12 Sales Career Myths

“Many of the things you can count, don't count. Many of the things you can't count, really count.”                                                                                                                                            ~Albert Einstein  

Many people go into sales career for the wrong reasons. You may be considering sales yourself.  Here are some of the myths uncovered to shed light on misconceptions:

1.   Anyone can do it.  FALSE.  Like a nurse or a fireman, not everyone can be a sales person.  There is ongoing training and skills improvement.

2.   Your relatives tell you, you would be good at it.  FALSE.  Mom and dad think it would be nice for you to be out on your own now you are 35.

3.   You are good at meeting people.  FALSE.  It is getting harder and harder to schedule meetings with decision makers who are savvy to all the tricks and are simply too busy themselves to get caught up in meetings for the sake of meetings.

4.   It can be rewarding.  TRUE.  That comes after you’ve put in long hours, built a strong reputation and customers have come to rely on you.  You are also the person that they will turn to when something goes wrong.

5.   You're tenacious and never give up. TRUE.   It will come in handy when you hear a lot of "NOs" before a "YES".  You may not want to be too tenacious or you will be tuned out, turned off and shut down.

6.   You have the gift of the gab.  FALSE.   Sales is 3/4 listening, 1/4 talking.

7.   You get to take customers out for lunch.  FALSE.  Many companies have employees sign codes of ethics which disallows them from taking anything from suppliers or vendors in case it may be considered a bribe to win the contract.  Gifts, fishing trips, concert tickets, etc. all fall under these extra-curricular events.

8.   You’re good at golf and heard business is done on the golf courses. TRUE.  Except golf doesn’t usually start happening for a long time after a "business" relationship established.

9.   You're aggressive.  FALSE.  The best sales pros are not aggressive.  They are people oriented, and strive to do what their customers ask them to do or solve problems.

10. You can make big bucks.  TRUE.  After you spend a few years learning the trade, often you start out in a commission-only compensation, and once you’ve put in one to two years developing your client base and territory.

11. You get an expense account.  FALSE.  In today’s economy many companies have cut back or eliminated expense accounts.  However, you can save your receipts and claim them against your income tax.

12. You look good in a suit.  TRUE.  Then again, shouldn't you have a better reason than that?


The following video does an exceptional job of explaining what sales is all about and what you should expect if this is the career route you decide to take entitled "Selling is Hard Work" by Infoteam Consulting (http://www.infoteam-consulting.com/ ):

Don’t sell widgets, ask QUESTIONS

“Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers”

~ Robert Half

You read everywhere that in order to become a super star sales pro, you should ask great questions.  That hasn’t changed.  I am going to share an exercise in asking terrific questions for the aspiring or veteran sales person. 

Put everything you've learned and morph into a new dimension of “equal business stature”.  What I mean by that is instead of being programmed to do feature and benefit dumps, you should start thinking of yourself as a professional that asks real business questions.   This exercise is shared so that if you try it, you may “get it”.

If you’ve read my other blogs, you will be familiar with a consistent theme:  

• It is EASIER to sell to organizations when you understand issues that your product or service can solve
• Start as high in the organization as possible
• Ask great questions.  

If you are solely interested in selling widgets today, then this may not be the best sales Blog for you to be reading. 

If you're still with me, then that’s great!  That may mean that you want to L-E-A-R-N!  Being keen to read is second to wanting to A-S-K great questions!  I will try to explain the “jargon” and why they matter.  


Let's start out with an exercise so you can start applying what you are learning:  Write down these questions in a manner that suits your own unique style so that you are comfortable.  Try  them with your partner or room mate.  Not a colleague because that defeats the purpose -- they have a head start in understanding you.  Rotate between asking and then answering each  questions.  Convey in normal language.  You should avoid jargon, acronyms or  gibberish (because sales lingo to some seems so).  If you stumble, that is ok.  With practice, it will soon become natural and fall smoothly from your tongue.  If your partner looks at you as if you’ve started speaking in a foreign language, that’s ok.  They didn’t fall asleep did they?

