Select sellers. Seller interview: effective selection of sellers. What qualities are we looking for?

In any business whose goal is to convey services or products to potential customers, a very important link is the sales department. How quickly and successfully the product will find its buyer will depend on the skills and abilities of its specialists. In large companies, hiring is usually handled by the HR department. But if you haven’t got your own HR specialists yet or prefer to find diamonds yourself, we will tell you how to choose a sales manager. On the one hand, this vacancy can be found more often than others on job search sites. On the other hand, people who are really knowledgeable in this area do not always respond to it. Some are ready to take almost the first one they come across in the hope that after a couple of trainings he will become a first-class specialist. And it will work for little money.

What makes a good sales manager?

Before hiring a sales manager, you need to be clear about what you want from him. You must have a clearly articulated portrait of a potential employee. Not looks, of course. But a certain set of qualities and skills, aspirations, views on the mode and quality of work. Approaching the search for a salesperson, or, as it is also called, a sale (seller - seller) should be completely different from specialists of other profiles. What is welcome, for example, in a developer or logistician, may be completely unacceptable for a sales manager. There is an opinion that a sale should have several essential qualities:

• He must be smart enough for the job in which he is going to be used.
• Sale should not be afraid of anything (within reason). If he cannot talk to strangers or is afraid to make phone calls, there will be no sense from him.
• The sales manager must be ready to compete. Even more, he must love him. This is a great incentive to increase its effectiveness.
• Gluttony. Oddly enough, but for a salesperson this is a very good quality.

What goes wrong when looking for a sales manager?

In search of a responsible and successful sale, many employers and HR managers make a number of mistakes. They are not always obvious, but can lead to the fact that not the best employee gets into your state. As we said above, the sales manager is a very important cog in the business mechanism. Without a successful "foreign policy" it will be difficult to bring the product to the forefront. What are these mistakes?

• Often, HR professionals give preference to those who worked in successful companies. But is it right? A person who has been selling an already popular product all the time is not as good as one who successfully kept afloat and stubbornly sailed towards the goal, despite the competition of well-known brands.
• Scope of the company. There are also many pitfalls here. An ambitious and punchy manager is great. But you should also consider the scope of your business. If it is highly specialized, then the specialist must be technically savvy in this particular issue. A person who has been selling cars and related products all his life will not be able to work as effectively in the field of medicine, for example. The search for an answer to the question of where to find a good sales manager leads not only to the specialized market. And you need to be aware of whether this particular manager can benefit specifically your business. On the other hand, this should not be the deciding factor of choice. If you see really high potential, it may be worthwhile to train a specialist.
• Sales managers can be divided into two types. Let's call them "regular salesman" and "consultative salesperson". The first tries to sell the goods by any means. But if buyers don't want to buy a product, he won't delve into the reasons. The second, on the contrary, will study the potential buyer. And if the process is not going, he will find out why it is. With the help of such sellers, the company will be able to make the necessary adjustments and increase popularity with customers.
• Successful well-known managers who have passed numerous courses and trainings. Yes, they are effective. But most work according to clear patterns, manuals. And when you need to develop your own concept of sales in a particular case, they are useless.
• Often a business owner, without a clearly defined development strategy of his own, hopes that a strong sales person will come along and simply push his product to the surface. That is, the manager will work in the same way as in the previous place. But this is wrong. A specialist comes to a ready-made strategy and adjusts to it. Without a clear plan and with a sales manager who does not know in which direction to move, neither porridge nor business can be cooked.
• You should not hire too well-known top managers who have not been "on the front line" for a long time. They are often not up to date with the latest events, techniques and trends. Such a manager will have to add more assistants. And these are extra costs. You want someone who knows their battlefield and is willing to roll up their sleeves and get down to the dirty work.

Before you start your search for a sale, you need to clearly answer a few important questions. First, what is the general target audience of the product. Secondly, what is the algorithm of interaction with clients adopted in your company. Think about what is more important - that the sales person is perfectly familiar with the company's products or with its audience. The better the specialist is familiar with potential consumers, the easier and more efficient it will be to sell anything, whether it be trucking services or specialized pet food. Thirdly, at what stage of the sales process does the desired employee enter the business. As you know, sales can be divided into several stages. This includes "cold" calls, and personal interaction, work "in the field", work with objections, further retention of the client. Yes, there are generalist salespeople, but sometimes it’s better to take a few narrowly qualified specialists. These answers will help you narrow down your search and understand which sale is right for your company.

Every warrior is known on the battlefield

With characteristic errors, everything seems to be clear. But here the next question arises: how to check the sales manager? Of course, you can and should check it in practice. But before that, in any case, an interview follows. What questions should you ask a potential employee?

