Category Archives: 10,000 Hours

You’re Hired! Tales from the Field – Paty Benitez

How do you know when you’ve hired the right person? When does a mistake in choosing a new team member start to reveal itself? What steps should you follow when trying to add a new member to your organization?

I can’t say I know the all of the answers, but I definitely keep these topics in mind when in hiring mode. Over the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of recruiting, hiring and training a handful of brand-new salespeople for organizations. In each of these instances, the teams I assembled were not existing entities – they were built from scratch. The attitudes and approaches instilled in these hires were of my creation and I worked hard to construct a methodology for hiring; one I believed gave the candidates the best opportunity to reveal their talent and also ensure potential new team members had a chance to get a live look at what being a part of the team would look like.

 I was curious to understand how my approach feels from the other side of the hiring table, so I asked a few people to jot down their thoughts on the process and how it may have differed from their previous experiences with interviewing for a new job. Here’s one of the responses I received.

Screen Shot 2017-08-05 at 1.01.32 PMPaty Benitez was a member of the inaugural “Red Tie Society” at SnapSuits. Her genuine enthusiasm and sunshine-filled determination were key reasons we were excited to have her on the team. Her thoughts are found below.

I’ll always remember my job interview with Roger. Interviews at other places had always been done by one person, so imagine my nerves when I found out I was being interviewed by two people at the same time. Being interviewed by the CEO first made me extra nervous. I felt like I was saying all the wrong things and as soon as Roger walked in my nerves kicked up another notch. I knew they could sense how nervous I was, but Roger’s approach took me by surprise. I wasn’t expecting for him to be so amicable. I could tell right away that I wanted to work for him and I really wanted to make a great first impression. As the interview unfolded I found myself feeling calmer and smiling more.

Roger gave me the sense that I could really be myself (while staying professional). I felt really comfortable and confident in answering their questions. He asked me what I was looking for in a career and why I was wanting to make a change. I know these questions are part of the interview process, but I liked the fact that he took the time to actually listen to what I had to say. Time honestly went by fast and Roger tried to make the interview as painless as possible. I felt really confident, but I knew that if I didn’t get the job it would only be because I had zero experience in the Sales department. I wasn’t expecting to get the job, but to my surprise I got a call from Roger giving me the great news!

My first day was really intimidating. Having zero experience, I didn’t really know what to expect. As days passed I found myself doing things I never thought I could actually do. Roger was honestly one of the best mentors I’ve had. He always pushed me to do new things and really made me come out of my comfort zone. He always took the time to listen to me when I would come to him with a problem and he always seemed to have a solution. Roger also worked with us individually, but he found a way for all of us to use our weaknesses and our strengths to help one another. He always acknowledged our triumphs and made sure to make us feel like equals. Even though we were a team, he allowed each of us to grow individually. I think that’s why I enjoyed coming to work every day. We were like a family, but we all had our own voice. He cared about our future, and that’s what made Roger different from all the other mentors/bosses I’ve ever had.

You’re Hired! Tales from the Field – Rianna Cohen

How do you know when you’ve hired the right person? When does a mistake in choosing a new team member start to reveal itself? What steps should you follow when trying to add a new member to your organization?
I can’t say I know all the answers, but I definitely keep these topics in mind when in hiring mode. Over the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of recruiting, hiring and training brand-new salespeople for organizations. In each of these instances, the teams I assembled were not existing entities – they were built from scratch. The attitudes and approaches instilled in these hires were of my creation and I worked hard to construct a methodology for hiring; one I believed gave the candidates the best opportunity to reveal their talent and also ensure potential new team members had a chance to get a live look at what being a part of the team would look like.
I was curious to understand how my approach feels from the other side of the hiring table, so I asked a few people to jot down their thoughts on the process and how it may have differed from their previous experiences with interviewing for a new job. Here’s one of the responses I received.

Screen Shot 2017-08-05 at 1.01.18 PMRianna Cohen was the 1st salesperson to join the SnapSuits team in December 2016. A concert flutist, Rianna is a classic analytical. I appreciated her inquisitive nature and her willingness to stand up for the things she believed in, and I always challenged her to not hide her light under a barrel. Her thoughts are found below.

“This will probably be the easiest interview you ever do.”

That was a lie.

Sure, the first interview breezed by as we chatted over coffee (tea, in my case), but I had the distinct impression that Roger had already made his decision before he met me.  He had reviewed my resume extensively (enough to be able to cite it from memory) and had stalked me online (hello, Pinterest).  The interview, in essence, was to see if the person matched the page.

Interview Two was completed in pairs and my fellow interviewee and I were tasked with a mind-mapping exercise.  Harmless enough.

And then we were to leave voicemails on three people’s phones: the interviewer, the CEO, and the CFO.  Hello, anxiety.

I scribbled furiously.  I also kept glancing across the table at the girl interviewing with me.  In retrospect, I think her presence brought out my competitive edge.  We worked mostly alone, occasionally comparing notes to make sure we were completing the exercise correctly.

