Telehealth_2the_Moon

Director of Business Development

Warning signs someone isn't cut out for sales?

We have all seen the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed come in with all intentions of "crushing their quota bruh" but then crash, maybe immediately or maybe 3-6 months down the line. They end up leaving or being asked to leave.

What types of things are you looking out for on someone's first few days on the job to see if they are going to end up going this route?

🥎 Training

🧢 Sales Management

💆‍♂ Mindset

11 comments

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

It's hard to tell in the first few weeks. Most folks are highly motivated and eager to learn during the honeymoon...but you can start to see signs of burnout in 6-8 weeks of the job.

They start to really feel the impact of "no" after calls, leading to demotivation. They try 100 ways to do the same thing rather than trying one and sticking with it for a longer period of time. They end up talking more shit about the job than doing it with their colleagues (either in person or on Slack).

This is why I believe in 1:1s from week 1. Set expectations, take temperature checks and allow them space to share their concerns/needs/blockers so that you can both see the signs before they become problems.

Telehealth_2the_Moon

Notable Contributor

Director of Business Development

Definitely onboard with the regular occurring 1:1s! It's not enough to say "my door is open", if you actually want honest engagement from your team sometimes you gotta start out by making them come through that door.

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

So true, all too often reps give up on a strategy before really testing it enough to determine its effectiveness.

funcoupons

WR Officer

👑

Like others have said, it's really tough to tell within the first week, or even first few weeks. I think by three months in you have a good ideas to whether the person's heart is really in it or not.

At that point, warning signs would be showing up late/taking long breaks when they didn't previously, talking shit with co workers, not contributing to team brainstorming or meetings, being offended at or unwilling to be coached, being unable to handle their emotions when getting rejected or having a difficult call with a prospect, putting in low amounts of activities, and someone who was previously energetic and talkative turning quiet and sullen.

Telehealth_2the_Moon

Notable Contributor

Director of Business Development

Thanks for the thoughtful response!

paddy

WR Officer

Director of Business Development

I wouldn't be looking in the first few days for warning signs. Some people don't really master their craft for months. I'd say around 6 months is when you really want to start evaluating someone and understanding what their career goals are.

Telehealth_2the_Moon

Notable Contributor

Director of Business Development

I agree totally. Another way to think of this question would be, what are some signs early on that make you think this person will need additional help?

Nothing wrong with having to put more time and effort into training someone, one of the best employees I've ever had was probably the slowest to get up to speed.

sales7

Politicker

Commercial Product Enablement

I think it's actually not difficult to tell early on, usually they're not paying attention in onboarding or misunderstanding the important information they need, doesn't set them up for success.

Smithy

Politicker

Director of Sales

Listening to feedback, hard working and doing stuff in their own time.

if they start making excuses, blaming everyone else and slumping in activity in the early weeks, then they ain’t gonna cut it

SaaSam

Politicker

Account Executive

When I managed a team of SDRs I would usually make my predictions based on how they asked for help. If they were essentially asking me to do something for them they didn't usually last long at all.

If they asked me to explain how something worked and then started their own trial and error those were the guys topping the leader board even 6 months later

Telehealth_2the_Moon

Notable Contributor

Director of Business Development

That's a good one, I like that a lot. Shows they want to actually learn and not just be told!

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Telehealth_2the_Moon

Warning signs someone isn't cut out for sales?

11 comments

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