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Companies that want to be successful going forward need to make sure they have quality candidates that will be successful in the ever changing sales landscape.
Maria Boulden, Vice President, Executive Partner, Sales at Gartner advises us that we should "Reshape the Selling Motion as well as the Buying Motion. Enjoy the fact that you are at this nexus and help define the next Sales motion...".
What I would add to this is that we also need to reshape the Hiring Motion for sales, marketing and business development professionals if we want to have any hope for what Maria is sharing above. I agree with her, btw, completely about what is required...I just know that without the right people on the bus...you have no hope to execute the new Selling and Buying motions that are changing in front of our eyes.
How does it work?
To find and more importantly, attract, the best candidates to execute upon #socialselling you must be transforming into a #socialorganization as well. These potential high performers for your team aren't going to want to be a part of an organization that isn't up to speed on how they operate.
Try your best to ignore technological and quick fixes and instead commit to developing an overall strategy that will organize, guide and measure success for you on social. Strategy wins.
Part of that overall strategy is going to include recruiting the best possible talent to execute it. Hiring isn't something you figure out later. You need to have your best talent focused on it while you are developing your organizations strategy...after all that strategy when implemented on social is going to be a key part of your hiring process.
Here are two types of assessment you can utilize when exploring possible candidates to sell for you on social:
- Activity: The great news is these 'A' players will be easy to identify from an activity standpoint. Their profiles will be unique and engaging. They will have a consistent and visible content creation strategy that is founded upon their own unique content. Can you tell WHO they are targeting? If you can't, chances are their prospects can't either.
- Assessment Tools: There are more tools than useful out there for companies to use when screening applicants and/or developing training and development programs for current employees. I think, however, that most of them weren't developed with today's digital environment and the current generation of sellers entering the career.
I want to focus in on how you can handle the assessment tool side of the challenge. Once you are able to find potential candidates through their social activity, you need to ensure that they will actually perform going forward...will they make what you want to happen...happen. What ever tool you select has to be designed around what is needed for success going forward. Today is a result of yesterday.
One of my favorite thinkers wrote a great newsletter that dropped into my inbox this morning and the subject was perfect for this discussion about hiring successfully: How Not To Get Left Behind by Mark Manson.
"One answer continued to pop up for me: intense curiosity. The defining trait of progressing in the 21st century appears to be a driving curiosity about anything and everything." Mark Manson
You might want to get curious about how to not be 'left behind' when it comes to getting the right talent.
If curiosity is going to be so important for success for professionals, how in the world do we objectively assess whether or not a candidate possess it and/or can be developed effectively in that character trait?
Here are four things that are part of an assessment I use when working with prospective hires:
- Inquisitiveness
- Need for cognition
- Deprivation Sensitivity
- Social Curiosity
How the data from those 4 interact with resilience, emotional intelligence and competitiveness can give you a lot of confidence as to whether or not the candidate has the makeup to be successful at what the future requires: intense curiosity as Mark puts it.
You can't just assess for curiosity alone because we are looking to hire people that will 'move the needle' in some fashion instead of being strictly a researcher or artist. These people need to be curious and they need to be resilient enough to be persistent when it comes to finding and then building relationships with ideal clients and targeted verticals.
Why is all of this worth reading and implementing in your company?
Everything rises or fails based upon the human beings at your business. Technology and systems are worthless if you have the wrong people executing them. Your most important investment and metric for success is your recruiting success.
Put your best people in HR because skill can be taught, but, character is essential.
Recap: Hire based upon candidates activity on #social and use an assessment tool that measures curiosity and resilience.
Related: The Two Most Important Questions in Referral Based Sales