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A Discussion on hiring Field Sales Reps with Don Jasensky

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A common search for us is helping clients find experienced Field Sales Representatives. Here are 5 of the factors we consider and I want to encourage you to consider these too.

 

The Position :   A Subprime automotive finance company hiring a Field Sales Representative to represent their financing products to automotive dealerships, with  F&I Managers their main point of contact.

 

5 Factors to consider  :    Experience     Work content match       Contacts           Ability         Drive   

 

In our 30 years of experience we have learned to incorporate a blend of these 5 factors .

 

  • Experience can be selling the same product to the same customers or general sales experience  that is transferable such as a copier sales person selling to local businesses.  The more direct experience the less time in training.  With experience there also will be a trail of their performance – good or bad.  It is very important that you take the time to verify their past performance.  The best indicator of future performance is past performance.  Check references and ask for sales performance validation.

 

  • Another very important aspect is making sure that the day to day work content is a match for the candidate’s abilities and desires.   Do not discount the importance of their liking the daily work content.   Some Sales Reps love the freedom of being in the field and thrive.  Others flounder with the task of “initiating” sales.  As an example, we have seen companies hire F&I Managers from automotive dealerships  to be Field Sales  Reps selling to F&I Managers.  Makes great sense, however when we study the results we have found that most F&I Managers  are terrific with closing but terrible with prospecting.  Results are usually not good.

 

Ask yourself, is your position  a “hunting” or “farming” position or some of both?   In this example of converting F&I Managers to Field Sales Reps, it is noteworthy that most  F&I Manager  have no experience initiating sales and cold calling.  Because of this, they may do better taking over an existing territory and managing it than building one from scratch.   Do you think this way  while interviewing ?  I want to encourage you to !

 

  • A great fit for an automotive finance company is a Sales Rep with already established contacts in a geographic area.  These contacts can save 12 to 18 months “ramp up time”.    This is more important for smaller companies that can’t afford to pay a Sales Rep’s salary, expenses and benefits for months while deals are only trickling in.    If you do not have  a recognized name brand, such as CapOne,  it can also be very beneficial to hire a Sales Rep with  an existing portfolio of clients. The reason is that the Sales Rep will have the established credibility with the auto dealers and  F&I Managers that a new company does not have .  This makes it easier to introduce a newer company lacking branding clout.

 

  • And 5) Ability and Drive.

Ability means they are capable of doing the job successfully .

Drive means they have that internal push to be successful.

A lot of ability with no drive is wasted talent.  The most common  mistake made  hiring Sales Reps is hiring someone with sales ability but little drive.  These candidates may  “blow you away” in the interview but fizzle in the field.   Their sales ability shows during the interview, they communicate well, are glib, make great eye contact, ask closing question and get you all excited.  But if they lack drive, they will be mediocre at best and need to be pushed to get them past their low comfort level.

 

The most common hiring  mistake we see companies make is hiring people  who have the ability to do the job but lack the motivation to thrive.

Remember: The best indicator of future performance is past performance.  Check references and ask for sales performance validation.  Don’t get “sold” during the interview, you need to verify performance.

 

 

Summary

To help our clients make successful Sales Rep  hires we look for a combination of  :

Experience

Work content match

Existing contacts

Ability

Drive

 

I want to encourage you to consider these 5 factors when making hiring decisions.

 

Don Jasensky is the Founder and President of Automotive Personnel, LLC and has been placing personnel for over 30 years with automotive finance companies, buy here – pay here and new car automotive dealerships.  You can reach Don at 216-226-8190   Don@AutomotivePersonnel.Careers

Download my FREE Booklet  to learn more about ending these  common hiring mistakes  : Intelligent Interviewing and Candidate Assessment  by clicking here  https://www.automotivepersonnel.careers/EBOOK/

Part 1 of 7 components of all top candidates:

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The 7 components we look for in candidates are :

  • Competency
  • Capacity
  • Teammate Factor
  • Drive
  • Ability to motivate
  • Judgement
  • Resolve

         

 In today’s edition let’s focus on Competency .

In 28 years of executive search, no one has ever asked us for an average candidate.  Client’s come to us when they are looking for a “high performer”.   The higher level the position the more important their  competency is.  As an example, a Director of Credit impacts a company much more than one Credit Underwriter.   The high up the food chain the more critical competency becomes.

The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. Human behavior is fairly consistent  throughout our adult lives. Winners show themselves early and consistently throughout their careers. Laggards do too !  

Learning about  competency is part of the interview, evaluation and reference checking process.

Keep these factors in mind :

Interviewing questions can include:

  • What are your performance standards with your current position?
  • How are they measured?
  • How are you doing with them?
  • Show Me : awards, commission checks, reference letters, etc.
  • References – trust but verify

Knowing what you are looking for at the start of your search will add direction and confidence in your decision making.  Review  our article on Deciphering a Candidates Employment Record Made Easy  and 

Intelligent Interviewing Produces Intelligent Hiring Decisions    to help you discover if your candidates have  these components. 

