How To Manage A Security Sales Organization. Lou Sepulveda CPP
prospective employees to read every single want ad even when they actually need a job. Add to that difficulty the fact that Saturday and Sunday are days when many of their friends are off work and there is a lot to do, a lot of distractions. So skim over the want ads again and circle the ones that catch your eye. Ask yourself why. Why did this ad grab me? What did it say that captivated me?
When you are done, cut out the ads that grabbed you, stick them on a piece of paper, and ask yourself again what it is that makes them stick out. What did the want ad say that attracted you? Do all the attention-getting ads say similar things?
If you were a salesperson looking for a job, would you have been stopped by the same ads? If no, go back to the beginning and think like a salesperson. If you cannot do this, then you’ll need a salesperson to perform the exercise.
When I look at a company’s hiring procedures, I often find that the person writing or designing the ad isn’t a salesperson and doesn’t think like one. Painful as it may seem, this exercise will help you create an ad that gets salespeople’s attention. If you are going to invest money on a newspaper ad, you want to write an effective ad.
Another decision you will have to make is whether you should place an in-column ad or display ad. There is an obvious cost difference. However, choosing incorrectly can result in a total waste of money, so placement is important. How do you decide?
Go back to the newspaper and compare the display ads to the in-column ads. What did you learn? What kinds of salespeople are companies searching for when they use display ads? What about in-column? Which one fits the candidate you are looking for? If your answer is display ad, then you should place a display ad regardless of the cost. If the answer is in-column, then use in-column.
In either case, what you say in the ad is of paramount importance. It is well worth your time to design an ad that will draw.
You’ve heard the term “different strokes for different folks”; keep it in mind as you design your ad. You may discover that one group of salespeople responds well to an ad that talks about money while another group responds to an ad that focuses on career.
What kind of person are you seeking? Do you want someone who is self-motivated, disciplined, a closer, a team player, or a potential manager? Then use those buzzwords in your ad so the salesperson you want knows you are talking to him.
Can salespeople earn a six-figure income working for your company? If yes, say so. Is there an opportunity for advancement into management? If yes, put it in your ad so the salesperson who feels like she has hit a wall when it comes to advancement will become excited about your offer.
Your ad acts as a salesperson promoting an opportunity to work for your company. In as few words as possible, sell your opportunity to would-be candidates.
Having described the position, consider your call to action. How do you want interested salespeople to respond?
I have seen want ads in newspapers that said, “Mail your resume to PO Box 12345, Somewhere, USA.” This request may sound reasonable; after all, you will want to know about your candidates’ experience. However, asking for a resume creates an opportunity to procrastinate. Many salespeople perusing want ads don’t have an updated resume ready. They might think, “I will follow up on this as soon as I can get my resume updated.” And then they’ll move on to the next want ad.
Your goal should be to remove any and all obstacles so that people can respond easily. You’ll have an opportunity to ask for a resume after the salesperson answers the ad. Get them in the door. “Call for a confidential interview” will get the job done. “Apply in person at 1234 Main St.” may also work for you, depending on the type of candidate you are looking for.
Should you place a blind ad or tell them who your company is?
The answer depends on a few factors. Do you want everyone in your organization to know you are looking for another salesperson? (I can’t imagine why not.) Is your company known in the area? Will the use of your company name add value to the ad? If yes, then absolutely use it.
Blind ads tend to scare off some prospective salespeople because so many of them are for multilevel organizations.
All in all you must know that salespeople respond to words that tell them what they want to hear. Have you seen an ad that starts off with, “Tired of your dead-end job?” or “Are you ready to earn a six-figure income?”
These ads target a specific emotion—one your candidates may be feeling.
The want ad that caught me many years ago was what I call a double-blind ad. First, it didn’t mention a company name, and second, it didn’t make clear what the new hire would do. It grabbed my attention anyway because it spoke to what I was going through at the time.
I had recently mustered out of the Navy after serving four years and eight months mostly aboard an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War. I had spent weeks searching for a job that would pay me enough to live on and make up the difference between what the GI Bill paid toward a college education and the cost for same. I had very little experience doing anything in civilian life.
I showed you this ad earlier, but let’s look at it again to analyze why the company placed it and what emotions they expected the ad would awaken in a candidate.
Men wanted to move stock from warehouse.
No experience necessary.
Apply in person Monday between 8 am and 9 am.
$500 per month guaranteed.
1234 Claiborne Ave, suite 4
By saying “no experience necessary,” they were targeting people who, like me, were having difficulties finding a good job due to lack of experience. They removed that barrier.
They said to apply in person. They only wanted to see individuals who would simply show up. You can believe that a lot of people didn’t trust that ad because it said “apply in person” and the company knew that. If I had the “guts” to show up in person, without an appointment, they figured I’d have the guts to make a “cold call.”
The ad said “$500 per month guaranteed.” Let’s put that in perspective. In 1966 you could purchase a new car for $1,500. I bought a three-bedroom brick home in 1969 for $17,000. $500 per month in 1966 was equivalent to $6,000 or more per month now. They knew the pay would be highly attractive to some, and unbelievable to others.
Those buzzwords were enough to motivate me to show up Monday morning.
Kirby knew they had to trick people to come in and hear their story. They also knew that a large percentage of the people who showed up at 8 am would leave before the presentation was over. They knew at the end of the day they would have, at best, two or three candidates left. And they knew that by the end of the week they would have, at best, one person who stuck to the plan.
Why not be up-front from the beginning? Because there are a lot of people who could be successful in sales but have never tried. Companies like Kirby know that, so they use double-blind ads to lure people and find the diamond in the rough.
So give a lot of thought to what kind of salesperson you want before you run your ad. Think about the buzzwords you saw in the newspaper when you performed the exercise I asked you to do. Consider running a couple of different ads at the same time to attract candidates with different motives. Run one focused on income, and another focused on management opportunities.
After running the ad, get the actual newspaper and look for it. Tear out the entire page and put it in a scrapbook for future reference. Make note of where on the page your ad falls. Is it near the beginning, middle, or end? When you were doing the exercise, you paid closer attention in the beginning and less at the end, so placement is important. Consider what you could do to move your ad closer to the front of the section.
Keep notes about the weather the day the ad runs. If it is a beautiful summer day, your ad may do worse because the distraction factor is higher. Some of your would-be candidates may have procrastinated and decided