Authors: Patrick V. Valtin with L.D> Sledge
Publisher: m2-tec.com, 268 pages
Book Review by Ramu Nakliba
When an owner wants to grow his or her company, it is usually through growing sales. And one of the most sought-after types of employees a company needs for growth is top sales people.
Therefore, locating top-performing sales people is one of the most difficult and elusive tasks of a business owner these days.
While we read the authors’ statement that the “war for talent is raging more than ever and that government regulations are on the rise,” it is also true that there are more people than in a long time before, who are looking for work, and among them are laid-off sales people.
That’s the problem. Their sales numbers were most likely poor and so they were laid off. So, the primary challenge today for a business owner who wants to grow company revenues and therefore company size is to find sales pros.
Often, the primary function of a small company owner is sales. That is typically the case, as we’ve found from experience. He or she is so involved in revenue enhancement that there’s no time left to look for qualified sales people with a proven record of sales performance – people who can deliver results with a minimum of product knowledge familiarity and not requiring a whole lot of behavioral change needed for sales success.
Valtin and Sledge have written a good book that provides value to business executives charged with hiring and personnel development. Their set of no-fail hiring tips” is most useful.
They state that we should hire creative problem solvers who will save us time and effort, so we can concentrate on the things we do best to grow our businesses. We also agree with them that one of the highest returns on investment of our time is to have an excellent hire. It is like making a copy of one aspect of our skill set. Someone who can sell consistently well is certainly one of the most valuable assets a business owner needs.
A good vision of a company’s future will attract top performers. If you do not know where your company is going, how can your employee do? Good employees want to grow, not stagnate. Constantly improving company operations and customer service is important to making employees love to work at your firm.
The authors point out the 10 deadliest hiring mistakes and the importance of developing a standard hiring procedure. These two points alone make this book very valuable. But of course there is much more in it that makes this book an essential read.