When it came time to actually leave the voicemails, I was so nervous that I had to pace around the room as I recited my practiced lines.  They were undoubtedly terrible voicemails.  I left, hours later, completely drained.  (Roger’s Note: I TOTALLY have those voice mails saved on my computer!)

The interview set the precedent for life in the office: we would be challenged and we would be expected to get creative with our solutions.  Roger became more than a boss: he was a mentor.  The interview process, though perhaps unconventional, produced a level of trust between our team that I think would be difficult to duplicate.  Taking the time to find the right people (even if we weren’t the best at voicemails ahem) created a synergy that remains even when times get difficult.

Cancel, Cancel, Delete (OMG What Did I Just Do?)

  • Just as you tidy up an emotional response to that member of the team letting you down, you inadvertently send it to the group text including everyone at work. EV-ER-Y-ONE.
  • You send an email to your boss, explaining an internal obstacle in the form of a less-than-enthusiastic member of the team performing poorly – your boss immediately sends your note to the colleagues boss, leaving your tirade in the body of the message, and cc’s you on the message.
  • There are hundreds of other “What Did I Just Do” moments. They’ve happened to almost every one of us. This is (one of) mine – lots more of these to come. 

Communication 2017 v. 1997

The difference is incomprehensible and impossible to properly describe.

From the 27 year old vantage point I had in ’97 and the tools I then had at my disposal to be a successful communicator, what’s available to us looks incredibly closer to The Jetsons cartoons I watched growing up by comparison than most of us care to acknowledge. Amazing technology continues to evolve and now almost daily improves the way we live, and communication is core to this advancement, for the net result of advanced communication tools is this interconnected world we enjoy.

Monolithic sales organizations doled out precious little in budget for sales training & development at the intersection of the digital evolution of the equipment we sold.

While the introduction of networking technology was a boon to those of us savvy enough to learn how to sell it, it was a virtual pipe-dream to actually obtain (and therefore learn) the technology we were selling, as nearly all our sales offices lacked the basic networking infrastructure necessary to connect devices (much less hope our computer spoke the same operating language as the device). We had workplace-altering capability, and we needed to learn how to sell without the most basic understanding of the products we sold. (Sound familiar?)

Information about digital technology and it’s capability were not easily accessed by anyone (sellers NOR buyers, we all had the same problem) but the earliest of sales adopters outsold their peers primarily as a result of acquiring and refining one key non technology related skill in selling new technology to buyers of varied expertise themselves- the ability to equate the benefits of the technology to decreased costs associated with running their business – the harder the cost, the faster the yes.

Achieving this objective required a developed skill for earning the trust of potential buyers, as they often needed to share key financial information about both their business as well as it’s associated cost of operation in this key cost container to make an educated decision. They didn’t know the formula, but they had the inputs. Only by working together could the analysis be effective, and only by figuring out what motivated a buying decision of this magnitude could success be courted, much less expected.

I was the lead in teaching this new technology to our Midwest sales force, mostly by pitching existing clients our staff were selling other product lines. While there were pockets of quota-busting success, there were also entire sales teams taking a “something to ignore” position. Specialization projects had historically left reps & prospects unfulfilled and occasionally cost salespeople a portion of their client base. One such team lived in my assignment. Their scorn was built more from experience than disdain, and they had a historical right to feel that way. Not this time, however!

Forced compliance to the program took the form of a monthly conference call to discuss developments in our offering, new sales intelligence about ours & competing solutions and answer any prospect or deal questions the team might have. Sound inspiring?

It was nearing the end of the last of what had by then become a 6-call in a row death-march. The misery was palpable, and as we ended the call and as I proceeded to slam the phone back in it’s cradle (yes, it was THAT long ago), I let loose a bellow;

“That is by FAR the WORST sales group in the entire company. I LITERALLY* (*contents edited to make the story suitable for parents and their children at bedtime) hate talking to them”

We were on speaker phone.

They were still there.

It’s a day I cannot and don’t intend to forget.

While I defended myself vehemently at the time, it’s obvious in retrospect that a BIG motivator behind them not coming around was a mix of tenure, diminished excitement after adopting numerous other failed corporate objectives (they were the sales team in the Company HQ city and wanted to put their best foot forward) and those circumstances together had left them cynical. I hadn’t done enough to convince the manager the potential value of time devoted to the growth of my vertical. His people were ok with me, he was not and the results reflected that fact.

While it’s been 15+ years since that story actually occurred, the moment seems as clear as yesterday. Within the collection of moments like these, you grow most often when turning away from self-promotion and seek ways to help people in your tribe be successful and make memories for themselves and their families.

Relationship building requires the ability to overcome the obstacles.  That pre-internet Sales Team faced the same obstacles many of us have today, even though the means we have to communicate with one another have exploded.

I hypothesize a problem – we don’t tell each other how we prefer to use varied & shared communication methods. It either works itself out, or you lose touch. Maybe you’re texting me and I want to talk on the phone. Maybe you like SnapChat but I only want to trade goofy filters on that channel. Can’t you just send me the link to IG? It all comes back to the concept of communication. Be purposeful in the ways you use communication platforms, and don’t be afraid to share your preferences, lest you find yourself on the wrong end of an errant “reply-all” e-mail.