My weekly SalesBrief this week centred around the topic of age – from whether salespeople do have a “sell-by date” for themselves, to understanding how older sales folks and younger sales managers relate. 

As a guide to those older salespeople who are currently in the marketplace for a new job, the very first suggestion I’d make is to take a brutal, long, hard look in the mirror to ask yourself if you are “the best you” you can be right now. The question is, would you employ you?

In sales, a great deal of emphasis is placed on the overall image of the salesperson – as we all know, first impressions count. We also know that research proves that the salesperson plays a vital part in whether or not a client decides to buy. So being up to date with the latest developments, keeping yourself current with the latest sales training available, looking professional, being enthusiastic and having the right attitude are baseline requirements – even more so when you’re looking for a sales position in a highly competitive marketplace.

My second suggestion would be to apply sales process thinking to finding a new sales position i.e. you are the product and then first the recruiter, then the employer needs to “buy” you. [Note: if you don’t clearly understand the term “sales process” then your selling skills knowledge may not be as up to date as you think.]

Your very first step in your sales process is to prepare your CV – which is your marketing material – your “lead-generator”. How does it look? Is is professionally presented, perfectly laid-out and proof-read? Or does it look more like a dog’s breakfast that has quickly been thrown together? Think like a buyer (i.e. the recruiter and/or employer). Your CV is their first impression of you, and that CV has to “work” to get you in front of the right person. If your CV doesn’t send the right message, you are drastically reducing your chances of even being interviewed telephonicially

Does your CV indicate the value you can offer a company as a sales professional? Or is it more of an outdated “features and benefits” type of CV?

Remember – we’re applying sales process thinking. What is important is to move the “sale” along from step to step.

Your first step is to get the positive attention of the recruiter and/or employer, it is NOT to try and “close the sale” ie. get the job.  That comes much later in the process.

Then you have to target your potential prospects with that CV. Where do you start looking?

A must-do these days is to list your CV on PNet and Career Junction, along with all the other online job sites there are. My estimate is that 90% of recruiters and employers are using these career portals to find potential applicants.

Remember, most job sites allow only recruiters who subscribe to their service to search CV’s. Employers are generally not given direct access to CV databases. Employers are able to post their job adverts, but they can’t search CV’s so don’t be too concerned about your current employer finding your CV there. Check out the job portal’s terms carefully before posting your CV.

I’d also recommend that you create your profile and load your CV up on the LinkedIn networking site too. It’s a popular site among professional recruiters.  

When applying for a sales position, do take the time to read the job specs to make sure you are a potential match for the position. If your CV doesn’t “speak to” the job spec, then you need to make the connection for the recruiter or employer in a cover letter. If it means taking the time to write a specific cover letter for that specific position then do it. 

As early on in the sales process as possible, explain the current structure of your salary package too and what your expectations are. There not only needs to be a match with your selling skills, there needs to be a remuneration match.

Think of the advertised job spec as a “tender specification”. In sales, you wouldn’t dream of submitting your proposal for a tender unless it matched the tender’s requirements, would you?

I hope you see where I’m going with this line of thinking. In basic terms, if the recruiter is looking for an apple, make sure they can easily see that you are an apple from your CV. Otherwise you’re just one of hundreds of people who apply for every job they see listed and that will ensure you’re overlooked.

As a sales recruiter, even when I post a job ad with extremely detailed job specs, I get on average 150-200 applications, 90% of which are not even remotely a match but I still need to send a regret letter to each person (this is why many recruiters battle to get back to everyone with a reply – not justifying a lack of response, just giving a possible explanation). So in order to find 4 or 5 potential candidates, I need to open and read 150 CVs – you can imagine the hours and hours of my time that involves.

As I mentioned in the SalesBrief, if you are an older salesperson and feel that your personal image is a “selling feature” then you may want to consider adding a professional photograph of yourself to your CV.  If you are very active then list your sporting interests too.  But never lie on a CV, about anything.

If a recruiter or employer uncovers deceit in a CV in any way – from listing incomplete qualifications as complete to increasing dates for length of employment to make your CV read better, they may begin to question your personal integrity.

Rest assured, there are great sales positions out there, it’s just a matter of finding them. Much like prospecting for new business – if you know where to look and have a great product or service to offer, you will successfully close that sale.

At first thought, you may say yes, of course it does. However I’d like to disagree. There are too many factors that influence a salesperson’s ability or failure to reach sales targets. 

Here are a few examples:

I know of a solution sales chap who “inherited” a R30 million Rand deal from an alliance partner.  He did nothing more than being on the other end of the phone when the right guy phoned him to tell him they’d won the deal and were giving that part of the contract to his company.  If you saw that achievement on his CV, you’d automatically assume that he was a ‘wunderkind’ sales rep who had reached 250% of his target by month two of the financial year. Not so.

Another example:

Jenny X’s CV says that she has been the top sales achiever at her company for the past five years.  Unless you ask the question “top out of how many sales reps?” you wouldn’t know that she was the only rep they had. So is she the top achiever? Did she achieve amazing year on year growth? Or is the company in a niche market with a whole batch of existing clients that Jen merely needs to visit once in a while and who would happily keep on ordering, with or without her being there?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not knocking sales achievements but if you don’t ask the right questions at the interview, you may just employ someone who can’t cut it in your sales environment.

We call it “interrogating” a sales CV. It’s really important for you to do it thoroughly.

Those super sales achievers who have indeed reached and exceeded targets will only be too happy and willing to share with you exactly how those deals were brought it – they’ll have the facts and figures imprinted in their memory banks ready to reel off to you without hesitation. Dig a bit deeper into their ‘proven sales track record’ before allowing yourself to be sold on what is on paper.

Now, we haven’t even mentioned how the company’s work ethic, brand, reputation, product or service that the salesperson is responsible to sell  can influence his or her sales results.  An over-priced, under-performing product won’t exactly sell well in today’s competitive market, no matter how good a salesperson is sitting across from Billy the Buyer.  You also have to ask yourself if you really want a salesperson selling for you who can sell rubbish without a second thought to an unsuspecting prospect? What about ethics? Would your choice be sales results over ethics?

I’m not making excuses for salespeople who over or underperforming, I just think that there are many factors that are ignored by employers which could influence the outcome of their sales recruitment decision.

It’s all about asking the right questions AND having a well-defined sales recruitment process in place which helps you to cover all your bases.

When you’re previewing an applicant’s CV there’s information that you simply must have:

1. Details of any formal sales training, in addition to any academic qualifications
2. Reasons for leaving each position listed
3. Contactable reference details for each position
4. Summary of sales achievements

If it is not there – ask.

For example: I had 2 versions of a CV – one 3 years old, the other brand new, from someone on our database looking for an external sales position. When I compared the two, the gentleman had completely omitted 8 months stint at his 2nd most recent company and added that time period on to his current employment tenure, knowing that it is difficult for recruiters to verify current employment details. It was a huge red flag for me. Why did he do it? When something as obvious as that is picked up, it makes one question every detail in the document.

Please take the time to meticulously verify the CV of the candidate whom you would like to employ. It is just another safety check to do before taking someone on full-time.