The Sales Head Office; Selling and Sales Management

I’ve worked with 4-5 different recruiters over the past 5 years and had had mixed results. In most cases I’ve been promised good candidates - fast - and received below average candiditates sporadically.

Now, I understand the the Vancouver job market is incredibly tight; the reality is are not an abundance of sales talent in this market. You have to question anyone that isn’t working and the real sales stars that are employed can command good dollars.

Below are some tips on working with recruiters:

A recruiter should be calling your competitors and hustling up individuals that could potentially work for your business. They should be locating candidates that wouldn’t evenutually find you through your postings on the major job boards. They should be looking for people that fit your business rather than throwing candidates at the wall hoping they stick.

I’m a firm believer that activity is the key driver behind sales results. There is never a bad time to reach out to clients you haven’t talked to in a while to ask ‘what’s up’. In our sold accounts, sales people can become complacent, not realizing that our end users have short memories.

End users and buyers get in buried in their business, running projects, attending multiple meetings and a short email can secure the opportunity to bid on a good sized project that will drive your numbers up.

I encourage my sales team to have some short, easy email templates set up in their CRM software that simply ask a client ‘hows it going?’. The idea is that every week they take an hour, use an email template, and touch 30 dormant accounts to see if they can scratch up some interest. Where as a call will most likely get screened and go to voicemail and ultimately deleted, a soft email touch will put the reps contact info at hand and easily accessible if something comes along.

It is critical that as a team someone is watching and monitering neglected accounts on an ongoing basis and keeping your businesses’ contact info fresh in your client’s minds. In a lot of cases clients buy based on convenience, and will often send a job to the last person that puts a call into them. Make sure that you are that last person!

Arctic Grayling

I started this blog for a few reasons. First and foremost I love selling! I work as a Regional Sales Manager for a Fortune 500 payment processing company.

Prior to that I spent 7 years in the print industry. I’ve spent the first 8 years of my career selling and managing sales people, and I can’t imagine doing anything else.

Unlike a lot of sales people I don’t claim to have unlocked all the secrets to successful selling. I am constantly looking for ways to improve my craft through books, peers or the internet. I get a kick out of reading about sales situations, success stories and sales leaders

One thing I have noticed as I cruise the web looking for sales related information is that there appears to be a distinct lack of quality info on direct selling techniques. Everyone has a secret system and they want you to buy their e-book. No thanks…

This blog is aimed at account managers and account executives, sales managers and SOHO business owners that are looking for quick tips and best practices to help further their sales efforts. My hope is that readers can leverage some of my experiences to help them succeed in growing their business!

Matt Landry