I've hired and fired several sales execs in my life (not a 1:1 ratio but pretty close). Selling is hard - the average sales exec probably has a half life less than 24 months. Maybe I'm just bad at picking them.
Here is a typical decision tree that I used in the past (note I just made this up five minutes ago but it summarizes my thinking at the time). What is really hard for a sales guy are the "maybe" decisions. If the tech guy is really good - he may convince the CEO that the product is fine but the sales team just doesn't know how to sell.
So if you are in sales - my heart bleeds for you. You have an incredibly hard job in an incredibly tough market. Remember it's not you (well it may be you) - it's just the nature of the job.
Enlighting process,
It would then be good to know how you hire them!
Posted by: E. | March 18, 2009 at 09:52 AM