “You know, I’m sorry I didn’t get you name. My name is Adam.” “Oh, it’s Jenny.” “Jenny, great to meet you. So Jenny, and the best phone number to reach you is? Okay, great. I got it written down. So Jenny I know you’re busy, when’s the best time for me to give you a buzz about that friendly follow up so I don’t catch you in the middle of dinner or something? Wednesday? Perfect, what time on Wednesday?” “4 o’clock.” “Jenny I appreciate it. I’ll reach out here by 4 o’clock on Wednesday.”

So now we have recaptured complete control from rejection. We have some assets that are valuable. We have a follow-up set, with expectations set. And then when we make that follow-up call, whether it’s the canvassers or the sales guy, we open up the dialogue on the phone leading in with that script language. “Hey,”…oh I’m sorry what name did I use? Jenny? Was that my sample name?

Trey: Yeah, Jenny.

Adam: Yeah Jenny. So, “Hey Jenny, Adam calling with Referral Storm. Just a friendly follow-up call seeing if you’ve had some time to read that literature I left with you with your husband.” And then we can start our dialogue. That was probably four examples of a close-ended question but you get the idea.

Trey: Yeah. Yeah.

Adam: We lead with that friendly follow-up. So, that’s the best way that I found hands-on in the field to do the follow up. And I love it. If you guys put that to use, I guarantee it will make you some money.

Trey: Yeah, that’s great. I came on this call wanting to talk about a couple things and now I get a psychology lesson and got a script to use on my potential SPOTIO customers. So, you know what, I get that every now and then, “Well yeah, let me talk it over with them and get back to you.” So I got a script now. I’m loving it.

It’s funny, in terms of follow-up, one of our other SPOTIO customers is in the solar industry. And they do financing for solar. And he said that they went and followed up with customers that had been approved, but they hadn’t financed, just to see what had happened. And the resounding response was, “I’m interested. I wanted to move forward, but nobody followed up with me.” And it just blew his mind that that’s the world we live in. As a salesperson, your competition isn’t following up. You have to do that.

And that’s, again with SPOTIO, why we track even the not-homes is that’s a form of follow-up. If we go knock a door four times and they’re not home three. The chances are we’re going to get them that fourth time, as long as we use a different day. Our customers are killing it doing that method. And it’s no different than you as a salesperson, following up four or five times on a phone call.

And even if you do do one call close type situations, plenty of our SPOTIO customers it’s a one call close. If you don’t buy our internet package at the door, then I’m onto the next one. Well, in that case, I recommend the company figure out a way to bring that follow-up in-house, if they are interested. It’s just you got to collect the data. You got to do something with the data. People want to check you out online, or whatever, but if you follow up and have a method for the system, it’s going to pay dividends, huge dividends.

Adam: Trey, you said it perfectly. And what it boils down to, is control. On every level, a sales guy wants control using that “do you have any objections” script. He wants to be in the driver seat. I’ve done other trainings on control and how to play the different roles of control. Switch who’s driving, it really doesn’t matter who’s driving. It’s who’s steering. You can run the gas or the brake, but as long as I’m in charge of the wheel, we’re going to get there. That’s the analogy that I’ve used.

But when you said, “Hey bring it in house,” help companies do it. The more we have control both on the sales level fundamentally and the company level and we have consistency, that’s where massive success lies. Especially if I’m a cable company, large scale companies, down to the mom-and-pop contractor. They got 10 different reps out there doing 10 different things, good luck. Neighbors talk. We’ve got to have consistently in control.

And that follow-up, like you mentioned, when other people aren’t doing it, especially contractors. And the number one complaint I hear about contractors in general, across industry, They don’t return phone calls. They don’t communicate. They don’t deliver their estimates. They don’t show up on time. And how funny is it? Trey, you were a contractor, right?

Trey: Mm-hmm.

Adam: Did you ever win business by someone saying, “Hey, you were the only guy who showed up.” Or, “Hey you showed up on time.”

Trey: Of course. Absolutely.

Adam: That’s so fun. It’s like, “Wow, I didn’t even have to try.” All I did was follow-up or show up, and you win the business. So, if people can effectively follow up, you will inherently, even if you’re the worst sales person in the world, you will win business that way.

Trey: You know what’s funny, my dad was a home builder for like 30 years. And when I told him we were going to get into doing insulation, he said, “I’m going to give you the secret. This is the secret to being a contractor. And if you do these three things, you’re going to kill it. You’re going to be heads and shoulders over everybody else.”

And I’m thinking, “Hell yeah, bring it on. What have you got for me old man? I haven’t paid attention to you this far in my life. But this is the secret, I’m about to get the gold.” He goes, “Here it is, number one, do what you say you’re going to do.” I said, “Okay, I can do that. I’m a pretty responsible guy. Then he goes, “Number two, show up when you say you’re going to show up.” And I said, “All right. I’m prompt.” And then he goes, “Number three, if you can’t show up then just call and let us know.” And I said, “That’s it?” And he goes, “Believe it or not, if you do those three things you’re going to be way better than you’re completion. And I said, “Well, shit. This is easy. Let’s get this party started.”

Adam: That’s funny, man. You’re spot on. You’re spot on. The art of simplicity, right?

Trey: Yeah, yeah. This is good stuff Adam. Well, let’s see. Anything else that we want to talk about while we’re online here? We’ve covered a lot of good stuff and there’s several takeaways that I can takeaway personally, and I think everyone listening can too. Anything else that we wanted to go into?

Adam: Sure, I’m reviewing my notes here. I don’t think there’s anything. If it’s appropriate, I’d like to make an offer for anyone that’s listening.

Trey: Nice.

Adam: With your permission.

Trey: Yeah, sure.

Adam: Anyone, roofers, home restoration contractors the referral strategy that I talked about in the beginning of the call, the backbone to a lot of companies massive, massive success and massive growth is really simple. And I’m happy to give it away. Jump on a call with me and we’ll chat. And I’m happy to walk you through it personally. You can reach me at Adam@referalstorm.net. And you can also send me a text or call me on my cell phone, 608-287-4748. I’m happy to jump on a call one-on-one with you, and I’ll walk you through that program, and help you get it implemented in your company. Yes, free of charge. I’d be happy to tell you about Referral Storm if you’re interested. But there are no strings attached. Anything that I can do to help you guys grow your business, since that’s my specialty.

Trey: That’s awesome. Yeah, for everybody listening, Adam and I have that common belief that we want to share good content, make it available, and make you successful, and that the business will follow. And so, I know him and if you reach out, you’re going to get that value. So, I highly recommend that. And thanks everybody for your time. Adam, I appreciate you jumping on today. It’s been awesome. And we’ll talk to you later.

Adam: I appreciate it. Trey, thank you so much. It’s been an honor and a privilege to have chat with you here. And hopefully, we helped some people sell some more jobs today.

Trey: Let’s do it. All right, bye.

Adam: Take care.

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