1. What is your value proposition?  Hold it!  Before you pick up the phone or meet with an executive or decision maker, you better know this.  Why do customers need your product?  The best way to be able to answer this is to interview to understand why your best customers buys your product or service.  Use their words, believe them, they’re paying for you to.  Even the most vocal (some may call worst) give the the best feedback.
2. Does your product address a viable market?  Pretty simple.  No?    Look at it this way:  it is far easier to sell to  those circles that your best customers move in – i.e. their industry.  Look up their web site, read their Press Releases, who are their partners and why?  What projects or initiatives are critical to their business?  What issue(s) do you solve?  How is your product/service solving a niche in that business?  Let your competitors do feature dumps while you position yourself as the "go to guy/gal" because you understand who they are, what outside influences are impacting their industry?
3. What differentiates your product/service/company from the competition?  Sorry, I’m going to have to send you to the corner if you start spewing features and benefits.  There must be a reason you have customers otherwise you wouldn’t have a job to begin with.   Look, you know why you’re priced a certain way, manufactured to meet a particular need.  Do your homework.  Speak to the folks in research and development, question marketing on what the key message is?  Someone, somewhere did a lot of research to launch it, so why not ask them?  Offer to buy them a coffee or green tea because you want to "pick their brain".  Mentally excuse them politely when they are amazed that a sales person is actually interested!  
4. How does your business scale?   “Scalable businesses are those that can produce the next widget at a fraction of the cost.”   Here, you are conveying a deeper understanding of what you are selling.  Why not ask existing customers what makes them special, what went into their success?  Often it could even evolve into sharing what some of the problems they encountered while building their business. This is not permission to burden your audience with techno mumbo jumbo!   What does that have to do with sales?   Go directly to sell widgets based on price.
5. How committed are you?  Do you recognize an issue that your product or service solves?  Do you understand how you go beyond just selling it to ensuring that any implementation or execution has the right team on board?  Do you clock out at 5 and have your people call their people?  Does your management support your efforts even when they appear unusual because they are solving your customers needs .. which may require more resources (this is where you have to convince them in a business case how it is going to pay dividends -- their language).  The higher up you are, the better your audience can smell commission breath.   If you don’t believe me, ask them why they are so committed to the current incumbent who was on call 24/7, weekends, evenings, brought donuts (whatever) while everyone on both teams were working around the clock to meet a deadline?  You won’t need me to tell you that you can wave the best price or incentive in front of a customer who has had exceptional commitment and service.  What you will discover is they won’t budge or consider your sales “pitch”.  If you do run across this type of situation, do NOT knock your competitor!  Admire them for having the insight and integrity to ensure their commitments are made beyond the customer's expectations.
6. What are your strengths?  You, your organization, product or service has made it this far so why is that?   You have customers who buy, why do they?  Yes, many will buy strictly on price – nix them (yes, you are cancelling membership in the "sell widgets or price point" association).  Find out why some customers switched from a competitor to you.   Has your organization had to about face, change solution at the last minute based on a customer need, industry change, Government regulations?   Well then, you’ve just shown an example of how “flexible you are to meet your customers ongoing demands.”  That is a strength …  isn’t it?
7. What are your weaknesses?  If you don’t think you have any, proceed to selling widgets based on price in "The Half Price Club".  Seriously, this is where you have to be R-E-A-L-I-S-T-I-C.   Granted, we all like to be proud of whom we work for and what we do.  Yet even the APPLES of the world understand what they’re good at and what they stay away from.   “Stick to what you know and find trusted partners to handle the rest”.  A customer will appreciate honesty and not think of it as a weakness.  You can share with them at what point you stop and another service/product has to step in.  The secret here is to offer them knowledge and the option to go that route themselves or you do it for them, at a markup.  (They’re businesspeople, they “get it” that there is a cost to doing business).  The best sales pros recognize that there is more work, perhaps they don’t even get compensated for it, but in the long run it pays off if they or their team oversee completion.  It shouldn’t be surprising when a customer is prepared to pay for a markup when they’ve established trust with YOU!
8. What price are your customers willing to pay?  Straight out.  Ask what the budget is.  What are they comparing your product or service to?   I’m not suggesting you unprofessionally ask them to divulge what the competitor is offering so you can “match”.  That’s kind of tacky don’t you agree?  The gem is asking this question at the outset.  When the customer is making their needs known and you are being asked to present your proposal.  Don’t be asking it when you think the ship is sinking and you may be losing the deal.   You will lose credibility quickly.   If you’re sunk, then ask why they chose that direction.  Suck it up.  Class is what you’ll need at this point.  Take it as a valuable lesson to understand for the next time.  Unless you quit, there will be a next time.