• Firstly, it is worth determining what his work was mainly connected with: attracting new customers or retaining existing ones. Ask about his usual working day, work algorithm. Find out how he could attract new customers to your company (a professional will quickly calculate the interested audience based on the specifics of the company).
• Secondly, evaluate his professional experience. Were there transitions to other areas of activity. And career dynamics according to the age of the applicant. If, for example, by the age of 40, his positions did not rise above a simple manager, it is worth considering what is the reason. Whether he is ambitious, or afraid to leave his comfort zone, or he lacks knowledge and skills.
• Thirdly, it is worth checking how often he changed jobs and why this happened. Was it the fault of past employers (wrong motivation, low wages, uncomfortable working conditions), or was the reason in the specialist himself.
• During the interview, the applicant usually introduces himself. You should pay attention to how he does it. Of course, an interview is stressful, and not always a person can open up completely. But even here there are points that need to be emphasized. Does he not use template memorized phrases, how consistently and structured he builds a story about himself, does he go too often from the topic into lengthy explanations.
• In what companies did the person work before yours. For example, after a small company, it is quite difficult to adapt to the intricacies of working in a large enterprise. What was the level of clients, how serious deals were made. This will tell you what kind of people a person is used to working with and how difficult it is to negotiate. What was the internal structure and organization of work (offices or “open space”, team, leadership style).
• Check how confident the sales person is. This will be seen in the questions they ask. A successful salesperson who is fully confident in their abilities will be more interested in structural issues and product features. An insecure person, who often encounters failures, will find out what follows if the plan is not fulfilled, whether the customer base will be provided, etc.
• How adequately the salesperson sets salary expectations. If he asks for too little, it's a bad sale. If there is too much - either he is a very good specialist, or inadequate. Find out how much he earned at his last job, what he ties the level of income to (to a fixed salary or percentage of sales).
• What is the sale focused on - the result or the process itself. The latter characterizes him not from the best side, as a specialist. How to find out who is in front of you? A process-oriented person will tell more about how and where he went, with whom he spoke, what he did. Focused on the final result, they perfectly remember their customers, they name clear dates, deadlines and numbers.
• A very important factor is honesty. Now we are not talking about the everyday level like eating other people's dinners and petty theft. If the applicant came to you with his database, you should not start to rejoice. Think about whether he will do the same after leaving you. The same should be considered when transferring an employee from a competing company. How can this threaten you? Many have already abandoned the practice of poaching experienced professionals, because there is a risk of getting a "spy".

If you take into account the above tips and mistakes, then the question of how to choose a sales manager will no longer be too difficult. And remember one more thing - do not hire people "just to be faster." It can take two weeks or two months to find a good specialist. Perhaps today he has not yet appeared on the labor market, but tomorrow his resume will be displayed in the database. A qualified specialist can become the key to the prosperity of the company, while the first employee who comes across will reduce the performance by several points.

Levitas Alexander

When my seminars talk about sales, I usually ask the group to answer what affects sales. Usually they name the price, and the assortment, and the service, and the layout, and navigation, and POS materials, and the competence of the consultant, and... But when I ask you to answer what is most important, the hall usually unanimously answers: “The work of the seller!”

And indeed it is. Many businessmen step on the same rake: they invest millions of rubles (or even millions of dollars) in premises, repairs, furniture, shop equipment, inventory... And then one person comes and flushes all the money invested down the toilet. Who is this man? Bad seller.

Therefore, making sure that the sellers work well is critical for any business, unless it is a self-service store and not vending machines.

Four Keys to Sales Success

When I ask the audience to list the top factors that influence salesperson performance, responses can usually be grouped into 4 categories:

1. Knowledge
2. Motivation
3. Personal qualities
4. Appearance

Knowledge is the competence of the seller. This includes knowledge of the range and specific products, and knowledge of sales technology, and in some cases, knowledge of the market, and knowledge of customers, and knowledge of the history of one's own company and its products.

Motivation is the seller's desire to sell well and a lot. Desire to be efficient.

Personal qualities are all character traits, all psychological characteristics. Here we include openness, and sociability, and resistance to failure, and willingness to play in a team, and learning, and ... The list can be continued for a long time.

Finally, appearance is height, weight, facial features, body structure, posture, condition of hair and teeth, the presence of tattoos and scars, and so on. This also includes the manner of dressing, and hairstyle, and piercing - but this is not so critical.

When we talk about these four factors, it is important to understand that two of them are correctable, two are not.

Two factors that can be changed

As you might guess, as an employer (or as a sales manager) you can and should influence the salesperson's knowledge and motivation.

The company should have a training program for newcomers, there should be a program of continuous professional development for all salespeople, there should be a sales book or some kind of its analogue, it is highly desirable to have a "bookshelf of the seller."

