Welcome to our inaugural newsletter.  We wanted a better way to keep in touch with our extended community - clients and candidates - and are excited about the possibilities of this medium.  Our intent is for this newsletter to be informative, educational and thought provoking; we hope that some of you will decide to contribute (in fact, we're asking) and share your thoughts and observations about the industry.  While we are recruiters and consultants on the hiring process we understand the impact that technology trends, market conditions, funding, and business strategies, just to name a few, have on the ability to build and maintain world-class organizations.  We're interested in all those subjects and want this newsletter to be a forum for information, knowledge, reflection and action!  Read On.

Best Regards,
Ross Rich, Sara Lillis, and Pam Burton

The World Turned Up Side Down:
Selling, Hiring & Coping in the Post-Boom World
By Ross Rich, Managing Principal, Selection Strategies, Inc.

If ponies rode men and if grass ate cows,
And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse...
If summer were spring and the other way around,
Then all the world would be upside down.

These are the words of the tune played by British military musicians as British troops surrendered to George Washington at Yorktown, Va., on October 7, 1781.  Lord Cornwallis stood before what many thought was a rag-tag force of rebels - a guerilla army - that defeated one of the best organized and led armies in history.  For the mighty British Empire, losing the American Revolution, it certainly seemed like the world had turned upside down.
 
In the world of technology sales, especially for software vendors, the last few years - the post-technology boom - do indeed seem like a world turned upside down.  After discussions with industry leaders, observers, and some careful consideration of our own experiences we agree it is a different world than the one we grew accustomed to; although, perhaps one that with appropriate measures is on its way to righting itself and returning to a measure of sanity and renewed opportunity.  Certainly recent reports of improving economic news and leading indicators are encouraging.

Selection Strategies surveyed and interviewed fifty technology professionals from CEOs to individual salespeople, from Tier 1 vendors to small early-stage start-ups, as well as, venture capitalists, sales methodology trainers, consultants, and executive recruiters.  Our aim was to gauge the market from the perspective of those in the front lines and to summarize their analysis, conclusions, and recommendations.  We coupled this input with our own observations and experiences to assess the current conditions and offer practical remedies to not only cope, but thrive in technology sales today. (Full Article)

TARGET ON TALENT: Assessing Sales Talent

Does Past Behavior Really Matter?

We've found in the selection and hiring process that past behavior (and performance) does matter!  Our research and experience has proven over and over again that ...

The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior under similar circumstances and the more recent and more long-standing the behavior the higher the predictive value.

Given the myriad of things a sales manager needs to focus on today you maybe asking, "how am I supposed to invest the time and determine the right behaviors to find the proverbial A Player before making a hiring decision?"  We didn't say it was easy but it isn't impossible and we have an answer.

Selection Strategies' InSITE™ (In-Depth Sales Interview and Trait Evaluation) is a comprehensive, detailed look at sales behaviors.  The interview was developed by a team of behavioral psychologists and by both sales and recruiting professionals and has been used extensively by hiring managers in both large and small technology companies.  It has stood the test of time! (Full Article)

HIRING TRENDS

The Perils of Pedigree

We've witnessed a trend over the last 2 plus years in which experience has overshadowed all other aspects of consideration in hiring.  The old adage "be careful what you wish for" really applies here, because by focusing so narrowly on experience you may hire an individual with the right resume, titles, and companies; yet inadvertently hire someone of mediocre ability.

Our Hiring Intelligence™ methodology identifies three dimensions to a hiring profile that need to be considered when evaluating a candidate - Abilities, Chemistry and Experience.  Each component is important and while experience is necessary, it alone is insufficient to ensure success.  Because experience is easier to evaluate, there has always been a false sense of security placed in the "been there, done that" aspect of someone's background; however, extensive research has proven that experience is the least predictive and reliable measure of future performance.    

Today's overemphasis on experience appears to be more of an effort to minimize risk than to increase performance or productivity. (Full Article)

Selection Strategies, Inc.
2109 W. Grace Street, Suite 200
Chicago, IL 60618-4901
773.244.1609 p
773.244.1803 f
www.selectionstrategies.com