The challenge owners of business have!
Have you ever wondered why some owners of business hire the right staff while you are not?
You may think that just happens or that there are not good employees out there anymore, and that might be partly true.
But, let me tell you this because at Vparagon we have a huge experience on the topic.
To hire good people, you have to make your offer attractive while also addressing 3 things:
- What you really want
- What qualities your employee should have
- Exactly what you offer
Are you sincere in your offerings or are you trying to hire someone by using the following methods?
Because if you are, I guarantee you the person that you are going to hire is going to be the wrong one.
The “Forever Commission” Promise. Owners of business wrong benefit 1.
You promise to your employees that the commissions that they are going to earn from you are going to be forever.
Now, can you clarify this?
When you say “forever,” what exactly do you mean? Forever as long as they are working with you, or even after they leave this job? What happens if your company goes bankrupt after some years? Is there going to be a legal contract ensuring your employees about this or is just your verbal promise? And even if there is a legal contract, how realistic is from part of the employee to pursue this money?
The “Commission Only” Project. Owners of business wrong benefit 2.
It is fantastic that you are straight enough to offer commissions only, which I think is the best and most honest way working with someone. However, the “commissions only” offer often is the most stupid offer that can be offered.
Let me explain.
“Commission only” means that there is no risk from your part which means that if you employee sells, then you are going to give him a percentage of what he sold. So far, so good?
My question now is this:
Do you have a history of selling or is it a new product that you have no idea if it is going to sell or not? And the history you have refers to an average salesman or this super sales girl you used to employee 5 years ago?
The clients that your employee is going to visit or call are clients that showed interest on the product or are just cold visits (calls), because if that’s the case, the selling is going to be way more difficult, with way less results.
Does your employee have access to ALL the leads or do you keep the juicy ones for yourself because you do not want to give the commission to him?
Long story short – The “commission only” offer is only good if the salesperson can make money out of this offer. If not, he is going to stay with you for some weeks and then leave, and then you are going to start searching for a new salesperson from scratch again. UNSERIOUS PRACTICES FOR UNSERIOUS BUSINESSMEN.
What you can offer is this:
- Commission only if you know that your product sells
- Commission only after some months after your employee starts to bring results
- A combination of commissions and fixed salary
Promise me. Owners of business wrong benefit 3.
Can you promise me you are going to achieve that amount of sales monthly?
Can you promise me you are going to double the revenue in 6 months?
Cheap questions from incapable hiring managers.
How can someone promise you something like this? Or, do you know that and you are just putting the question off to bind him in this promise?
One way or the other, that is a cheap question that reflects a cheap company.
There are no cheap ways to attract good employees and questions out of context show low quality.
The “Life Quality” Promise. Owners of business wrong benefit 4.
Go sell with life quality to the 20-year-old ones you want to find and there is no way you are going to hire a competitive salesperson by promising air conditioning in the office, 9 – 5, without offering a good package of money to be earned. You pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
The “Nice-Words Job Description”. Owners of business wrong benefit 5.
What exactly is the job you are offering? Many companies are offering sales jobs by describing them with different names. And yes, with this tactic you are going to make your telephone ring more times and yes you are going to have more interviews. My question now is this: Do you want that? You are going to bring people for an interview under false promises and when they are going to discover the truth they are going to reject it, or even if they get hired they are going to leave after some time.
Be exact and precise on the job you are offering. It’s not about the quantity of people you are going to attract, but a question of quality. It’s better to have 3 interviews and you hire one, that have 60 interviews and you hire the wrong person.
The Career Promises. Owners of business wrong benefit 6.
“For although the act condemns the doer, the end may justify him.” – Niccolo Machiaveli
This is the sneakiest of all methods. You put a job description add and you promise a career in your company. If there are realistic chances for a career, fair enough, but if there aren’t (and you know this), you are just taking advantage of the desire and the naivety of young employees to make them work for you with the promise that someday they are going to become a high executive in your company.
As you can see, I give this method a separate place in this list. The reason why is that it can work for you for many years, until the point that the young naïve guy/girl you employed once, realizes that this was all lies.
Does the, “whatever it takes” rule apply here?
In my opinion, “whatever it takes” is good, however, certain ethical boundaries must be set.
Not only because that’s the right thing to do, not only because we businessmen have the responsibility to create a better, more ethical world, but most of all because “what goes around comes around” – and if you decide to go that path, expect to be treated accordingly.