At the same time, it is very important that the seller has not only knowledge, but also skills. What is the difference? A person who has read a boxing textbook has knowledge, but a person who has spent at least a few months in the boxing section has skills. Which one would you bet on in a street fight? It's the same with sellers. Therefore, the training system should be aimed not at passing exams, but at developing the skills of successful sales.

Motivation also helps to create several things. This is also material motivation - a salary scheme that allows good sellers to earn a lot, and forcing bad ones to live from hand to mouth. This is also career motivation, allowing good employees to receive more and more bonuses, benefits and respect, and the best (if they want) to become team leaders, department heads, and so on. This is motivation by the attention of the leader (Brian Tracy at our joint seminar advised the sales director to spend 70% of the time with 30% of the best sellers), and reputational motivation, and competitive motivation, and ...

Moreover, it is critical that several motivation schemes are activated at the same time, material motivation alone is not enough to retain the best. We will also talk about these tools at the seminar on business processes.

But with the other two factors, the situation is different.

Two factors that cannot be changed

The personal qualities of the seller, whether it be his openness or closeness, responsibility or irresponsibility, efficiency or low tone, active or passive life position, etc. These are things that you cannot change. I'm not going to say that they can't be changed at all, but it certainly won't change quickly, and you're unlikely to want to pay a worker five years of intensive psychotherapy.

Appearance lends itself to correction, but to a very small extent. A person can be forced to wash, remove the earring from his nose, comb his hair and change clothes. But you will not be able to do anything with his physique, with his timbre of voice, with the condition of his teeth, with his posture, etc.

Therefore, personal qualities and appearance should be the selection criteria when hiring salespeople. And if a person does not meet the requirements of your business, you simply do not hire him.

In general, there are seven types of testing when hiring - in addition to testing personality traits and evaluating appearance, there are five other types of tests. If you neglect at least one of them - and now you have already hired the wrong person. The format of the article does not allow me to talk about them in detail, but I will do it at the Business Under the Palm Tree seminar.

The Secret Factor 90% of Sales Directors Forget About

In addition to knowledge, motivation, personality and appearance - there is another secret factor that 90% of sales directors forget about. Although this factor is no less important than any of the previous four.

The fifth factor is seller compliance. Matching the product, matching the price range, matching the design of the office, matching the stereotypes... Or, to put it simply, meeting the expectations of the customers.

Consider, lady - would you buy a nighttime moisturizer for sensitive skin with peach seed extract (ugh, said) if there was a bearded man in a tracksuit behind the counter of the cosmetics department?

Think, gentlemen - will you buy a diesel generator or a sight for a Saiga-12 carbine if there is a "solar" girl of 19 years old with silicone sponges, long nails and long eyelashes standing behind the counter?

If the seller does not meet the expectations of the client, trust in this seller does not arise. And then the client either simply does not come to the counter, or the seller has to break through the wall with his head, proving his competence. Both that, and another, as you understand, not in the best way affect your sales.

For example, in one of the solariums in St. Petersburg, sales were sluggish, because the administrator was a natural blonde with transparent white and pink skin - people wondered what was wrong with this solarium if the employee did not tan in it.

What to do with the fifth factor?

To boost sales, try to either recruit employees whose gender, age, appearance, biography and speech style match the expectations of customers - or at least try to "finish" existing salespeople to bring them closer to customer expectations.

In the same solarium, when the blonde was replaced by a girl tanned almost to the color of chocolate, sales went up sharply.

In another business - a women's clothing store "for those who are over 30" - sports girls 18-20 years old in short tops, revealing a flat tummy, worked as saleswomen. And somehow the customers could not find a common language with them, even cry. But when the owner replaced these girls with mature women aged 35+, sales skyrocketed.

And my student Kirill from Israel, the owner of Baraq Computers, dressed his staff in the manner of employees of large IT corporations - black shoes, black trousers, a blue shirt ... Sales increased by 17% due to the fact that there was confidence in the seller . I used similar moves for other computer stores - my clients, and this always gave a significant increase in sales.

There are many more examples, but the meaning is the same. Compliance of the seller with the expectations of the client simplifies and raises sales, non-compliance complicates and reduces.

And where did you, ladies and gentlemen, encounter "inappropriate" sellers?

And do your salespeople “meet” customer expectations?

An efficient seller is a great find for your store! How to choose the right staff, what to consider, what mistakes to avoid? Let's find out!

Where will you look for a seller?

Probably, you will place relevant advertisements in newspapers and on special websites, and also you can contact a recruitment company or employment centers.

It is possible that you will find an employee through friends.

What qualities are we looking for?