I will be sharing more great questions to ask on your next executive sales call in future Blogposts.  First, let me know by commenting, if you liked this exercise, tried it, and see how differently you position yourself ... or making sales calls without dumping features, sales or screaming deals.

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."

~ Sir Winston Churchill

Top Guns don’t need Bullets

You can always tell the size of the man by the size of the things that upset him.

~J. B. Harris, Jr.   

Knock knock

Who’s there?

The competition.

The competition who?

The competition that knocks you!

Have you ever been in a sales situation where you discover that the competition has been saying unprofessional things about you, your company?  How about fear mongering?   What about out and out lies?  How did you handle it?  Do you call it gorilla tactics like me to incite humour into what appears to be a desperate time calling for desperate measures? 

Unfortunately, it happens far too often.   You are just about to sign a new customer and out of the blue, a bunch of questions are hurled at you.  You sense it is greater than buyer’s remorse and there is an underlying issue at hand.  Do you keep calm, and respond by saying:  “Ms. Customer, I appreciate these questions and will do my best to handle them one by one.  However, I am curious as to what really may be bothering you?”  That’s when it unfolds that your competitor, sensing a loss, is bringing out all the artillery. 

Most customers are intelligent enough to recognize when a competitor is being underhanded and trashing you in a last ditch attempt to save their own sale.  Most will appreciate when you take the high road.  Experience dictates that when competitors start trashing you, it sends alarm bells ringing to your customers.  If you start scrambling and going on the defensive, similarly raises red flags.

When faced with a competitor throwing garbage out at you, stay calm in front of the customer.  Always take the high road and avoid getting tangled up in their web.  Going on the defensive in front of your customer only acknowledges that there may be a grain of truth somewhere in the allegations.  

The biggest underlying cause of this type of behaviour is called complacency.  The competitor was caught off guard, perhaps not as attentive with the customer, kept up with ongoing changes in its business or with the decision maker.   One should never take their customers for granted.  Treat them as your best customer every day, all the time.  That way, when gorilla tactics come into play, the customer will immediately see it for what it is, shoddy fear mongering.   It is their reaction to you being a threat.

The next time a competitor starts waging war.  Shrug it off, pat yourself on the back!  You are doing a GREAT job ....  they have every reason to feel worried.  You won’t stoop to their level now will you?

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

~Dwight D. Eisenhower 

WARNING: Old Geezers Are Taking Over Social Media

Age is an issue of mind over matter.  If you don't mind, it doesn't matter

~Mark Train

As I was going through my e-mail this morning, I came to the realization that I probably should encourage my 76 year-old mother to try Google+ since Facebook bombed miserably (she didn't seem to grasp that the grand kids photos and messages were directed at their friends and not her).


When my son introduced her to the web and e-mail about seven years ago, little did we know he'd created Mrs. Frankenstein.

One thing we failed to realize was what should have been obvious: seniors have more free time on their hands than all of us combined in one day!  I must get at least five e-mails a day, ranging from:

• Catastrophic warnings to my health
• The inevitable computer crashers
• "if you don't forward this, you will have bad luck for the rest of your life"
• Unite for this cause by signing this petition if you have a conscience
• "old geezers" sex jokes

Honestly, I didn't even want to imagine my parents doing anything other than cooking my dinner or giving me my allowance when I was young, why would I want to know anything besides words of wisdom or new recipes now?

