Sales – the times are a changing…..

When I first started in the recruitment industry in the late 80’s the focus of most business leaders was reducing cost and growing profit through efficiency improvement – we placed people in continuous improvement, business process re-engineering, methods studies, MRP systems implementation, application of technology to control processes etc.

Then in the 90’s as Neil Rackman (Spin Selling) points out, there was a shift in focus to business growth through acquisition – this was the period of revenue growth through takeovers, mergers and acquisition. Many of us remember this period for retrenchments at middle management level as businesses where merged and rationalised. Demand was strong for legal, accounting, management consulting people with M&A experience, strategic business process re-engineering, ERP implementations etc.

Now in 2010 there shift to organic revenue growth through increasing sales. The focus of most CEO’s is on increasing market share by winning more business. However in the current market increasing sales is not as easy as it was 10 years ago, the market is far more sophisticated – through the use of web based technology, clients are able to carry out research and obtain information to enable them to make informed decisions about what is available in the market. Changes in the way large corporates are doing business including increased reliance on purchasing departments to secure preferred supplier deals via head office – clients expect more and want to pay less.

Transactional sales people are finding it increasingly difficult. The nature of successful sales people is changing. . I am amazed when I receive a cold telephone call that starts with the sound of a set of lungs being loaded with air followed by a hard sell in form of a barrage of words designed to minimise my ability to get a word in – a verbal assault followed by an attempt to close…. I don’t like being sold to like that and in my experience that kind of sales is at best ineffective and often damaging..

I am happy to receive a call from a salesperson who has researched my company / industry and approaches me with a targeted, thought provoking question that identifies a business need. They generally don’t sound like stereotypical sales people, they don’t need to sound overly confident and generally they listen more than they talk. Hence the strong growth in demand for Solution Sales people with strong subject matter expertise and well developed communication and relationship skills such as listening, ability to ask intelligent & probing questions, patience to get the full picture before offering a solution.

Hence there is strong demand for high calibre consultative sales professionals who understand relationship based, solutions oriented consultative sales combined with the drive to grow a business and achieve targets.

If you need help in developing and executing a strategy to identify, recruit and on-board high calibre sales people call Geoff Cooper MD or Tony Horrocks GM on 02 9431 6526 for an initial discussion..

Engineering and Technical Market Sentiment
At the end of 2009, there was a clear shift in the hiring outlook of our clients within the
engineering, manufacturing and technology sectors. From Oct 2008 through to mid 2009 we
saw a rapid decline in recruitment with a corresponding increase in redundancies. Even
businesses who maintained or continued to grow in profitability implemented hiring freezes,
particularly multinational organisations. By the end of 2009 market sentiment was improving
markedly, riding on the generation of several infrastructure projects, increased business
confidence led to a marked increase in recruitment activity.

Employee Sentiment
Through the Global Financial Crisis in 2009 we saw employees bunker down with very few
choosing to leave, industry estimates suggest that only 2-3% of employees chose to change
employment during 2009 – candidates became risk averse making sourcing quality
specialist candidates difficult. When times are tough, negative media sentiment creates
uncertainty and fear making most people risk averse with a reluctance for changing
employment.

During this period we at Calibrate experienced, high demand candidates rejecting attractive
job offers choosing to “put up with” dissatisfaction in their current role, rather than risk
changing employers. However, for 2010, predictions in the recruitment industry are that up to 25% of all staff will change roles.

Some of these changes will be internal, but many high performing candidates will be leaving
their current place of employment to seek better opportunities.
As soon as market sentiment became positive, we saw this trend with a significant lift in the
number of candidates eager to know what options they have in the market.

The one fact that remains, regardless of the economic circumstance is that the highest
performers are generally those who are more confident. As a result they are more prone to
take a risk and head for what they perceive to be greener pastures.

If business owners and managers aren’t continuing to engage their teams, communicate the
direction and planning of the business’ future and importantly review remuneration / job
descriptions in the light of changed market conditions – they risk losing people to any
business that is.

Recruiting and retaining quality people in the current environment has been become, even
more, a key focus of organisations seeking growth in 2010/2011.