The Lead-Gen Mentality
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Identifying individuals who have a lead-gen mentality and the right characteristics to succeed in the world of sales is something that many sales management teams struggle with.
Sales hiring practices need to be adjusted to target only the most qualified individuals, so a management team has to have the right idea about what they are looking for and who to weed out during the interview process.
This may require sales management teams to undergo training, as they will have to work with human resources in order to quantify exactly what it is that the company wants.
Characteristics
A sales management team should take a look at individuals who have the ability to maintain emotional distance. When they receive a rejection, they don't take it personally. They still maintain a behavior style that is warm, endearing and people oriented, regardless of the person on the other end of the call.
They let that no go by and then they keep going. They realize its not a personal thing – the business relationship is not a good fit for "us" – so they have a "its not me, its them" attitude.
Ability to qualify
These individuals understand that there are many reasons why a sale might not be made. They don't have the need for the product or service, it's a timing issue, the upgrade isn't a good fit or any number of disqualifying reasons.
They view a rejection as a positive thing because it allows them to clear their list and not waste their time with a client that is not a good fit. They view this type of elimination as a positive thing, because it lets them get back to work on other potential customers.
A person in this role has to be someone that can distinguish between a qualified and an unqualified buyer. Once they identify which category the potential customer falls into, they have to realize when to pursue and when to end the correspondence.
They also need to have an optimistic approach about prospecting. An effective lead-gen employee will see everything for what it is. This requires some training – most people take it personally – and if you don't have an effective training model and informed sales managers running the program then you will fail to find the right people.
These individuals need to intuitively construct an idea of the marketplace and their position within it, and this will allow their successes and failures to be kept in perspective.