If I can get my Mom on track with Social Media, starting with Google+ because it's so user friendly, it could mean she'd still be satisfied that she's sharing under the "groove" with her kids and grandkids ... then I can read her posts in my own time and my own head space. 

I love my mom, bless her heart with all her good intentions.   Did I fail to mention English is not her native tongue?  That in itself presents a whole different matter under the umbrella of “what not to say in an e-mail”. 

The fact is:  “Geezers” are taking over Social Media.  Don’t believe me?  Watch this:

Do your senior parent or grandparent a favor:  show them how it’s done; that way, you can help them navigate the web-sphere.  Like it or not, they’re taking over.   Don’t say I didn’t warn you!  At the very least you should help them to minimize the level of embarrassment they can cause themselves (of course, not you). 

Then again, perhaps I should be content that she’s still in e-mail mode.  At least that way there is still damage control.  Or, most likely, I should call her more often to see how she's doing ... the "old fashioned" way.

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional.

~Chili Davis

RRR REcycle REuse REnew

Ok, so I may be switching it up a bit.  After all, I tend to focus on sales tips, with the a couple of sidebars.   Call me behind, or having a gigantic job underway, but I want to touch on one of my other passions – sustainability!

No, I don’t own a pair of Birkenstocks -- not that I knock people that do because I’m one in a million who are not comfortable because of a high arch … many friends would ah hem point out that it’s due to being vertically challenged, I’m accustomed to wearing heals.  Nope, I haven’t chained myself to any great tree … if you don’t count the chain link fence surrounding my yard facing a beautiful pathway to allow people to freely admire my garden as they cycle, walk, jog by.

My mother is coming to visit!  Seriously, I’m not a bad housekeeper (boy, do I miss my nanny/housekeeper) but compared to mom, who was married to my air force father for 54 years gets me cracking!  As we moved from Canada to Europe and back, there was always an inspection of our house because it was rented through the military.  Yes,  they did come in with white gloves.  The only time my mom ever got dinged was while waiting for the inspection she had a coffee (maybe it should have been whisky?) while waiting and it left a ring mark.

Everyone should have a mom like mom come visit so they can clear the clutter and clean.  Beats waiting until you move.  While prepping for the inevitable, I realized that there were quite a few items around my home that signified that I walked the walk, not just talked the talk about sustainability … from a unique angle.  I had a couple to share.

I accessorize, accessorize, accessorize!   I have more jewellery, most of it costume, than a bohemian boutique.  A few years ago, frustrated with always untangling necklaces, never mind being able to match with earring,  I came up with, what I think pretty clever idea (at the time, I thought I could retire by mass producing)  I had this old bulletin board limping from its glory days as a command center for schedules, art work, and “to do” lists.  I painted the wood around the bulletin board (please, don’t drink and draw).  Secondly, I applied leftover wallpaper to the cork board. 

Since cup hooks to neatly hang cups within cupboards were passe’ (yeah right, in your dreams I’d have anyone in my house hang cups when they can throw them in the cupboard – yup, teenagers).  I screwed the cup hooks on to the bulletin board with the wallpaper as my artistic backdrop.  Voila!   I hung up the necklaces with matching earrings looped to them and it formed almost a piece of art.

Now, you are thinking … the loyal readers that are male are tuned out.  Sigh.  Sadness settles in.  I definitely have changed tactics on sales.  Then again,  I’m passionate about coming up with ways that someone like me – a shopaholic in green heels – can do my part by making toss-away items into innovative ideas.

