Though they have been around for years, advertising networks recently reached a pinnacle in terms of customer demand and market trends. This popularity has top sales professionals not only flocking to these positions but also giving in to the temptation of the lucrative deals being dangled before them by recruiters seeking to steal the best and the brightest to staff their client companies.

Unfortunately, many of these job-hopping ad network pros may soon discover that multiple positions in this hot niche don’t look so hot on their resumes. They may have been aggressively recruited to those greener pastures, but by quickly deserting one opportunity in favor of another they are demonstrating a lack of loyalty and dedication – and are missing the chance to build a track record of success that sets them apart from the pack.

Similar to an online public relations agency, ad networks give companies extensive market reach for a fraction of the cost compared to buying advertisements directly from each online outlet. That is because ad networks allow media buyers to efficiently coordinate ad campaigns across multiple websites. This, in turn, allows ad buyers to reach broad online audiences easily through run-of-category and run-of-network buys.

While opportunities abound in this market, sales professionals should consider their options carefully before jumping ship. With 80% of candidates in the ad network environment labeled as “fluid job hoppers,” it is a trend that is reminiscent of the rapid turnover of software sales pros during that industry’s boom.

The software boom ended and many stars found themselves all but unemployable because of their spotty track records and lack of company or customer loyalty.

That is why ad network sales representatives should learn from their software counterparts’ mistakes and be wary about jumping at every new opportunity. When the boom ends, they’ll find themselves competing – mostly unsuccessfully – with those few true professionals who stayed the course at their existing companies and took the time to nurture long-term relationships.

Thus my advice to all ad network sales professionals is: slow down! Don’t let your ego drive your career into the ground. Instead, stay the course at your existing organization and learn to grow your and their revenue. By acquiring long-term success, you will establish a track record that will ultimately advance your career.

I also have some advice for companies seeking to hire top ad network sales talent. Despite the high percentage of job hoppers, there are true professionals out there. The best way to find them is to partner with a recruitment firm that has a proven track record of success in this niche market. The best firms will not only vet out job hoppers but will also make sure they match the right professional with the client organization’s needs.

You work so hard to recruit sales people, but are you making them want to leave your company just as quickly? Listen to Lee Salz share with you, how to avoid this trap.

With Generation Y continuing to expand its numbers in the sales force, employers and hiring managers alike are finding that these young professionals present some unique challenges. The camps are decidedly split on how business will be affected by this generation, which has earned a reputation for being difficult.

I believe that the challenges presented by Generation Y are offset by the fact that those of us in the “older” generations have much to learn from these tech-savvy twenty-somethings.

On the minus side, many Gen Y professionals tend to demand of employers, “What can you do for me?” rather than asking what they can do to prove themselves. One prospect even went so far as to tell me that they were seeking a new position because their responsibilities had increased but their pay had not. This was not a case of being assigned a sizable new sales district or being promoted to team leader. Rather, the Gen Y worker was given minor responsibilities on top of the existing workload.

It is also not uncommon for Gen Y recruits to become frustrated in the workforce because their expectations for immediate gratification are not being met. While this desire to see success is a positive attribute in any sales professional, when too much is expected too soon, the young salesperson’s tendency is to perform less diligently than more seasoned Gen X and Baby Boom counterparts.

On the plus side, there is a lot to learn from this generation regarding the efficient use of technology for effective communication. Because of their natural gravitation toward the latest and greatest technology, members of Generation Y have embedded in them a desire to be fast and efficient. This is evident in their usage of and comfort with the instant nature of text, email and social networking – proficiencies from which all sales professionals can benefit.

My advice to anyone working with Generation Y sales professionals is to help them temper their expectations. Coach them to stay on course long enough to achieve the success they expect rather than job-hopping from impatience and frustration.  Lead by example. Show them that by giving their all, they will eventually succeed.