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.careers

www.automotivepersonnel.careers

Twitter : @DonJasensky

 

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry”

VIDEO : Don Jasensky on your  challenges finding qualified employees

 

 

7 Components To Look For To Ensure You Are Hiring a Terrific Candidate Each Time!

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7 Components To Look For To Ensure You Are Hiring a Terrific Candidate Each Time !

Over the past 28 years in executive search and several years as a General Manager at a dealership prior, I  have found 7 components common to all terrific hires.  We focus on these components when we are evaluating candidates and I want to share them with you.  Hopefully  this helps give focus to your searches.   I will present an overview here and detail each in follow up articles.

Allow me to ask you to think of your best hires and then your worst hires .   Think about these components and see if your best hires had them and if one or more of the components were missing in your  worst hires.   

By knowing what you are looking for ahead of time your searches will have more direction and you will have much more confidence in your decision making.  Review  our article on Deciphering a Candidates Employment Record Made Easy  and 

Intelligent Interviewing Produces Intelligent Hiring Decisions    to help you discover if your candidates have  these components.  Here is an overview:

First 3 components  :

          Competency  – is candidate a high performer? The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. Winners show themselves early and consistently throughout their careers.

  • Capacity – do they have a high enough  ceiling for new position ? A “rock star” sales representative needs an additional skill set to be a sales manager. Often moving from a manager level to a  VP level  with a company means the candidate will need to go from focusing on tactical thinking to adding strategic thinking to be successful.  Are you looking  for this in your candidates ? 
  • Teammate Factor – Are  they naturally looking out for the overall good of the company and colleagues  or are they the one’s complaining at the water cooler about management, pay, working conditions, etc.  It is difficult to have a “bad attitude” and be a good team player.   Don’t overlook this component,  a technically competent employee who is always stirring the pot is a problem!

For leadership roles and high level single contributor roles add :

 Drive / Initiative – it takes enormous energy to grow and lead a team, department or a company. Low energy people can be competent but they will not  build or grow your company.

  • Motivate others to achieve higher results consistently? You cannot lead if you cannot motivate others.  Many mid-level managers are technically competent but lack the ability to energize their staff and drive higher results through them.
  • Vision / Judgement /Decision making – Are they consistently working on the right problems? Do they get to “root causes” of problems .  Are they looking ahead and anticipating future challenges and opportunities?  Do they understand how to both leverage and protect  the assets of your company?
  • Resolve – Can they consistently see very challenging projects  through conclusion?  Sudden changes in business, competitive field, economic factors are very challenging and personally impact team members and  can sometimes  take years to successfully resolve.    Initiating a large project and seeing  it through conclusion are 2 different personality traits.   Deciding to start a large project is more about  Initiative – seeing it to conclusion is more about Resolve.

We will explore these 7 key components in greater detail in future articles.

How does this compare to your list ?

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.careers

www.automotivepersonnel.careers

Twitter : @DonJasensky

 

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry”

VIDEO : Don Jasensky on your  challenges finding qualified employees

 

 

Tough Interviewing Questions

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We do not ask tough questions for the sake of asking tough questions.  Trying to “stump a candidate” is amateur hour .  Our focus is  about determining a candidate’s past job performance with –  the philosophy of : “past performance is the best indicator of future performance”.   Over the years I have seen some specific questions be very helpful in learning more about a candidate, which is what an interviewing is about.   

 Tough questions can give an added dimension to your interviewing and give a candidate an opportunity to hit a home run or strike out.  But you are putting them up to bat and allowing them to swing . 

Depending on the position and its needs, here are some very good questions that may help you learn more about your candidate’s career focus .  Next article will cover questions to help determine a candidate’s determination and creative thinking .

How Career Focused

 

  • I read about an executive who would say “1st you make your habits, then your habits make you” . Tell me about some success habits you have formed .  (Such as reading a book per month about your field, or reflecting back each night on your day and see what you learned from that day). 
  • Good decision making is very important to this position. Tell me your strategy when making an important decision.  (Such as separating  Major Factors, Minor Factors, Unimportant Factors  to bring clarity when making a decision).
  • Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
  • What are you doing – outside of your work place – to get there?  (Online classes, reading books to become better at their work,  Toastmasters, etc.)
  • Is that enough?
  • What industry related periodicals do you  personally subscribe to?

 

Creative Thinking

  • If you could change anything about your current position to significantly improve it, what would that be? (look for depth here)
  • No one is perfect, what do you have to change about yourself to reach your goals ?
  • What will I not like about you during your 1st 6 months here?
  • No job is perfect, what part of this job do you think you will like the least?
  • If you were brought into the board room to meet the Board of Directors and asked to give a 3 minute impromptu due speech, what are you qualified to talk about ? What are several points you would cover?
  • What should we expect you to accomplish your first 90 days here?

 

Determination

  • We all run into obstacles. Obstacles  re-route a lot of people who lack determination.  Tell me about obstacles you had to overcome in your career .
  • If I said “you may not be ready for this job” Help me understand why I would be wrong.
  • If I asked you if you would work for less money here than in current (or other ) position, what would you tell me and why?
  • Tell me about the biggest mistake you made in your career and how you prospered from it.
  • What do you do – beyond what the company requires you to do – to further your skills / abilities / knowledge?
  • The best indicator of future performance is often past performance. If I said your work performance / career success doesn’t  seem to match  the talent and ability you talked about in this interview,  what  could you tell me to help me understand that?
  • Tell me about the last time your manager criticized your work.
  • No one is perfect, tell me about your weaknesses and what coping strategies do you have to overcome them.