But guys .. this one is for you.  Sort of.  What about bras?   Did you know that bras with padding are great utility items?  Cut around the cups and you now have a silky smooth cleaning buffer!  For your vehicle!  Don’t tell me, someone “else” does the housework?  Come on .. if you can use a bra, you may partake in household chores more often.    If you use those old bras on rings around the bathtub, imagine the other instances your hand could be on a … well, never mind. 

One of my best forms of recycling that I learned from my teenage girls.  Thankfully, they limit their high cost items are their jeans.  In my day (ok, sounds old), we never paid $200 for a pair of jean!  They love excursions to Goodwill or Value Village (in Canada) second hand stores.  At first, I’d let them scour the clothes while I focussed on the book section.  Then, it became a mission.  Can you find the most expensive designer clothes at a fraction, or a fraction of a fraction, of what they’d normally cost?  I love a challenge.  Hooked, you bet!  The best part is I donate to those same stores.  Now, shopaholics, unite, you can say you RECYCLE.

In case Mom reads this.  I do have another tip.  Instead of just tossing the fabric softener into the recycling bin, I like to tip it upside down to drain the last bit of fluid, add a bit of water, then soak the sink wash cloth with the residue.  In my house, if I don’t put it into the laundry, who knows what it smells like!

A relapse from a business sales blog.  Perhaps.  Gotcha thinking?  Double the bonus then!

Canucks No Longer Schmucks. My take on the American Debt Crisis

Believe you can and you're halfway there ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Q:  VinayKG of Bangledore via Twitter DM (Direct Message):  Hey, Can you give me your expert opinion towards US recession towards end of this year? I heard there going to be recession again.

A:   Whew, what a question Vinay!  I am not sure I would consider myself an expert on the US recession, however, I did ask readers to post questions and I will answer.  Thus, I can certainly give my personal opinion on what I see from the northern border, Canada, as cousins to our US neighbours and friends considered by most in the world.

I certainly can relate to the question in the first place.  Many countries, businesses and people rely on the United States to be a strong country.    In Canada, many head offices are located in the United States.  I remembered an advisor several years ago recommend that if you want to predict what is going to happen, just watch what is going on at Wall Street.  Some would say from that advice, I have accurately predicted the domino effect for dominant leaders like Quebecor in their print division shortly after 911 based on reading about all the catalogue cancellations written up on Wall Street.  A couple of years later, they were shutting down successful operations.   It seems to always come down to money, interestingly.

Since I do a lot of driving travel, I’m glued to CNN, Fox News, etc. on Sirius Satellite.  Why not listen to what is going on than just empty space music radio?  It’s my idea of multi-tasking since I’m interested in what is going on in the world.

Think of Canada and the US relationship as that of siblings …  the United States has been like an older brother to us, who we look up to and rely upon for many things.   All of a sudden, the younger sibling starts to grow up, form opinions of its own after absorbing everything that they’ve learned and applying unique ideas, stretching itself, spreading its wings and soaring to new heights on its own.   Canada has a dollar, the US has a dollar.  The Cdn dollar has been below the US for several years.  Fast forward, through numerous events, our dollar is stronger than our cousins and our banking system is one of the strongest is the world.   Sounds to me like the younger sibling learned a lot from its older brother, made some improvements and moved on.

But, this isn’t answering Vinay’s answer …. yet.

I like President Obama.  I think of another President that I truly admired even though I was probably at a self-absorbed age when he was in power and read/learned about him long after because after leaving politics he has had the opportunity to allow his true character show through … Jimmy Carter.

I wouldn’t want President Obama’s job.  You couldn’t pay me enough.  In fact, sidebar thought, what is it that even Donald Trump who has fame, power in his own right and wealth doesn’t have it all until he has what is considered the ultimate prestige of being the President of the United States.

I relate to President Obama what many, thousands, millions of us go through.  You apply for a job, you’re given a job description, a salary yet it isn’t until you actually start the job do you REALLY discover what all the challenges are.  Oftentimes those challenges are the budget is a lot higher than you thought, or you were so mesmerized by the company or title, you didn’t really anticipate what was in store.  Then, there is this and that employee or boss who has this or that influence in making your job a living nightmare.  On top of it all, it is a bigger mess than you realized from the incumbent that you have to deal with before you can even go on to doing before any of those great ideas you presented at the interview.