Quite logical, but very important qualities of a seller:

• pleasant, neat appearance
• communication, friendliness
• good knowledge of the range
• ability to sell effectively

It will be a separate plus if a potential employee likes your product! Then he will sell it with pleasure, and will be able to better convince buyers.

Is it better to choose a salesperson with experience or train him yourself?

There are advantages to both options. Be that as it may, we recommend taking a new seller for a trial period (usually it is a month). As practice shows, young girls bring higher results than poorly motivated sellers of a more mature age.

Young people strive for experience, which means there is more than enough motivation!

It will be great if you have an administrator who will train "newcomers" and supervise their work. You can entrust this function to one of the sellers by appointing him as a shift supervisor.

If your store, as is often the case, is open from 9-00 to 21-00, then it is better to take four sellers at once so that there are two people in the hall every shift.

It is best to make the work schedule rolling.

Motivation? How?

Obviously, the seller will work more productively if, in addition to the salary, he also receives a percentage of the proceeds.

What is the main principle that the seller should remember?

Here it is: the client is the most welcome guest, your store works only for him!

The seller must remember once and for all that it is the client who brings him a salary!

It is possible to make personal sales, but be careful!

There are two insidious dangers here. It is important to avoid intrusiveness, so that different sellers approach one client in turn. And the second - there should not be any struggle for a client between sellers! This is immediately noticeable and repels the buyer.

The internet is full of great sales trainings for clothing retail stores - use them to train your staff!

As we have already said, it is very important to bring up a good administrator who will solve minor issues in your absence.

Establish strict rules that exclude direct competition, but encourage the seller to serve every customer who comes to you, set clear job descriptions for sellers.

Write comments, we are interested in your opinion!

We will not expand on who sales consultants are, why they are needed, what varieties of them are found in nature, and what serious problems there are if they are selected incorrectly.

We hope that the respected audience is familiar with these questions. Let's move on to the most typical mistakes in the selection of the "personnel" of a retail outlet, the key to its prosperity, or decline.

The first mistake. The prevailing principle of selection - selection "by appearance"

In the case of a conscious choice, it is usually argued that “for such work, nothing more is needed, just to look more or less neat, everything is clear in appearance ...” This mistake is “two-sided”. That is, there are two options for skew during selection.

First option:“Oh, so cute!..” As a result, a person is hired (or goes to the next round of selection), without a thorough check of other work and personal qualities, skills, motivation. That is, for some reason it is assumed that a neatly dressed and good-looking candidate (candidate) cannot have other “contraindications” for working as a consultant.

Practice shows that there is no direct correlation between the seller's appearance and the effectiveness of his professional activity, since the sales area is very multifactorial, and the stage of interaction between a consultant and a potential client is rather complicated. Neat clothes, a pleasant face, friendliness - can add a fair amount of "points" to the seller, if combined with a good knowledge of the product group, the right strategy and negotiation tactics. But the "presentable" appearance loses its meaning, after it becomes clear that the consultant:

a). "floats" in the range;

b). cannot clearly explain how different product models differ from each other;

in). cannot clearly answer questions about the composition, materials, components of the product, demonstrating skills at the level of “first class, second quarter” - that is, the ability to read aloud to him a label in front of the client, which he has already managed to familiarize himself with, etc. .

Second option:“He is somehow ... Dressed somehow ...” A variant opposite to the previous one. When some real or imaginary defects in the appearance of a candidate (candidate) are considered sufficient for an unequivocal negative decision on the candidacy. Everything is not so simple here.

On the one hand, there are areas where a consultant's sense of style and appearance are in themselves an important factor in suitability or unsuitability. This applies to various fashion goods, expensive, elite goods - whether it be at least exclusive clothes, at least - expensive furniture. In cases where the appearance of the candidate clearly indicates that he "does not understand" the situation, and does not fit into the desired "format" under any circumstances, the "superfast" negative decision is understandable. At the same time, it is important that the conclusion about the appearance comes from a conscious assessment of the recruiter, who clearly imagines the desired “format” of appearance, and not from his personal extremely subjective ideas about “what is beautiful, expensive, cheap, etc.”

If an unsuitable appearance marvelously combines with personal and professional unsuitability for a given vacancy, the situation is clear (but for this it is necessary to give the candidate the opportunity to prove himself in the interview process). If the matter is not so clear, it makes sense to clarify what style of clothing and behavior was encouraged at the candidate’s previous place of work, what style the candidate himself prefers to adhere to, orient him about the style preferences of your company, explaining what this is connected with, and look at the process his reactions.

Firstly, "external features" may fade into the background compared to a good professional level and experience of the candidate.

Secondly, it may turn out that "appearance claims" are your personal claims.

