Are You Hiring Salespeople Who Are Hungry for Knowledge?

In my sales management days, I often sat across from prospective new hires passionately pitching me to hire them.

“I can sell anything! I always meet or exceed my sales goals! I can partner with anyone! I am easy to manage… a self starter… a team player… a top gun…”

Sound familiar?

One day I sat across from a man named Ed who, for some strange reason, never memorized this stereotypical sales interview script.

Ed did not tell me he would become my very best sales person, he did not tell me he could sell any product to anyone and he did not tell me everything I ever needed to know about my company’s market, the industry or the global economy.

Instead, Ed said, “I want to learn.”

He explained further, “I come from a technology sales background, but I like houses. I think they would be fun to sell. Can you teach me?”

Ed’s honesty and genuine desire to learn made me sit up and take notice. He was different for sure, but could he transition from technology sales to new home sales?

Maybe.

But did I believe he would do everything in his power to truly learn the ropes? Absolutely! It was refreshing!

I hired Ed and, from that day on, he went to work like a sponge. Ed absorbed every bit of training and coaching I could give him, fine-tuning his skills and asking me back to his community repeatedly so he could practice (role play) with me.

Ed carried no ego and felt no embarrassment from failure. With all his heart, he simply wanted to get better and better at his job.

Over time, I found myself driving out to Ed’s community to work with him on days that I needed a boost. Ed always greeted me outside his sale office door, waving and smiling. He always appeared eager to talk about the latest training and always asked questions about what he was learning.

I am no saint in this story. I assigned Ed to my worst community. From the perspective of the rest of my team, this community was where sales people went to die.

When I transferred people here, they would either submit their resignation or ask if I planned to fire them.

Quite frankly, I just needed a warm body to fill the spot and Ed was happy to oblige. In fact, Ed felt tickled pink with the position!

By the end of the year, Ed miraculously turned his post into my second top selling community.

What???

From a business standpoint, we did not change a thing: not the product, not the spec level, nothing. Except of course, we started increasing prices as Ed started selling!

Ed finished the year at 170% of his quota and earned our Rookie of the Year award.

So where did Ed’s tremendous success come from?

Was it his amazing sales leader? Nope. I frankly hired him out of desperation just to fill a seat.

Was his success due to a major market upswing? Nope. The market stayed the same.

A decrease in competitors? Nope. The competitive landscape remained unchanged.

Ed’s success sprung from within because he did two things exceptionally well:

1) Ed genuinely hungered for knowledge

2) Ed genuinely and enthusiastically cared about his customers

Ed focused not on himself and his own success but, instead, focused on others and their happiness.

Ed wanted to change the world for his customers and, in turn, dramatically changed his own.