It gets worse.  Your team doesn't play well together!  Your management has its own ideas and its own agenda.  Then, there are all those promises that you believed in, that vision created to get the job done ... all before you had any idea how dysfunctional the group was.


Matters are much graver than you imagined.  Your budget is blown, you’re up to your eyeballs in the red (i.e. China), you’re competitors are ten times more aggressive than you realized (Republicans), and your employees (Nation) are restless, while confidence has nose-dived from your customers (voters).

Do I think that this mess is going to be cleaned up anytime soon?  No.  Why?  Because as an outsider looking in, it looks to me more like positioning for the 2012 election is more important than cleaning the house.  Metaphorically speaking that is of course.  Or maybe not.  There is a crisis at hand and everyone seems to be more concerned with taking a stand than fixing the issues.    I like Obama.  He made “compromises” and that still wasn’t quite good enough.  A leader who makes compromises in corporate worlds is called a leader.  A President who makes compromises (think back to Jimmy Carter) is considered weak or possibly waivers. 

I’m getting closer to answering Vinay.  Perhaps I already am.  If the US cannot fix this problem, how can they move back to being the power it has been?  It is starting to look embarrassing to its cousins to the north.  After all, we are used to bickering and lobbying and disagreement because we’ve had a minority government until now.  It’s amazing how much smoother things go when the people “vote” confidence in its government. 

The power to fix the mess seems to me to be in the hands of the party who made the mess to begin with.  Is it just me, or doesn’t everyone else see it that way?   The corporate bail outs, lifting the debt ceiling, fighting competitors (foreign countries) is like giving marketing or research and development carte blanche spending power.

In the corporate world, you would not be allowed to squander money away fighting the competition.   In the corporate world, accountabilities skyrocket when profit isn’t being made.  Usually, those that spend more time pointing fingers than fixing the problems are fired.    Most corporations would love it if their customers could vote for them to stay in their jobs.  In the corporate world don’t the shareholders truly overpower customers because they look at the bottom line?  Don’t they analyse whether or not they’re getting return on their investment?  Who are the shareholders in the US?  Could it be China who finances the corporation?  I doubt it, because as long as they get their payments and earn the interest, it could continue to rack up for all they care.

Vinay, you’ve been patient … and so have the readers if they’ve stayed with us this long.  Will the US go further into a recession by year end?  Absolutely, definitely, you betcha if they continue on the path so far!   In many instances, the questions get asked in the same context as a department employees asking its manager if they should pay attention to rumours that there is an impending merger or takeover that may risk their jobs. 

What President Obama is trying to do is keep the organization together. The only difference I see between a corporation and this messy US government is …. they haven’t brought in consultants or arbitrators!!!  Where are the HR or conflict resolution professionals?

In a corporation, or even a divorce, they bring in mediators.  That is what the US needs -- an objective third party who has no hidden agenda whatsoever.  Better if it’s someone who can look at the financial and the operational side of things.  Like Canada perhaps?  However, as in many dysfunctional environments, admitting there is a problem is the first step towards a solution.   In the current US climate, it appears to me, as a humble, non-expert, nobody is willing to admit there is a problem.  Until then, we will all watch in dismay, the decline of a great nation.  Not by any other person, corporation or country’s hand but their own.

My friend, Vinay, even if the US can get it together, it doesn’t mean they won’t go into a recession because there are too many elements going against them.  However, it isn’t a guarantee.  Yet, one thing is for sure.  If they don’t, it is more than likely it will go deeper into a recession.

Hunter or Farmer: What type of sales professional do you want?

Clever people will recognize & tolerate nothing but cleverness.

