Kevin OBrien

IT staffing sales is not an easy job. In fact, it is quite difficult, and that is why those that excel end up making quite a nice living. In a mature market where buyers are savvy, breaking down doors is a tough task to accomplish. However, becoming successful is a feat that new reps can achieve by building a base of self confidence and a can-do attitude. I remember a quote by Zig Ziglar , a historical motivational speaker, that talks to this very topic: “We all need a daily check up from the neck up to avoid stinkin ‘thinkin’ which ultimately leads to hardening of the attitudes”. Although a large part of selling relates to the mental state of the person, there are additional steps that, when applied, can help your team from becoming their own worst enemy in the sales process.

Here are 5 ways to position sales reps for...

A strategy that we strongly recommend with our clients and customers: hire slow and fire fast when evaluating sales and marketing personnel. We can’t understate this concept. As a side from other articles that refer to this particular strategy, we’ve decided to talk about the derivative of the entire hiring spectrum and focus in our area of play which lands squarely in the S&M function. This model should apply to all areas of a company, but not nearly as much as with sales and marketing. In this article, I’ll focus on the Sales side of the house and will address the Marketing side in an article next week.

In our humble opinion, hiring...

As we approach yet another Halloween season, we think about all of the scary things in the workplace and ponder their effects on our job. And, as the year winds down, sales managers are tagged with determining quotas for 2012 and measuring reps on 2011 results; a most scary exercise.

Part of the new year planning process always includes assessing what new additions will be made to the sales force- not an easy task. We all know that hiring sales reps is a very difficult undertaking since we have no idea as to whether or not the person can perform. This process could produce a deadly outcome if the wrong decisions are made.

As part of the Halloween theme, we’ve identified 5 scary creatures that should be avoided (or terminated) as you plan your 2012 sales personnel strategy.

Since we’ve been marketing to (and with) Contact Center Outsourcers, we’ve come across a common scenario. The Cliff’s Notes Version of what we hear is as follows: We’re a Contact Center that uses software>We’ve developed our own platform to use with our clients>We’ve modified it to the point where we think it is a fantastic, game changing product>It’s good enough to take to market as a standalone product>We will become a provider of technology, as well as a call center outsourcer.

We have heard this from at least 10 different companies in the call center space and the trend continues to grow. Why? Because the executives of these businesses want to expand their revenue models beyond selling call time and conversions. The one-to-many recurring revenue model is too attractive to pass up. However, it’s a very different business, requiring a different set of skills and operational capabilities.

Therefore, since we’ve been on both sides of the fence, we decided to list the...