Thirdly, in the presence of a good social intelligence, a lot can be adjusted within literally the first or second months of the candidate's work - either independently (after he looks at his colleagues), or - with the help of a manager.

Important: "do not go too far", putting forward high demands on the appearance of the candidate, if this is really not dictated by an urgent need (features of the product group, features of the corporate policy of the company, etc.)

Both “appearance” selection mistakes are among the most common mistakes in the selection of consultants (and not only them). The trouble is that this is often closely related to the low level of professional competence of the picker himself - this especially applies to "young" agency recruiters, or to those who have recently come to work for the company.

There is still no deep knowledge of the field in such cases, and the selection experience is small, and therefore the novice picker clings to any evaluation criterion. And the appearance is, of course, one of the most obvious and easy to perceive. In any case, it seems much easier to “evaluate” a candidate based on his appearance, manners and other obvious manifestations than to realistically and “with nuances” assess his professional level, dominant motivation and other important things.

It’s just that sometimes the recruiter’s hands never reach the mastery of professional areas, and from year to year, having already stopped “walking in beginners”, such a “specialist” selects based on the first impression and assessment of the candidate’s appearance, stubbornly stating that “ and everything looks great." Although he himself “does not see” that a number of criteria important for selection with this approach escape his attention, and the professional growth of the picker is hampered by a weak orientation in the necessary professional areas.

Second error. Requirements maximization

A common case is when a recruiter, who is used to recruiting sales managers, out of inertia desires "active customer search skills." Sometimes inertia really works (then - have time to switch!), sometimes - the “pink dreams” of the head of the sales department (shop, salon) have an influence: “I want those who would not sit idly by, if there are no customers in the store, but would drag these customers to our store like flies on sticky tape!..” Often these good intentions are completely untenable and not thought out in terms of the implementation of the search process itself within the retail outlet. If this is the case, then it is not worth complicating the process of selecting consultants with additional requirements.

Again, don't overdo it. "Active search" is known to be more expensive. Either you will have to "bend" the standard financial conditions for a particular candidate, or if you do not do this, but the candidate "with active search skills" still gets a job as an ordinary consultant, then in his person the company will receive an additional element of instability in the retail point. This is in the event that his “active search” was really successful (and is not an “election speech figure”) and the candidate is not averse to “repeat” this experience, after spending some time in your company.

Any other requirements, from formal to educational and professional, can be unreasonably maximized. Starting from the requirement of “permanent registration only” (sometimes this happens at the initiative of the picker), a mandatory completed higher education, to a mandatory work experience of at least 3 (4, 5, 10) years with a specific type of product.

Of course, all these (as well as many others) requirements should not be put forward without special need. The last requirement generally makes sense only if your product group is already very specific, although the requirements for a long period of work with a particular product in most sales assistant vacancies are met rather “for the sake of a red word” to show that “we are anyone we don’t take it, we need pros! .. "

The same applies to the requirements for the level of knowledge of a foreign language. Do not overdo it by weeding out candidates with a "basic" level of a foreign language, if he only needs the language at the "understand the product catalog" level. 90% of designations in most catalogs (on fabrics, furniture, cars, etc.) are simply mastered and remembered during the first or second week of the consultant's work.

In such cases, it makes no sense to overpay the candidate "for knowledge of the language", which just in such a job will safely "dry out". Moreover, the inactive use of a foreign language for a person who speaks it well is an additional factor for dismissal and the search for a new, more "linguistic" job.

Do not forget that it is the selector who must correlate the “ordered” qualities of candidates with their real market value and real demand. The dreams of the head of consultants “to take one so that you don’t have to learn, but ideally - so that you also “fumble” in the language and translate everything to others” are humanly understandable, but he is not a sultan, and you are not Aladdin’s lamp, and you cannot fulfill all his whims.

So, maximizing the requirements for “cultivating” a strong positive employer brand does not contribute much, but along the way it provides unnecessary problems in the selection process.

Of course, this does not mean that you need to "take all in a row" and be "promiscuous" in the selection of candidates for the position of a consultant. But it does not make sense to put forward demands that are clearly excessive in comparison with real needs. The selection of consultants can and should be thorough, but this thoroughness should be based on your internal clear selection criteria, and not on the maximum categorical and inappropriate conditions in the advertisement. Moreover, candidates, as you know, still practically do not correlate the declared restrictions and their real experience, relying on "suddenly, it's not so important" and "maybe they won't pay attention."

Error three. Preliminary “cutting off” of growth prospects for a consultant

This refers to cases when, during the selection process, it is firmly stated in advance: “We need a consultant, another consultant, and only a consultant. We have no opportunities and prospects for growth - all other positions are firmly occupied. Therefore, we need a person who is focused specifically on the work of a consultant, and who would be completely satisfied with it.”