 ~Henri Frederic Amiel

I am often asked how do you really find a top performing sales professional?  What characteristics or qualities can you readily identify that will ensure you’ve got a winner?  That takes me back to what my own sales manager advised me when I was replacing him and asked to a top performing sales role to my first “gig” as a sales manager:   “Hire’em, train’em, send’em out, then watch’em like a hawk!”

I wish it were as simple.  Looking back now,  I can clearly see what mistakes I made when I started and find it easy to identify new or bad managers based on repeating those same mistakes.  Good and bad managers will be left for another blog while I tackle this weighty question:  How do you reduce your risk of making a bad hire in sales?

Initially, you have to understand what type of sales professional you looking for.   Most organizations will say they're looking for "Hunters" and not order takers.  What they mean is someone who can drum up new business.  They can be titled “Business Development Representative” or simply “Sales Representative”.  They are more easily identified when you take the time to understand the Hunter mentality:

• Short sales cycles
• High call rate/activity (they will look and sound busy)
• Transactional sales:  Find’em and Close’em and Move on
• Someone else takes care of the follow through (deliverables, implementation), follow up and customer satisfaction
• They should be armed with lots of marketing pieces and tools to sell
• They will rarely make formal presentations or get involved with RFPs
• The call types are usually small to medium-sized businesses
• Networking to them is to gather as many contacts as possible
• They don’t need leads, but appreciate being fed leads once in a while
• They tend to turnover quicker because what attracts them to hunting may also go hand in hand with becoming bored with doing the same thing over and over again.
• Hunters aren’t as respected amongst colleagues because others tend to have to do clean up from the “sell at all costs” mentality.
• Make sure they are base salary + commission – reward based on results
• They will thrive in a competitive environment – post stats or sales scoreboards – that motivates them to see themselves on the top
• Don’t expect them to be a team player in the office because their game is winning sales, not fans
• They excel at “feature dumps” and may be more technically savvy with every gadget known to speed up sales
• They may be annoyed by too many meetings or impatient with training that takes them out of the hunt
• What paperwork?  You want them to make calls right?  Enter information into a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system – yeah, right, whatever you say … then back out they go.
• They may drive you crazy when you have to constantly remind them to complete administrative tasks.  On time?  When’s that?
• There will be several fish stories and a few whales that got away
• Research for leads is scanning newspapers or web Career Section
• In when the boss is, lunch with "prospects" and out of the office at 5

If you’re still gungho on taking on a Hunter, you should have a plan on how you will take care of existing customers or new customers once they’re signed.  For the sake of clarity, we’ll call them Customer Service.  Here are questions that should be addressed:

•  Are these personnel trained to handle complex issues?
• If existing customers are your bread and butter, should they be left in the hands of someone who may not be your most experienced employee?  
• Is there an elevation process to move up quickly to solve issues?
•  Does someone proactively call on customers before issues come up?
• Who monitors your company's service level agreements are being met? 
• Does anyone personally call on the your customer's place of business?
• How do you promote new product offerings to existing customers?
• Do you identify customers levels?  By revenue?  How they do business? Or frequency?   i.e. Business to Business (B2B),  mid-level, major accounts or enterprise.
• Who can keep track of whether competitors are swimming around your customers, low-balling to get in the door, and you only find out after they've already left by the donut crumbs (zeros) on the revenue sheet?
• If you bog your sales reps down with administrative tasks, writing their own proposals, composing RFPs from scratch, doing their own estimating, etc. etc. is it fair to call them a Hunter?

What often paralyses organizations is when you point out  “take care of your customers and your customers will take care of the bottom line” ...  or,  it takes 85% more effort to attract a new customer than it takes to keep existing customers happy.  This is where there is a disconnect.  Organizations want to pay someone commission to find the new customer and then have them move on to find more.   That is fine as long as you understand:

• How do you define new business?  New customers or net new revenue?
• Who manages the relationship with the customer?
• How are you going to take care of new customers once they sign on?
• Do you know whether the customer bought the person selling them just as much as the organization, service, product?
• At what stage or how do they transition from the rep to someone else?
•  How complicated is the sales process?  
• Is pre- and post-sales support required?
• How long are the sales cycles?
• Is your offering transactional business that churns quickly?
• Do you support sales efforts with captivating marketing or sales tools like brochures, samples or demos?
• How accurately are the territories aligned?
• Are you giving kudos to a rep who carries a $750,000 territory and increases new business by 10% and not to another rep who carries $1.5 million but only increases new business by 5%?