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

 

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry”

 

Practitioner  Vs Theorist  and how (and why) to tell the difference

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You have been here many times.  You interview several candidates and each sounds terrific.  Your gut tells you that each wouldn’t thrive in your position but you are confused as to who would and who wouldn’t thrive.

Allow me to share a recruiting secret that has helped our firm successfully place several thousand candidates with our clients over the  last quarter century. It is a simple  mental paradigm that helps us weed through a group of great sounding candidates and get to the winning hires for our clients.

When several   candidates  interview well and sound great  we ask : “Who are the Practitioners and who are the Theorists ?”  

Characteristics of Theorists:

  • Openly very knowledgeable – you likely won’t need to prompt them for information
  • Quick on their feet, verbally intelligent . Sound very smart  (and usually are)
  • In-charge of facts and statistics
  • Probably enjoys the interview process and talking shop
  • Superficial on details of their specific role and what they accomplished
  • They know how to tell you “what you want to hear”
  • References are usually co-workers

Characteristics of the Practitioner:

  • Very knowledgeable – however you may need to prompt them during interview for information
  • Sound smart and are smart
  • Can talk easily about challenges, how they overcame them and results . Frequently do not have statistics committed to memory
  • Probably do not enjoy the interviewing process and talking shop
  • Precise on their specific role of what they accomplished
  • They will tell you how things really are
  • References are usually their past managers and bosses

Why is this critical to the hiring process ?

 

The Theorists can talk the talk – and talk it very well but come up short on walking the walk.   The Practitioner  may come up a little short on talking the talk  (without some prompting),  but will walk the walk for you.  This is why knowing what to look for is so important!

Here is our formula

  • It is very important to learn and talk about their specific accomplishments
  • Drill down on the specifics such as sales went from ________ to ______X 2. Ask for some verification.  Talk is cheap , facts are not!
  • Drill down on their specific role
  • Ask about what issues that they ran into
  • Ask how they overcame the issues
  • Ask for specifics, engage in a discussion on details
  • Spend time with references learning about candidate’s actual accomplishments and does it match candidate’s claims

 

Theorists are often  “corporate survivors”  not the true “organizational drivers” . They have hung around for years and learned a lot.  They are great at articulating facts but lack the ability to make the crucial decisions that lead to success. Usually they lack leadership skills. 

Practitioners are the “organizational drivers”.    They are the employees who get things done.  They take action.    In football analogy think of  Bill Belichick as a role model for Practitioner  and think of  TV football analyst  or sports writer as a role model Theorist.   I would hire Bill Belichick to run my team even though Peter King of Sports Illustrated may do a better job of articulating a team’s history.

Take Away:  Hire the Practitioner – they have made the successful decisions, built the  well-run departments and can tell you how if you know how to ask them.

Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

Automotive Personnel, LLC is in its 26th year finding the people who drive the automotive industry !

 

What employees look for when changing positions & how this can benefit you

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In the past quarter of a century that I have been recruiting for automotive dealerships, here are the 5 points that are brought up the most often by employees looking for a job change:

  • Day to day work content
  • Career visibility / opportunity
  • Location
  • Compensation
  • Security

So how can you use this to your advantage?

Find out what is most important to your top candidates and appeal to those needs where reasonable. 

 Case Study: We were helping an auto dealer with a very large Ford store.  He needed a Rock Star Service Director.   We found 3 great candidates.  Two were out of town and need to relocate and were willing to do so.  The dealer was willing to cover relo expenses. One lived across town, about an hour commute each way and did not like the long drive and did not want to move closer to dealership.  

 We suggested to the Dealer that he offers the candidate with the 1 hour commute the following:

  • Salary that was agreeable
  • Flexible hours – knowing the Service Director needed to be there 6:30am to open up but allow the flexibility of leaving early in afternoon sometimes to see in kids baseball games, dance recitals, etc. All the things he has been missing his entire career.   Keep in mind, “Rock Star “employees are very hard workers by nature and not likely to take advantage of this benefit. 
  • Company car and gas. Let the Service Director take a nice used car and drive for a week or two then change for another one.  (In the grand scheme of things what is the cost to use a company car and gas compared to the revenue from a huge Ford service center?) 

 Results:  Win-Win for the auto dealer and the Service Director.  The ability to occasionally see his daughter’s dance and piano recitals and his sons’ sports events made him feel so respected and made him the most dedicated employee you could imagine!  

 Lesson learned: Ask candidates what are the factors that they are considering in making a job change and appeal to these factors when /where it is reasonable.

 Donald Jasensky

CEO / Automotive Personnel, LLC

216-226-8190

don@automotivepersonnel.co

www.automotivepersonnel.co

Twitter : @DonJasensky

“We Find The People Who Drive The Automotive Industry Since 1989 ”

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