True sales leaders will find that by mentoring this young generation and showing them that success requires dedication, everyone will benefit from the track record these young professionals are capable of building.

Original Post: By Seth Cline – Forbes.com

As the nation’s economic recovery repeatedly jerks forward and then stumbles, here’s some good news: 11 of 12 major industries are posting more jobs online than a year ago, according to data gathered by Indeed.com. Indeed.com, which aggregates online job postings, found that the transportation, hospitality and retail industries are posting the largest increases in job listings over last year. Each had at least 40% more job listings in June 2010 than in June 2009, despite the weak improvement in overall employment numbers recently.

Transportation industry job postings are up 73% from a year ago, including 20,000 new ones since April, making the industry by far the fastest growing of the 12. The top transportation job titles: driver, stocker and similar shipping- and freight-related positions.

In Pictures: The Industries Where Jobs Are Growing Most

The U.S. Department of Labor considers transportation a high-growth industry. It has benefited from new technology that allows cargo to be tracked and delivery times to be more precise, but also it is cyclical and often mirrors trends in the national economy. In fact, transportation job postings have increased substantially since January, coinciding with modest improvements in unemployment.

Hospitality has also experienced a jump in online job postings over the last year, specifically in the food service sector. The old saying that people will always need to eat is backed up by Indeed.com’s findings.

“The industry’s recent job growth was driven by an uptick in restaurant sales in recent months. Eating and drinking place sales rose each month from February to May,” according to Bruce Grindy, chief economist at the National Restaurant Association, writing in an e-mail. “Restaurant industry job growth generally coincides with industry sales growth, so when sales pick up as a result of pent-up demand, the jobs will typically follow.”

Another winner in Indeed.com’s survey is the retail industry, whose already numerous job postings increased 41% in the last year. Customer service positions are by far the most posted jobs in retail, because of the importance to businesses of cost-efficiency and loyalty, says Bill Gessert, president of the International Customer Service Association. “There’s always been growth in our industry, but it is accelerating in a down economy,” he adds. “It is less expensive to keep the customers you have than to try to go out and win new customers.”

The one industry that failed to report employment growth over the past year is real estate, which saw its job postings decline by 4%. Real estate also has the fewest postings of any industry, a full 15,000 less than the next-lowest industry, media and newspapers.

The Brooks Group - Sales Management - July 2010
From what we see, the economy might be turning around. A lot of our clients are asking for our help hiring new, top-performing salespeople. It’s work we enjoy. We’re told they’re having a hard time because two things are happening:

1. The best salespeople have jobs and aren’t looking.
2. When sales managers start actively looking for candidates, they get a flood of weak ones. That means they need help separating those who will perform from those who won’t.
   In order to deal with these challenges, there are a few things sales managers should do.

Use an Assessment. Granted, we’re biased because a significant portion of our work is spent providing clients with assessments to hire top-performing salespeople, but we stand by this point. An assessment should provide insight into the behaviors, values, skills, and attitudes of a candidate even before you spend your time interviewing them. In fact, a strong assessment ought to give you a clear picture of the likelihood of a candidate’s success.

A key element in the successful use of an assessment is combining it with a job benchmark. It’s important to objectively compare a candidate to the job you’ll be asking them to perform. By comparing them, you can easily see how much difference there is between the two and determine whether the differences in skills are too great.

As an aside, check out our whitepaper on Hiring Salespeople (Safely Under the Law).

Always be Recruiting. Keep your eyes open for good, quality talent. Even in a down economy, don’t stop looking for talent to bring into your organization. There’s no telling who you might find in your travels. A great candidate might be lurking somewhere nearby.

Just as salespeople are encouraged to ensure that everyone around them is familiar with what they do (some call this the “three-foot rule” – everyone within three feet of you should know what you do), the same can be said of your role as a sales manager. Even if you have no plans to hire a new salesperson, make sure others around you know that you’re always looking for talented salespeople.