If you want your sales reps to do the hunting while the organization takes  care of the business they sell, that is completely fine.  However, depending on the answers above, sales cycle, ongoing involvement required, you may hire an Account Executive or Account Manager.  They come packaged looking like a  “Farmer” with most or all of the following attributes:

• Builders of strong and lasting relationships
• Not as high activity as their Hunter counterparts; there is a balance between hunting versus taking care of existing customers; more of latter
• They will be thorough because they care about their reputation
• They can be annoying by being actively concerned and want to be involved during any implementation process
• They will do follow up, know everyone and everything about the customer
• They’ll research a prospect, understand who’s who, what’s before they pick up the phone or enter the premises
• Networking to them is within the context of their customers' industry so they can attend their events, see them in their own environment, with their peers and learn more about the customer's business
• Yes, they appear to spend time doing pretty power points customized to who/what they’re presenting
• They rely on referrals more than cold calls, because they’re warm and a testiment to their hard work and reputation
• The new business  may not be from brand new customers, but from brand new individuals or departments within their customer base
• There will be little clean up from over promising and under delivering
• They will have  ideas on how to make the life of “their” customers easier
•  They won’t turnover, as long as you recognize the value they bring
• Don’t criticize their sales efforts, new business means new revenue 
•  Paperwork will usually be detailed, updates whether you want it or not
•  CRMs are conscientiously updated because they want to track and remember each customer as though each one is their only one (that is how they will be treated)
• They won’t mind meetings as long as it is discussing their customers, resolving issues, coming up with innovative ideas to manage customers better.
• You may wonder if that rep leaves if that customer will leave with them?
• They will be more of a team player because they’re open to learning better ways to retain their customers or new avenues to create revenue from their warm pool.
• Chances are while everyone else is sharing whale tales or discussing sports scores, they're at their customer's office or working at their desk; they'd rather not discuss it until its done
• You probably don't notice what time they start in the morning, unless it seems late, failing to notice dark circles under their eyes

This sometimes circles back to organizations rethinking the original complaint that they want hunters.   Many sales managers fall short on this area.  Especially new sales managers.  Ask yourself:  as long as revenue is growing, what is the problem with feeding off existing customers?  The predisposition is to expect new customers.  Many executives love the war stories of Hunters and think that they must be doing extraordinary. What is wrong  with new revenue channels from existing customers?  Aren’t the results the same?  The challenge being, you can't rely on existing customers in the long run.

As a matter of fact, most end up with Farmers because they actually prefer the behaviours of a Farmer.    They are easier to manage.  They don’t turnover as much, nor do they strain the organization resources as much as a hunter does.  

By now, you may be irritated.  What you really want is new revenue.  Well, then you have to decide what that new revenue will look like and how it will be managed once it arrives.

Often times,  the people doing the pre-screening are not sales people.  Unfortunately, the mediocre sales pros are sometimes better at selling themselves than producing results.  The Hunter is who HR tends to gravitate towards if they're pressured to hire someone that can sell.   In some circles, Hunters can be stereotyped as “bottom feeders”.  From my perspective, if you're not careful, they'll tell you what you want to hear then afterwards eat your bottom line.

Personally, I’d opt for the person who is attentive, appears to be somewhat humble, and asks great questions.  I understand that high turnover in sales actually detracts from creating revenue streams.  Many short-lived sales people result from being fakes, not being able to add value or deliver results.  I get it that there are ones that may actually look like a Farmer but still have the Hunter instincts.  That's when you have  found Utopia.