Company: Does your candidate have 10+ years' experience? Me: Yep Company: In industrial sales? Me: Yep Company: Selling CapEx equipment? Me: Yep Company: To foundries? Me: Yep, among others. Company: And she's willing to travel 80% overnight and is comfortable with a $3M quota? Me: Well...your job description said 30-40% travel.... Company: Oh and it needs to be experience with foundries that specialize in zinc alloy casting. Base salary is $70k, high deductible health plan, 2 weeks of PTO after one year. Me: Never mind......... The amount of emphasis employers place on candidates having sales experience in their exact industry, in my opinion, needlessly rules out a lot of GREAT candidates. The questions should be: 1. Has this candidate demonstrated the ability to consistently sell similarly priced products with a similar sales cycle? 2. Does this candidate have the aptitude to learn this industry and these products? Obviously I'm oversimplifying it, but consider that you might be missing out on sales superstars simply because their experience is in a different industry. Rant over. :)
Joseph K.’s Post
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Sales professionals, stop making this mistake when you write your CV and apply for jobs. - Not putting your financial achievements on your CV. Your job is to sell and create more money and profit for the company you work for. Your new employer will want you to sell and create more money and profit for their company. List your financial achievements and business development wins and watch your application response rate increase.
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If you don't know your numbers, then you're not a top salesperson. Top sales talent live and die by their record: - Percentage to Quota - Territory Percentage Growth - Territory Revenue Growth - Monthly/Annual Tonnage Numbers (Steel Industry) - President's Club, Awards, Etc. You should know all of these off the top of your head. If you don't, are you really that invested into your career? Did you really come prepared to our call? Are you even serious about a career change? These are the questions that run through every recruiter's mind. Pro Tip: Update your resume every quarter to include your latest achievements and keep your numbers accurate. A sales resume should be FULL of numbers, facts, and achievements that tell a story. Who would you go with? Candidate #1: "Grew IL & IN Territory from $0 to $6,750,000 in less than two years, having brought on 13 new accounts totaling 10,000 tons in Hot Rolled Steel annually" VS Candidate #2: "Responsible for IL & IN Territory" Do I even need to say? It's Candidate 1 EVERY TIME! Achievements > Responsibilities Numbers > Adjectives Details > Generalities The easiest way to identify top talent is by speaking with people who clearly know their stuff. Number's don't lie. Only people do. 🤥
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I lost big in July of 2023 One of the best industrial sales candidates that I had in 2023 He was interviewing for multiple sales positions. One with me for a CNC Spindle repair company The other- was with another client of mine in compressed air. Except he applied to them externally and was already in interviews when I found him He was a hunter and go-getter. The dream industrial salesman who makes sales and grows business. I got him the best offer from my client. My other client had also presented him with an offer. My sales candidate had a good dilemma. 2 offers. He was torn. He asked me- “ Matt, what should I do?” Me- “ If I were you, I would take the air compressors sales role.” At the end of the day, my goal is to provide the best match for my clients and candidates. Even if that means taking the L. Most candidates in the market now are in the same dilemma. They have multiple offers- if you snooze, you will lose.
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Sean’s Sales Tip Be proud to be a salesperson. Be yourself It’s easy to have some fancy title in sales, but buyers know that we are there to sell Our profession is noble. We help people to solve their problems. No problems equal no sales. Yes we get paid for it. We are ethical and we should be proud to say that our job is to sell. Just take a look at this job description I asked an engineering friend what he was working on these days. He replied: “Aqua-thermal treatment of ceramics, aluminum and steel under a constrained environment." I was impressed until, upon further inquiry. I learned that he was washing dishes with hot water under his wife's supervision. We are salespeople. Be proud. We do not need a fancy title. Buyers know what we do.
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Sales is a natural talent – whether you're selling cars, chemicals, or construction materials. It's the ability to build relationships, solve problems, and create value that drives success, not the number of years spent in a specific field. Let's stop narrowing our search with outdated requirements and start focusing on what really matters: the raw talent that defines a great salesperson. Experience comes with time, but true sales talent is invaluable from day one. #SalesTalent #SalesSkills #Hiring #Sales #management #netherlands #salesmanagement
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Six new time-sensitive/retained searches in Sales, Commercial Management, and Ops Management this past week alone! Meanwhile, our competition sent us an InMail asking if *we* would like to interview for a Metal Sales job. Yikes! Folks, if you get a message from me, it's because I found you, wrote you a personal message, and chose to send it. Not AI, not LinkedIn, not a bot from overseas, not a batch to 1000 people. Confidentiality is king! Yes, we do need to spend 30-45mins on the phone for you to learn the company name. Employers must do the same to learn your name or see your resume. Please, protect your career. Quality > Quantity!
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Marketing Director | Creative Innovator | Growth Maximization Expert
3moI run into the same issue in marketing. Hiring managers are overlooking the real skill sets at the heart of most job roles.