With the 1st pick of the 2018 NFL draft the Cleveland Browns select…Baker Mayfield? No seriously, Baker Mayfield. I did not see that coming. How does this happen every year, how do we not already know who the top picks will be? I mean shouldn’t the guy who leads the NCAA in rushing be the top running back and the guy who leads in passing the top quarterback? In actuality, it doesn’t work that way at all and for a very good reason.
Each year every NFL team spends hundreds of hours and several million dollars on scouting the best prospective talent for their teams. On the surface, we may see things like passing yards or touchdowns, but the NFL goes much deeper than this. More often than not, they get it right. The guy with the most passing yards isn’t always the best quarterback (what’s up Tim Tebow) and the guy who caught the most touchdowns in school history, may not be a great NFL receiver. As a business owner, I find this process fascinating and always want to know more. How do I look past flashy resumes and front-loaded statistics to evaluate prospective sales talent at a deeper level than what I see on paper? Let’s break down hiring salespeople like an NFL scout and find out.
Scouts look at several different factors when evaluating talent.
The first and most basic trait: INTANGIBLES
Intangibles are the talents that just can’t be taught. Does this quarterback sense a defender coming up behind him without looking? Does he cut left while making everyone think he is going right? We can look for the same traits in our prospective salespeople. Consider preparing a sales script and asking potential salespeople to read it to you as if they were pitching. Usually, in this process, we can find intangibles. Do they sound like robots reading from a piece of paper? Or are they gliding through it naturally as if speaking to a real person? A lot can be learned with this basic exercise to find out what if any natural talent this salesperson possesses.
The most undervalued as it relates to salespeople: CHARACTER
Every year we watch first round talent slip into the later rounds because the NFL has “character concerns” about the player. While mildly infuriating to some fans, the NFL knows that a player with poor character can be disastrous to an NFL locker room. The same is true on your sales floor. A salesperson with a poor attitude can be a cancer that slowly eats away at the morale of more productive members of the sales team. Personally, my top sales individual isn’t always number one on the sales board. What he does always lead in though is character. He maintains the highest morale, motivates the people around him and is by far our most loyal employee. I highly suggest you call all the references, do all the background digging (isn’t the social media age wonderful) and trust your instincts when it comes to judging a prospective salesperson’s character. One person can affect your entire company.
My personal favorite: The IT Factor
Watch any NFL GM talk about why they took a particular player and eventually you will always hear it, “Well guys, he just has that IT factor”. That’s it baby, the IT factor. I don’t really know how you quantify an IT factor on paper but anyone who has ever hired a special salesperson will tell you the same thing, you just know it when you see it. The IT factor people are just special. They make you laugh without telling a joke. They get your guard down when it should be up. When they walk out of the room you quietly think to yourself, man I’d like to have a beer with that guy. When you find that salesperson with that IT factor you hold on tight and you don’t let go. That’s your money maker, your franchise QB.
At the end of the day, not every prospective salesperson will be a 1st round draft pick. Sometimes natural talent doesn’t translate into closed deals. Sometimes just character isn’t enough. However, when you are lucky enough to meet a person that you believe has all of these traits well…that’s when you pick a Baker Mayfield.
If you liked this article, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn for up to date sales insights!
