Comments on: Everyone Sells

By: Paul

Paul — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 16:08:52 +0000

This process demonstrates good acting skill, not good salesmanship or marketing acumen.
To sell well and have long term success, you need to be truthful and speak to real customer needs. The notion that you could engage any audience in a sales process for something that they a) don’t want or need, b) aren’t interested in, c) while telling the truth and being authentic is simply false.
Yes, you need a little bit of acting skills to keep things interesting, but I wouldn’t trust anyone who could pull off a “sales pitch” like this. It smacks of snake oil sales and con-manship, not salesmanship. You pretty much have to be a confirmed and believable liar.
If I was asked to do such a thing, I would politely say that isn’t my modus operandi, and we are clearly not a good fit for each other, and excuse myself from the interview. I think that’s the only authentic and honest thing one could do.

By: Jason Bickel

Jason Bickel — Wed, 01 Aug 2007 15:31:58 +0000

I don’t think this is a very effective process for interviewing a potential sales person. The presentation part of the process is not the time to be establishing rapport and trust. Setting up the presentation and the follow up are the more important parts of the process in my opinion.

By: CK

CK — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 21:55:04 +0000

I’m on the fence with these types of “interview” exercises. On the one hand it’s smart, on the other…why not go off of history? Why would I be interviewing someone that didn’t already qualify as a performer? A 15-minute preso is not going to get me to hire someone. 15 years of results will. Make sense?
Personally, I find the interview process should be 2-way. If they’re going to have me do a prez, then they better be ready to answer my questions. Too many times, and still to this day, the interview process is 1-way. But if you want someone who is going to sell like crazy for you, it’s best to have that team/partnership attitude from the get-go.
I do agree it’s best to have everyone in the organization selling, absolutely. The challenge? Not everyone is wired that way. But I guess that’s a challenge for the marketers in the organization .
PS: Most customer service departments do not report to marketing. Now ain’t that wild?

By: Arif I.Vaseer

Arif I.Vaseer — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 05:21:26 +0000

In my openoion its a excellent exercise for the training porpose where you may tell your people about the tools and techniques of the sales

By: Mike Hunt

Mike Hunt — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 23:29:54 +0000

Absolutely brutal – how can someone make a qualified decision on a candidate’s sales ability based on this ridiculous exercise? Interviews are interviews – not an entire sales process, not a follow up marketing plan, not a closing strategy, etc. All sales require different strategies within an industry to all sorts of different people. This interview would tell me that the company is a sales sweatshop with massive turnover. A salesperson should NEVER present until he has a clear understanding of need. How can you sell something if you don’t know what the buyer wants. 15 minutes!! Please. “This is nice pencil. Feature, benefit. Feature, benefit. Feature, benefit.” “Geez, I only 3 minutes left. How many do you want?”

By: Neil Anuskiewicz

Neil Anuskiewicz — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:23:16 +0000

But one thing does occur to me. In my opinion, the single most important trait in sales is FOLLOW-UP.
This presentation thing does not determine if someone will follow-up on prospects and follow the process of closing the sale through to the close. It sometimes takes a long time to close a sale, and being able to have some patience and follow-up is the key.

By: Neil Anuskiewicz

Neil Anuskiewicz — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:19:47 +0000

I think this is a great idea.
The way to see if the person is flexible and can think on their feet would be to ask some questions and present some objections.
Neil

By: Greg Krauska

Greg Krauska — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:49:19 +0000

I think this is a valuable exercise that reveals useful information about the candidate 1. Can they have an effective business conversation with a prospect and succintly present a compelling story? 2. How creative are they? Can they create a context for the meeting that makes sense? 3. Do they do their homework?
Once the candidate is hired, though, the sales managers should provide feedback, while emphasizing that presentation is but one tool in the buying and selling cycle. Most prospects these days would simply like to have a conversation with someone thinking beyond the close.

By: Greg Krauska

Greg Krauska — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:49:15 +0000

By: Paul Barsch

Paul Barsch — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:30:58 +0000

Harry, I like this approach for marketers with a marketing spin like, “present an objective, strategy and tactics for a product launch.” You have 15 min. Go.
I have never had a “presentation” interview, where I was asked to present as part of the interview package. I look forward to the day I get that chance. Knock ‘em dead!

By: Jim Cundiff

Jim Cundiff — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:26:45 +0000

This kind of presentation assumes that the hiring company uses the same sales presentation for each situation. If they expect this to be a predictor of sales success or even ability, I think they’re wrong. It may, at best, show who’s most comfortable in front of a crowd.
Modern sales technique would lead me to use two-thirds of the time to find the needs of the customer and one-third of the time to agree on next steps to advance toward closure.
This reminds me of the interview techniques discuss in old style Xerox PSS training where the hiring manager would ask you to sell them their pencil.

By: Lewis Green

Lewis Green — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 13:18:45 +0000

This is a great idea. I have preached (well, urged) that everyone within an organization should have their annual performance reviews based on how much they contribute to marketing and sales. That’s pretty much what companies do, if they are successful.