Its Draft Day -- Who’s Your Pick?

Draft day -- Who’s Your Pick?

By Glenn Pasch

As a manager of a sales team or a team of supervisors, there will be a time when you need to bring a new member to the team.  You have cut the pile of candidates and resumes down to the final few. On Draft day, choose the player who fits into your overall team’s needs. Don’t try to fit a square peg into a round hole or convince yourself that you can make it work.

A lot is going to depend on the makeup of your team. But, more importantly, it will also depend on how you RUN your team. Are you a hands-on and structured supervisor, do you deliver consistent employee training to groom your team members? Or do you just let people do it their way and only focus on the end result?

What criteria should you follow when you pick up the phone and call someone to offer the job? Here are three things managers should focus on when deciding on a new team member:

1. Recruit for the position. Don’t try to fit a Top Salesperson who is used to working on their own into a position where they have to work by committee.

2. Recruit for the skills that are important to the position. If work ethic is more important than experience, so be it. I personally would always take someone with 100% work ethic and 75% experience than the other way around.

3. Recruit for personality. This is a bit tougher, but if you already have the high energy, big ego salesperson, don’t hire another one. It can tip the balance of your team. Hire someone who is confident, but a more even keel personality.

Glenn Pasch is the President of Improved Performance Solutions. Click here to read this article in its entirety.