and land a meeting with them.” In addition, hypothetical questions can help establish what candidates would do in certain difficult situations they are likely to face when selling for your company. This can be especially helpful when they haven’t faced the exact behavioral situation, or if you’d just like to see if they think like your top producers. Establish some challenging hypothetical scenarios (preferably built from real examples your sellers encounter) and prepare questions and best-case responses to assess candidates’ answers. Keep in mind that hypothetical questions help you determine the candidate’s judgment about what to do in challenging situations and whether they think like your current top producers. Still, they do not assess behavior, skill, or the ability for the candidate to do what they say.


VALIDATING SKILLS Would you hire a musician without hearing them perform? A dancer without an audition? How about a baseball


SELLING TIP A Way with Words


According to one sales expert who specializes in mak- ing eloquent presentations, elocution is key if sales reps wish to impress prospects and clients. Here are nine quick tips that will elevate your elocution. 1. Eliminate the digestive noises: “um” and “ah” and “uh.” Strive to accept silence and final consonant endings. Be comfortable with the silence and re- sume speaking when the thought is there. People who use “um” to illustrate their thought process appear less sure and less knowledgeable.


2. Rid your vocabulary of “sorta” and “kinda.” These words make you appear less than sure of your ideas. Such passive language shows weakness.


3. Stop stalling and clarifying. Reduce the use of words such as “basically” and “my point is…” The easiest way to annoy an audience is to indicate through your word choice that you were wasting time prior to this point.


4. Scram, get! Reduce the use of “get” in your language. It’s a rough word that lacks finesse. It is


player without seeing them play? Although we can’t observe sales reps


from other companies the same as we can with the above performers, you can orchestrate ways to validate their skills and “see them in action.” You can create role plays or simulations to verify that candidates can demonstrate the skills they claim to have. • For candidates who would be doing a lot of prospecting, have them email you, call you, and leave a voicemail. Provide a case study and see what they can do.


• For account managers, provide a situation and have them run a meeting or give them some simulated account information and ask them to present an account plan.


Use your imagination but keep the tasks and sims as real-life as possible – and see how candidates handle themselves.


PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER When implementing a sales hiring system, it’s critical to have a structured,


‘‘


A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of


success. BO BENNETT


logical process for executing and to link each component of the system. Different companies require different levels of sophistication, but the core components apply to any sales organization. I hope this gets you started on the path to hiring more effectively for your critical sales roles. 


Mike Kunkle is VP of Sales Effectiveness Solutions at SPARXiQ. You can download the ebook of The Sales Hiring System here.


neither a motivator nor a seller. Substitute other words for “get,” and you’ll polish your image dramatically.


5. Avoid absolutes. When you use absolutes, you are asking to be proven wrong. Substitute “often” for “always” and “rarely” for “never.” Use absolutes sparingly so you do not diminish their weight.


6. Reduce failure. Be cautious when describing your failures or mistakes to others. Avoid using the words “wrong,” “mistake,” and “failure.” These are strong words that people can attach to their per- ception of you. Instead, use “experienced growing pains,” “achieved limited success,” and “fell short of expectations.”


7. Leave high-school slang behind. “That sucks. That’s awesome. Cool. Wicked.” Eliminate the slang of yesterday. Find substitutes for your habit words.


8. Stop the excessive use of “mm hmmm.” Eliminate excessive head bobbing and humming to show your agreement. It is distracting and reduces your power.


9. Stop bullying for support. “Y’know? You know what I mean?” These are bullying phrases. People who abuse these phrases are seeking to gain instant support for poorly explained ideas.


SELLING POWER JULY/AUGUST 2020 | 23 © 2020 SELLING POWER. CALL 1-800-752-7355 FOR REPRINT PERMISSION.


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