Build a Strong Sales Culture. An organization with a strong sales culture is one in which the sales department is profitable, well-managed, and respected organization-wide. As a VP of Sales or sales manager, it’s important for you to work on profitability and management. If you follow-through on those two, you’ll be in a better position to garner the last, which is organization-wide respect.

Building a profitable, well-managed sales department involves the things we write about every month in this newsletter – being in the field, measuring the right things, and hiring top-performers. It’s harder than it looks. We know that! But, it’s up to you to make it happen.

In the end, recruiting top-talent in a down economy takes a lot of work. In many ways, it requires more attention, more focus, and more time than when things are good. But, if you do it well, it’s worth it.

Right on cue, sales and marketing hiring is on the upswing. With that comes a “need for speed” in the recruitment process, because hiring managers who take too long to make their decision run a very real risk of losing their top candidates.

The hiring rebound isn’t a surprise. The 2010 Economic Survey conducted by Naviga Business Services projected that companies would again be hiring in 2010, with the bulk of activity taking place in the second quarter. What the survey couldn’t have projected is the speed at which it reverted to a job seeker’s market – at least for those candidates representing the top of the sales and marketing profession.

But many hiring managers are finding that it has done just that. Those who take too long finding the absolute perfect professional often discover that when they are ready to extend an offer, that ideal candidate has vanished. They allowed the process to drag on and the candidate has given up, moved on or simply lost interest.

Though initial signs of recovery started to emerge late in the fourth quarter of 2009, speed in the hiring process wasn’t quite so critical. Sales and marketing jobs were still scarce. Candidates were still willing – and even expected – to wait for prospective employers to wend their way through a lengthy recruitment process.

Now, however, it is not unusual for top sales and marketing professionals to have multiple job offers in play. For employers, that means that once a prospect’s interest has been captured, they must be prepared to continue moving that candidate forward along the recruitment path.

Once momentum has been established, it must be maintained or that candidate is very likely to drop out of consideration. It could be because they’ve accepted another position, or it could be because they perceive a lack of respect on the part of an employer who appears to be stringing them along.

To “win” the top sales and marketing professionals on the market today, hiring managers must show that they respect a candidate enough to keep moving the process forward. They must take decisive action and avoid prolonging the process. It is no longer safe to assume that a top pick will wait for weeks on end to move to the next stage.

In short, in today’s hiring environment, hiring managers who snooze, lose.

An interesting question was recently brought to my attention:  Should we resurrect the 100% commission sales position?

This topic has long been the subject of heated debate within the sales profession. On one side, there are those who believe that full commission positions are not only alive and kicking, but that companies should make them more appealing to hesitant sales pros by offering enhanced incentives and showcasing the income of top sales people to demonstrate earning potential.

Others, like me, are more divided on the subject. While 100% commission positions do have their place in sales, they aren’t always a good option for either the company or the sales professional. Certainly A Players can be wildly successful in 100% commission positions, but finding them is a major challenge. For many companies, these positions are recruitment and retention nightmares that result in low sales and high turnover.

While there are high caliber sales professionals who have the entrepreneurial spirit and drive necessary to make a 100% commission position work for themselves and the company, you have to dig very deep to find them. Too often, whether it’s justified or not, top sales pros perceive the companies offering commission-only positions as less-than-reputable.

The other problem with commission-only positions is that they haven’t kept up with the changes to the sales profession. Sales is far more than simply selling a widget and moving on. Today’s most successful sales organizations have recognized that success requires adopting a consultative, partnership approach that results in long-term client relationships.

By offering a base plus commission, hiring managers are acknowledging that they value sales people with much higher levels of education and experience than ever before – qualities that are neither cheap nor easy to find.

That is why I always encourage my clients to rethink their stance on commission-only positions. However, if they are insistent, I urge them to at least offer some level of draw against commissions and some type of guarantee. This demonstrates to prospective hires that the company is seeking a long-term, mutually beneficial relationship with their sales team. It shows good faith, which ultimately leads to higher caliber sales professionals and lower turnover.