Of course, a candidate who almost immediately declares that he is “ready to work in a store for a couple of months, but, of course, he is primarily interested in prospects” is not a suitable candidate.

But one should not indulge in illusions that there are a sufficient number of candidates who are really motivated exclusively for the work of a sales consultant, who are absolutely not interested in career growth and related financial prospects. Candidates who claim this are either lying, playing along with you, saying not what is really there, but what you would be pleased to hear, or - “not everything is in order” with them.

Consultants who are completely satisfied with their work, and motivated exclusively for this position, indifferent to the prospects, and at the same time “everything is fine” at the same time, are occasionally found. But these are exceptions to exceptions, almost followers of the Tao in spirit. And, as a rule, they are already over thirty-five years old. Usually this means that a person has managed to find a more or less harmonious balance between work and the rest of his life, and work for him is by no means in the first place, since true self-realization takes place in him, most likely, in another area.

For most candidates, the position of a consultant is a starting stage, a stage that needs to be passed, and experience that needs to be gained, for subsequent career, professional and financial development. Like running around in a baseball cap with a mop at McDonald's (it seems that even many current "bosses" started there).

And, consequently, young, energetic, efficient and ambitious, to whom you immediately firmly “cut off” prospects, will go to seek happiness elsewhere. And in the end you will choose from what is left.

Another important point: think about whether you are cunning, declaring a complete lack of prospects? The same principle applies here as with the promise of growth. That is, there may be prospects in principle, but this does not mean that every employee will “grow up”. Also here. In general, prospects may not be expected, but there are always exceptions to the rules, associated either with the professional and personal qualities of the employee, or with a new situation within the company. The picker is not a god who knows everything in advance, and cannot take responsibility for the prospects or their absence. Dig into the history of the division - if there were cases of growth with supposedly missing prospects - analyze them. If everything is “clean” there in the sense of connections and protégés, it is quite possible to tell the candidate about such cases (without names, of course).

In general, it still makes sense to build a consistent scheme of prospects for consultants, introduce levels, gradations, arrange attestations for various levels. Of course, this is a good motivation for consultants for professional development. Yes, and it's not that hard to do.

Mistake four. Selection "by age"

Let us dwell in more detail, the question is ambiguous.

On the one hand, the work of a consultant requires considerable flexibility, which is really easier for representatives of the younger age groups - from 20 to 25, from 25 to 30 years. In general, they are easier to relate to various negative or aggressive "attacks" on the part of the client, are less likely to react according to the principle "I'm not your errand boy here ..." Young people quickly adapt to various internal changes in the company, and "build up" them , in which case, much easier. They still have the atavisms of school-student psychology, which make them look “from the bottom up” at the leadership and more or less calmly perceive regular control. And these moments are, of course, very important.

But there are also disadvantages, as with any age group. This is a small worldly and social experience, insufficient social maturity, which allows you to establish good contact with only a part of the clients, missing the rest, quite real ones. The work of the "youth" is less conscious, often less effort and time is spent on mastering information on the product group, and more - on communicating with each other. The situation of “blushing when you don’t know” - unpleasant for a more mature person who wants to feel like a pro, and not a schoolboy who does not know the lesson - is less critical for the “youth”, and can be repeated from time to time, without forcing to master the necessary information. "Young" consultants are much less stable, actively "keep their noses in the wind", sometimes tend to "leave for the company" and have a relatively low loyalty to the company.

Accordingly, candidates of an older age group have opposite advantages and disadvantages (we emphasize that we are talking about “average” manifestations, they can differ greatly for specific individuals).

We often hear statements: “we have a young team in our salon (store), it will be uncomfortable for an older person there ...” These problems can be left to the consultants themselves to solve - after all, the store is not a pioneer camp with detachments “by age”.

Perhaps the result will be a more harmonious interaction in the retail division, devoid of the "skew" characteristic of each of the age groups separately (of course, if the balance of power is approximately equal).

It is also true that sometimes older candidates are not only less flexible in communication, but have not “successfully” found themselves anywhere else, have not been able to manifest themselves and grow anywhere (although this is also ambiguous). However, this does not mean that they will not make a good consultant. In terms of responsibility, studying the range, understanding the nuances and technical characteristics, and, consequently, in terms of the ability to advise the client more qualitatively, and to answer his questions in more detail and confidently, “youth” are often far from such “mature” uncles and aunts .

In addition, it is worth considering that in a number of product groups (if we are not talking about selling T-shirts and shoes for teenagers), a more mature consultant makes a much better impression and inspires more client confidence (with the appropriate manner of communication, of course) than a “very young consultant. This is especially true for rather expensive goods.

