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| Welcome Business Managers
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Vol 3, No 6, June, 2004 |
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As the economy continues its recovery, sales
projections are rising and companies are
"restocking" their depleted employee ranks.
They are hiring to fill spots that have remained
vacant for the past few years and they are
assessing where new growth will come from.
Smart companies are seizing this opportunity to
also assess what positions they really need and
want. In many instances, they are reshaping
their organizations. This month we give you a
few tips on how to seize this opportunity
yourself and possibly get more creative in your
hiring.
Betsy Harper
Managing Partner
Sales and Marketing Search
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| So Much Dirt—So Many Choices |
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In the Northeast, we had a devastatingly cold
winter. About the only person who was
delighted with the winter weather was my oilman!
No, I take that back. There is one other
person for whom our winter tribulations
meant his spring rejoicing and that's our local
garden center owner. For, like many other
gardeners, this year I am in major
"replacement mode."
After hours of mulching, edging and pruning,
I started assessing what I had lost.
Although there is always some "spring
attrition," this year it's worse than
ever. So, I got out my original garden
plans and started my survey of what was
missing. It was my intention to make a long
list of what was missing, what needed to be
bought, hit the garden center bright and early
for best choices, and spend many hours on my
knees digging in the dirt.
But then I thought, "Hey, wait a minute. Slow
down." You see, there were some perennials
in the garden that, honestly, I really wasn't
too keen on. There were some that perennially
(no pun intended) over-ran their borders
and needed constant "whack backs," there were
some that never did very well anyway, and
there were some that I liked so much I wanted
more of them.. And then I thought,
"Hey — this could be
good!"
You see, by not just filling the open spaces
in my garden with what was there originally, I'm
looking at this as a real opportunity to put
some new and different plants in their
place.
YOU CAN DO THE SAME WHEN HIRING
Do you have "holes" in your organization
because of the bleak economy of the past few
years? If you do, maybe you should look at your
sales or marketing group like I'm looking at my
garden!
Here are four tips to help you through
this process:
 Do an
Assessment
Now is the perfect time to do a top-down
assessment of what you really need in order
to achieve your
objectives — sales or
otherwise. For those of you who "inherited" a
sales or marketing group, is this the design
(read: group) that is best? Do you have people
who, like plants, have to be whacked back
constantly or perpetually fertilized to get the
least little results?? Take this golden
opportunity to reorganize. Talk to other
managers, business owners or your recruiting
firm about what some alternatives might look
like and what they are doing. Get lots of input
and then make a plan.
Don't Just
Replace — Redesign
Use this as an opportunity to redesign your
sales or marketing team.
- If your sales group was an outside group,
could it be replaced by a more cost-effective
inside force? Or, is the reverse the case?
- If your sales group is broken up by
territory, should it be broken up by
verticals?
- Is now the time to implement an
inside/outside team selling model?
- In marketing, do you have enough people
to
support the sales force?
- Are there too many project managers, or
do
you need additional channel managers?
You get the idea. Let yourself
go — get
creative and unfold all the possibilities.
Diversify
Your Garden
A beautiful garden is the wealth of color,
texture, smells and shapes to delight the
eye and senses. The sheer diversity of the
flowers delights us.
Companies are like
gardens — diversity
makes for a more interesting place to spend your
time. While you always hire the
best-qualified candidate for a job, do you tend
to hire one particular "type" of individual? If
you do, you are certainly not alone (most of us
are more comfortable with certain types of
individuals than others). However, just as I was
astounded and overwhelmed to find out how
many different species of plants there are to
choose from in making a garden, you too are
limiting the success of your company by choosing
the "same old plants" every time you fill an
opening.
And
Remember — Fertilize —
Fertilize — Fertilize!
When was the last time your employees had any
training? Have they had a "refresher" course
lately? Are your sales meetings a review of
"stats" only, or a dry pipeline or territory
review?
How about hiring a motivational speaker
for your whole group or company?
How about putting more inspiration into your
meetings? You get the point. Too often we forget
that we are human and need a "shot in the arm"
from time to time. Often what's needed to fill
out a garden is stronger performance by the
incumbents, in addition to whatever new
additions are brought in.
If Mother Nature cooperates, my replacement
plants will be planted this weekend. I made some
slight changes in the design and
coloration and I am already excited to see
how it will turn out. Stay tuned and happy
gardening (read: hiring!).
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 The
5 Deadly Sins of Hiring
The hiring process can be loaded with
pitfalls - even when you do everything right! Here are the five most
commonly made mistakes, or the "deadliest sins" in hiring.
Download Now
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| Our Readers Write |
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Thanks for all of the responses we got about
finding a job while you have a job. It's safe to
say that opinions were "all over the lot." Many
said it's okay to spend any time you want on a
search, but most felt there should be a line
drawn somewhere on time spent.
That sentiment
was put best by Bruce Allen, VP of Sales for HelloDirect who said:
"My barometer for determining the time spent
looking lies around whether or not you're able
to do your existing job. When a job search gets
in the way of completing your work at an
acceptable level, then I'd say it's an issue."
Thanks Bruce. We couldn't have said it
better!
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