Hiring sales people from the competition always seems like a no-brainer, but there are many pitfalls with this hiring strategy. Lee Salz discusses that sales hiring is daunting for companies of all sizes. The key is to have a profile of your ideal sales candidate and interview the prospects against it. This will help you find the right sales talent for your team whether they worked for your competitor or not.

It’s one of the more challenging job interview questions: “What would your colleagues say about you?” Instead of fumbling around for an answer, prepare for it ahead of time and you can slam dunk this difficult personal question.  

• Why Ask Interview Questions Like This?  Most prospective employers ask this interview question to see if the description you give synchs up with the impression you’re making. “Some people are really good at interviewing,” says Sarah Baker Andrus, director of external relations and academic programs at CutCo in Olean, New York. “It’s a great way to measure if the person is the real deal.”  It’s also handy when doing due diligence. “Asking candidates this question also gives me something concrete to discuss when I call their work references,” she says. “They’ll either gush or pause, and either way it’s telling.” 
•  Ask Your Sources:  It’s a good idea to check in with former colleagues and employers to find out how they’d answer this question. Their answers will give you some useful material. Additionally, this will help you identify who among them would be good references.  “I would start thinking about coworkers who look on you favorably,” suggests Kathleen Steffey, founder and CEO of Naviga Business Services, a sales and marketing recruiting firm in Tampa. “Send these people a little friendly but honest feedback survey in advance that asks them how they felt about your work.”  Lee Perrett, a senior vice president with Tyler & Company, a healthcare executive search firm advises you “pick the best replies that can be tied back into the position or company you are interviewing with.”  If you don’t feel comfortable reestablishing contact, go back through your performance appraisals and pick out keywords like hard-working, tenacious, great attention to detail, excellent salesperson, etc. “A potential hiring manager may check your references, so it’s important to be honest and consistent with the feedback you give the interviewer, and the feedback the former manager or colleagues will give,” he cautions.  
• Respond Thoroughly:  Avoid the temptation to use those key descriptors as your complete answer, however. Instead, use that information to introduce concrete results. Anyone can say they’re reliable, for instance, so you want to show how you were reliable.  “An applicant is going to be seen as much more sincere and believable if they have tangible, articulated examples,” explains Rick Moore, a senior vice president for staffing firm Volt Services Group. “By having a clear example, they have created an image that the interviewer can easily relate to and reflect upon at the conclusion of the dialogue. Think: How can I use real life situations and describe something well enough that the interviewer feels like they were there?’”  

Andrus has another idea. Use the question as an opportunity to show you’re interested in improving by saying something like this: “My boss would probably tell you I didn’t get off to the greatest start, but by the end of the summer she knew she could count on me” followed by an example of that. “Talk about a challenge you had and overcame related to how people saw you,” she notes.   Now you’ve got the keys to unlock one of the toughest interview questions you may be asked. A little networking and some preparation will put you at ease with answering interview questions like this one.    

The vehicle that introduces sales people to companies is a resume, but there are secrets hidden in the resume that hiring managers should know before they interview a candidate.

In Lee Salz’s sales management career, he would bet that he’s seen about 5,000 resumes for sales people. Yet, he still hasn’t seen one that shows someone who has achieved 40% of quota. Every single resume shows 100%, 200%, 2,000,000% of goal. Where are all of the people who have had less than stellar sales performances? Did they all leave the sales profession? If all of the resumes that he saw truly represented the performance of the individual, the U.S. economy would be thriving to say the least. Every company would be enjoying record revenue performances.

Think about this: The resume review should not occur for the first time with the candidate sitting in front of you. An effective interview requires preparation. As such, the resume should be studied and areas of question identified so that questions can be asked of the candidate during the interview. What areas should be perused? Here are five areas of a sales resume that require detailed attention.