It is also important that the stability of consultants over thirty is significantly higher than that of the “youth”. And this stability can be further improved by properly developing a system of motivation for this category of consultants.

Thus, each of the age groups of consultants has its pros and cons, and "wins" the client by different means.

It can be summarized as follows: formal age restrictions should be “appointed” consciously, based on a clear analysis of the situation, product group and needs. Age restrictions should not be the result of habitual stereotypes, as they are in the vast majority of cases, because as a result of these stereotypes, you and the company lose.

Mistake five. Communicative criterion - at the forefront

It boils down to the fact that the leading criterion for selecting a consultant is the ability of the consultant to “communicate well with the client, establish contact, win over the client”. This is important, but not self-sufficient, which is often forgotten.

What is wrong here? The mistake is that well-developed communication skills are often assessed separately from intelligence, both social and general, and also separately from leading motivation. As a result, sometimes we get consultants who are “complete communicators”. And they can communicate with clients for almost hours, and they get enormous satisfaction from their work. That's just the volume of personal sales they "for some reason" low.

By the way, the consultant should “dispose the client” not only and not so much to himself, but to the products he represents.

Such a problem occurs just in those cases when the main motivation is the motivation of communication, and not the motivation of the sale. That is, the consultant is not able to clearly set the goal of communication for himself and smoothly lead the client to it. Having a client to himself, and thereby solving (or aggravating) his psychological problems, such a consultant keeps the product itself, at best, in the background. And even he can “blurt out” something “sort of” about him, as a result of which the client will be delighted - because he refrained from an “unsuccessful” purchase. Regrettably, if such “complete communicators” are not diagnosed at the very early stage - the selection stage, then in the future they will “appear” only after a couple of months, or even later, when the low level of their personal sales becomes apparent, despite "active work with clients".

Another case is when the problem is not so much in the excessive "motivation of communication" as in the lack of intellectual qualities. Simply put, the consultant is pleasant to talk to, but stupid. He would be happy to sell, but “there is not enough intelligence” and the speed of thinking, the speed of reactions that would lead communication to the desired goal.

In general, although it is argued that “you don’t need a lot of brains to work in a salon (shop), but in reality it’s worth paying attention to the“ brain ”. Especially if your product group is complex and the competition is high. You probably don't need a high IQ, but a normal average IQ plus good social intelligence is an absolute must for a counselor.

The above "list" of errors in the selection of consultants, of course, is incomplete. These are just the most common. We wish you not to do them when selecting, and the traditional "problems with consultants" will most likely be less.

Svetlana Samsonova

“Once upon a time there were kind people in a fairy-tale country. They plowed the land, grew bread, loved and married. But one day the Dragon settled nearby. The dragon trampled crops in a boorish way, brazenly munched garden apples and spat at cats stuck in his teeth. And he also got into the habit of dragging beautiful girls into his cave from time to time. And the good people understood that it could not go on like this any longer, otherwise there would be no one to marry, but nothing to eat. They turned to the Glorious Knight for help. The Glorious Knight was imbued with the problem, gathered all the brave knights of the country and addressed them with a speech ... "

Who do you think tells this story to whom? No, it's not the mother at the boy's crib. Every person who needs to choose active sales managers from dozens of candidates in 10 minutes should know this fairy tale! And now I will tell you how to do this.

So we are given:

1. We urgently need to select 3 sellers. It was necessary yesterday.
2. 30 people signed up for the interview (15 will come)
3. Time is limited to one day and one recruiter.

Our actions.

1. We make a table with a list of candidates and the behavioral markers we need
2. We invite everyone to the hall and sit in a semicircle
3. We stand in the center and tell a beautiful story about the project for which the selection is underway. The main goal is to create a light and friendly atmosphere.
4. We offer to play a game before the interview to liberate and cheer up.
5. Telling a story we already know
6. And now WARNING! we invite everyone to go to the center and become a Glorious Knight and make a speech, for 1 minute, calling on other knights to fight the Dragon. Forcibly we do not force, only at will.
7. We listen to speeches. We consider those who want to go to battle at the end of each performance.
8. We draw conclusions and leave the best for an individual interview. Everything!

What happens after you propose a game and explain the rules. Some people will make impenetrable faces and sit more tightly in chairs. The other part will be visibly annoyed and won't move either. However, there will be applicants who will clearly like this idea and wish to speak. You tick them off in your spreadsheet. The rest are no longer interesting to you, because. the sales manager must be active and have no fear of the unknown.

The next stage is the performances of our Glorious Knights. Here your task is only to have time to make notes in the table, because the candidates, without realizing it, will talk about exactly what things motivate them for serious work, show the basic scheme of their work with clients, demonstrate speaking skills, persuasion and competent speech.

