Hiring a sales manager. The risk of biases and hiring a "player coach"

In short: TL:DR

Sales and sales team management are two different skills and mindsets. Too many people misunderstand this point. They hire excellent salespeople on the assumption that they will make excellent sales managers.

Often, this does not work. Actually, rarely does it work. And when recruiting a salesperson or sales manager, it is useful – to say the least – to have a clear vision of what you are looking for in a very specific way. As if by magic, this allows you to exclude people who are not relevant and choose people who are "A-Players". Remember, sales is a unique function, so to guarantee success, if guaranteeing growth of your revenue is a priority, hiring sales managers or sales people has to reflect this unicity.

 ————————————

A friend of mine, let's call him John, has a thriving business. Launched about three years ago, the company is growing rapidly. But John realises that its growth is slowing down. He made mistakes when recruiting salespeople who did not deliver the expected results. He is now considering putting together a complete sales team and recruiting a sales director. And he has just met someone. ..

I recently saw John, who, knowing that I help organisations with their sales issues, said to me: "I'm starting to think about hiring this person. I know this person through my network, he comes highly recommended, I looked at his CV which is good and he's the best salesperson at a company similar to ours, and I'm thinking of hiring him as sales director. He'll be responsible for sales and managing a growing sales team. I've met him and I have a good feeling about him."

As Led Zeppelin's song says, there are many ways to be "sleepy" and confused when it comes to recruiting a sales team manager. If you have been involved in sales in any way, you know that these scenarios are commonplace. Someone meets a salesperson and has a good "feeling" about them, so they want to hire them. And, more often than not, this decision-making process leads to potential financial problems.

For the purposes of this newsletter, let's revisit John's comments and examine the potential problems that lie ahead – I hope this won't be the case, but I speak to too many business owners who have found themselves in this situation to know that it is, unfortunately, a strong possibility.

"I know him through my network; he comes highly recommended."

Despite what they would like to think, human beings are emotional animals. We have evolved to make decisions very quickly. Why? To survive. Human beings did not appear on the planet after the Second World War, at the beginning of the 19th century or at a similar time. No. We appeared on the planet through evolution over hundreds of thousands or even millions of years. And life was dangerous back then. So our brains evolved to make decisions very quickly. Based on very little data. Then to act. And that habit is ingrained in us.

So far, so good. It's good to make decisions quickly. Avoid analysis paralysis. But this creates many unconscious biases in us. Human resources professionals call them unconscious biases. And these unconscious biases most often lead us to make the wrong decision. Or a decision that is not the best for us.

For example, here, John was introduced to a potential candidate by his network, who highly recommended him. John therefore has a good feeling about this candidate. The important word here is "feeling". It is very likely that he is falling prey to confirmation bias such as "he comes recommended". It is therefore natural for John to unconsciously dismiss any possible red flags.

There are a whole host of unconscious biases that hiring managers fall prey to. You can see an example of unconscious bias in action here or, if you would like to learn more about some of them, you can find a list here.

"The beginning of his thinking"

Here is another indication that John is about to make a very costly mistake. John is "starting to think" about hiring. When he met the candidate, had he thought deeply about the job's mission? Did he have a clear vision of the actual results he wanted to see 12 months after the candidate started the job in order to judge the success or failure of the person in the position? Had he thought about the skills he would like to see in a candidate? And the questions that would be asked to test those skills? Did he have a clear and articulate vision of his organisation's commercial culture?

There is a strong possibility that all the answers to these questions fall into the same category: No. Not one bit.

It may seem obvious, but knowing what you are looking for and being prepared to search for it rigorously is the best way to avoid making mistakes. Yet how many CEOs, CROs or VP Sales are unaware of what they are really looking for (the emphasis is on "really"). And in the end, they "trust their instincts".

He is the top salesperson at a company similar to ours…

"…and I am considering appointing him as sales director. He will need to be able to sell and manage a growing sales team."

There are two sources of costly errors in this statement. The first is "he is the top salesperson at a company similar to ours and I am considering appointing him as sales director". And the other: "He will have to be both a salesperson and a manager". I will focus on the second part to keep this article short and won't delve in the first one. Let me simply say that success in one organisation doesn't guarantee success in another.

There's that belief that, because someone knows how to sell, he also knows how to manage. The two skills of sales and management are actually very different. Worse still, the mindset is very different. A sales manager creates heroes in his team. A sales wants to be a hero. How can someone do both ?

The job of a sales manager is NOT to sell. I often advise CEOs and entrepreneurs not to hire a sales director who will also be having a sales quota. Selling involves many things, but managing salespeople involves only four: managing their activities, motivating them, hiring them (turnover is generally high in the sales sector) and coaching them. A human being capable of doing all this optimally while managing a pipeline has yet to be born. He might do the job in a "ok" manner but sadly won't be helping the organisation as much as could have been.

We are in the middle of the Rugby World Cup, so allow me to use an analogy with this sport. Let's take the example of a fly-half and a prop. They both play rugby. But they have acquired completely different reflexes. Completely different mentalities. The fly-half is physically light, constantly following the play, looking for openings, etc. A prop has a defensive mindset. He focuses mainly on rucks, works on turnovers, etc. Yet they are both rugby players.

In short, they are both part of the rugby team. But only a unexperienced rugby manager would ask a prop to run like a fly-half. Yet countless business leaders do exactly the same thing with their sales teams. They ask a prop to play the role of fly-half.

Short vs long term? What's your long term vision.

Great sales leadership requires specific competencies. And one of them is coaching against a clear process and methodology. This isn’t something that happens between discovery calls or prospecting blocks. It has to be consistent. And it takes time and headspace to flourish. The reality is that the best sales managers aren’t top billers - think football and Arsene Wenger who didn't get a football carreer but was a successful manager -. As mentioned above, sales managers build heroes, they are multipliers. They aren't heroes themselves.

Then you have the challenges of "today" .So if you’re thinking on implementing a Player-Coach model, try to understand the logic behind, the potential alternative as well as the timeframe behind it. Because yes, on paper it looks good, but as the saying goes, "If it's too good to be true, it's too good to be true"…

And think about your long term vision. The famous american business consultant Clayton Christensen once said, “The decisions that lead to long-term success are rarely the ones that optimise for the short term.” The Player-Coach is the opposite of that. It’s short-termism in a hoodie and headset.

We hope this won't be the case but if it might help you for a few quarters, risk is it won't in the long term…

The solution? Do not mix things up.

1- Do not confuse the role of a sales director with that of a sales representative. They are completely different. What's the priority? Growing revenues or having the team managed? You might be better off bringing a sales person in and use a solution like a fractional sales manager who will come in and roll out a robust structure from the get go. Rather than wait 6 months for instance.

2- Be sure to evaluate the sales manager candidate before meeting them on their willingness to manage salespeople and competencies. The stakes are way too high and impact of a mistake very costly. Do not trust the CV. CV is a 1980's tool that has very little relevance. This will help you avoid falling victim to your unconscious biases. Example of evaluations here like the one below. This will give you rigorous, unbiased reassurance on the suitability of your candidates.

3- Ask them to explain their perspective on sales management. It should include the four skills described above. If it does not, they may be a good candidate but they will need assistance.

4- Have a clear and precise vision of the skills you are looking for. Understand their self limiting beliefs (list of sales managers limiting beliefs here). So if they are thinking "I need my sales people to like me" there is a possible problem ahead. Because sales people need to respect their manager so they can grow in their role. Not be a friend. And put in place a structured recruitment process.

If these topics are strategic, let us know, happy to block 30 minutes in the diary.

Happy selling and happy sales recruiting.