2 Ridiculous Factors to avoid when hiring a telesales rep
Posted by Geoff Alexander on Mon, Jun 01, 2009 @ 01:38 AM
After nearly 30 years in the business, it's pretty hard to shock me, but just this last week I became aware of two factors that some managers are weighing as they hire new inside sales people: college SAT scores and memberships in fraternities and sororities. I've never known these factors to be elements critical to the successes of telesales reps, so let's drill down a bit. If you're a manager who heavily values these, I'd like to you to reconsider. Here's why:
I've got a couple of degrees myself, and have attended more than one university. Frats and sororities were mainly known for one thing, and it wasn't academics! Many students I knew didn't have time for extracurricular activities, as they were busy working a part-time job to put themselves through school. They were learning the ins and outs of business while they were students, and many were developing leadership and team communication skills on the job while paying for their university studies. These are people that shouldn't be ignored in the hiring process, because they tend to be self-starters, are used to hustling, and "entitlement" is not a word often found in their vocabularies.
SAT scores are not a predictor of telesales success either. I had a fairly high SAT score myself, but even then realized that it was more a measure of test-taking ability and rote learning than it was an indicator of creativity and business savvy.
So what do you look for when hiring an inside sales rep? Look for somebody that's got something to prove! I've trained and coached thousands of reps in my telesales training courses, and many of the best came from lower-economic backgrounds, where their parents never attended college, but spent their time working in blue-collar jobs to get their kids ahead. And their kids worked, too. Many of these great telesales reps were children of immigrants, and were among the first members of their families to ever attend college. They were never on track to become members of Greek societies, and juggling work and studying in high school may not have given them an astronomical SAT, either. Nevertheless, they had something to prove. To their parents, to their fellow students, and to the world in general. They were bound and determined to make it, they were going to figure it out, and they were going to succeed!
If there's a lesson here, it's this: when you hire Inside Salespeople, don't be so concerned that your prospective employee comes from a good background, had a high GPA in college, and has all the right social contacts. Instead, concern yourself with finding people who see your opportunity as a dramatic step up from their past jobs, who have something to prove to themselves (and to you.) They might not have attended college, either. They might be restaurant servers who have great people skills but don't want to depend on the vagaries of tips anymore, actors who can tell a good story, are great listeners, and are curious about the world they live in, or rental car agents ready to incorporate their people skills into the technology sales world. I've seen many high-performing reps come directly from job situations such as these. They are motivated by a new career and tend to be quick studies that can hit the ground running, rapidly embrace new concepts, and become productive almost immediately.
Regardless of what testing companies will tell you, I've never seen a test that can predict success in inside sales, but if I'm talking to a prospective inside sales rep that's got something to prove, I'm going to listen! I always ask people that I train to tell me a little about their backgrounds, and I'm constantly impressed at the varied backgrounds in my classes, and how these talented people have used those backgrounds to be creative in sales and better understand the business environments of their prospects and customers. So if you're heavily weighing test scores and the college social milieu when hiring your telesales reps, I urge you to reconsider. If you don't, you'll be missing out on some of the best.