Whoever frightens the knights with a terrible Dragon will surely begin to motivate clients using the “from” method, i.e. tell what bad things will happen if the customer does not buy. Someone will start to evoke patriotic feelings and you understand that this candidate can become very loyal and devoted to the company or team. I have one Glorious Knight was ready to fight just for a piece of bread. The manager liked this candidate very much and they took him, but, unfortunately, in the future he worked like that, being content with pennies and was soon fired.

And you will get all this in 1 minute of the candidate's speech! Sometimes after this stage it is already clear who you will hire, but still I recommend to invite the best ones after the game and talk individually.

Second phase. And so, you have decided that these applicants are the best and now you need to make a decision and choose one. In my practice, I observed how experienced high-ranking managers conducted individual interviews, asked questions about work experience, and the decision was made absolutely intuitively. It's good when both candidates are strong, but what if they're not? Then the risk of error increases. After conducting more than a dozen interviews, I developed my own method of effective interviewing, which I called VZMAX.

Let's decipher the abbreviation:

• B - external signs (I broadcast to the world),
• Z - knowledge (I know),
• M - skills and abilities (I can),
• A - activity (I take the initiative),
• X - I want (I show a desire).

We have five . Why five? Because it is five + - two objects that our brain remembers in the best way at the same time. As a result, we have a clear picture, and not “I think that the second candidate…”

Now let's consider why these criteria are selected by the example of selecting sellers of individual cabinet furniture.

First criterion: External signs

This is the information that the candidate broadcasts to the world, what he wants to say about himself. I have a separate table for each position where I write down the requirements.

For example, according to the criterion "External signs" for the seller of individual cabinet furniture, I have the following requirements:

1. Smiling.
2. Clean hair, hands, shoes, general impression of cleanliness.
3. Calm. No fussiness in gestures and eye movements.
4. Clothing appropriate to the position: discreet urban style.
5. Jewelry, accessories correspond to the position: medium-sized, soft.

I want to note that when choosing a seller of expensive women's clothing in one of the shopping centers, I noted as a plus both spectacular bright clothes and large jewelry. Subsequently, this seller showed the best results. And for the designer of individual furniture, a calm urban style is suitable. And it is better that this style is familiar.

One day, a beautiful girl came to an interview for a secretary vacancy. All in black. With long straight hair. The interview went well, she spoke competently, but an inner voice pushed me to dig deeper ... And now, FINALLY! The girl looked at me deeply and said:
- And there are four of us in the office now!
I involuntarily looked around my office and asked who these invisible comrades were.
- These are two spirits, they are standing behind me.
This was followed by a story about contacts with Lucifer. Needless to say, I kindly refused the applicant, explaining that our owner is Orthodox and regularly sprinkles holy water on all employees, which the spirits obviously will not like. The girl agreed with me.

Criterion: Knowledge

Everything is clear here. You need to clearly state what the applicant needs to know. Perhaps the 1C program or the Federal Law "On the protection of consumer rights."

Criteria: Can

Skills and abilities. Checked with case studies. In our case, we are playing a closet sale scene. Task: to identify true needs. There is an interesting and trouble-free method of three questions. I will talk about it in the next article.

Criteria: Activity

We put points for initiative, asking questions. We ask projective questions about the pros and cons of taking the initiative.

Criteria: I want

This is motivation. A very interesting criterion.

One day, a respectable man came to an interview for the vacancy of an occupational safety engineer. Colossal experience, knowledge - the sea! According to criteria B, H and M, he scored the maximum number of points. But ... All some kind of extinct. As a result of a deeper study, it turned out that the person was tired, exhausted and wants only an office and a comfortable chair. He was denied.

For each criterion, you can ask five questions or give cases. There will be 25 questions in total, divided into groups. Each question is worth 1 point. The number of points scored by the applicant for each criterion is plotted on the beam of the radar diagram and combined.

We have received two charts. Let's try to decipher them as applied to the vacancy of a cabinet furniture seller.

• First Applicant. Red diagram. Looks good, holds up great. Knowledge is good, but not enough experience. Skills can be taught, especially since there is a theoretical platform. Activity and aspiration average. You can boost motivation. If there is a button that will light up the eyes, then it is possible, but with a trial period of at least 3 months.
• Second Applicant. Green diagram. In appearance there are chic tattoos and earrings. There is experience, there is knowledge of design programs. Active, alive. But there is absolutely no motivation to work. In reality, the candidate was clearly not doing his job and subsequently got into an unpleasant story.

The ideal candidate has a flat chart with maximum scores across all beams. In our example, both candidates are not suitable for us.

So, with a light wave of your hand, you can make a reasoned decision for each candidate. According to this principle, you can create your own criteria, write your own questions and cases.

Happy selection!