From the Ask Tom mailbag:

We must have touched a hot button on Time Span in the Selling Process.

Question:
Can you talk more about the team selling approach. As my company grows, I am trying to move out of the sales area. In the past two years, we recruited three salespeople, capable guys, but when the big deal stalls out, I have to come in to close it. Will I ever get out of sales or is the team approach, with me as the closer, something we just adopt and live with?

Response:
Do what is necessary. The sales process is a designed process. When you are brought in as the closer, it’s not like a major league pitcher breaking down in the seventh inning. It’s all in the match. As your sales ticket gets large, the customer is likely to bring in more players to inspect the deal, kick the can around, ask questions. The larger the deal, the more likely a higher stratum player will be in the mix.

I have witnessed an entire deal stuck in an endless meeting cycle. The customer was uncomfortable because the salesperson was not matched with their Time Span. The differences in language, approach, depth of solution were all glaring. We brought in a higher Time Span player on the selling team and the deal got wrapped up in a ten minute meeting. It had nothing to do with the terms of the deal, the contract, a better sales technique or any specific objection. Five minutes after the meeting started, the customer had his pen out of his pocket. Five minutes later, we left the room with a signed contract.

Designing a team approach to selling is matching players on your selling team with the players on the buying team. Time Span helps us calibrate who those players are.

From a comment posted yesterday to Time Span in the Selling Process.

Question:
Does the Time Span of the Solution “prop up”, like a crutch, the Time Span of the Sales Person? Does the Stratum of the Sales Person need to match the Buyer’s Stratum AND the Stratum of the Sales Cycle or is the Sales Cycle enough?

Say we have a Stratum III Solution for a Stratum III Buyer (match), yet we have calibrated the Sales Cylce at 3-6 months (Stratum II), so we have recruited and assigned a Stratum II Sales Force. Will the Sales Person (Stratum II) be mismatched to the Buyer (Stratum III), or is it necessary to have a Stratum III Sales Person? Of course, I would prefer to match it, but knowing how few Stratum III Sales People are out there, it makes Outside Sales hiring bleak.

Response:
Before the first cast, any good fly fisherman sits and observes the micro-ecosystem of the stream. The clue is in the hatch. Matching the hatch. The fisherman observes the bugs, the color, the size, the action, then pulls out a box of artificial flies to select the match.

Sales is a process of matching. Matching problems with solutions, matching buying cycles with selling cycles, matching selling people with buying people. The tighter the match, the more likely the completion of the sale. Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) helps us understand the importance of the match.

You can call it chemistry, people buy from people they like. NLP, as a science, demonstrates that we, as buyers, respond to people we like, and we like people most like us. At a physical level, the match is in breathing, energy, body language, dialect, facial expression. Often the match is unconscious. We call that natural chemistry, but from a scientific perspective, it is still matching, conscious or unconscious.

Understanding Time Span brings another dimension to understanding matching. People with the same Time Span will more likely be matched in the way they see the world (in terms of logic). Elliott Jaques very specifically described these patterns.

• Stratam I – Declarative. This way of seeing the world is disjunctive. The elements of a solution may be in plain view, yet Stratum I may not connect any of the elements together. The discussion will be mostly opinion without evidence to support the position. Engaging someone in a Stratum I argument can be very frustrating, for there is no requirement of evidence to hold a strong opinion.
• Stratum II – Cumulative. This way of seeing the world is conjunctive. Those same elements seen by Stratum I can be organized and connected together. This person can connect the dots. Often connecting the dots reveals the solution to a problem, especially if that solution has solved the problem before.
• Stratum III – Serial. This is the world of cause and effect. While Stratum II can connect elements together, Stratum III can see cause and effect relationships between those very same elements. Cause and effect elements can be rearranged into system solutions.
• Stratum IV – Parallel. But the world is made of many single serial systems. Stratum IV looks a one system and sees its impact on other systems. The role of Stratum IV is that of the integrator.

Now, we are back to matching. A Stratum II sales person may present a Stratum III solution to a Stratum III buyer, but when questioned about the “why” of the elements inside the system, the conversation will begin to fall apart. Some companies have successfully adopted selling teams comprised of Stratum II and Stratum III team members. Stratum II may gather customer information and identify customer problems. Stratum III may take that information and create a system solution. The selling team may now interface with the buying team, put together for the same reason we put together our selling team. In this process, we still have to identify the decision maker, but also the influencer, the technical expert, the user, and the transaction person.

Matching the hatch. Understanding nature. Understanding Time Span helps us design a more effective sales process and select players for specific roles inside that process.

In response to last Friday’s Post – An Important Role for HR

Question:
My question is how is HR going to create the goals & time span for all the departments in an organization? Should they do that alone or is it in fact a shared responsibility between HR with the MOR and Hiring Manager?

Response:
HR can be the glue that holds this discipline together, but without the active participation of the MOR and Hiring Manager, glue is just a sticky mess. The content, the criteria, the judgment about the open role has to come from the MOR and the Hiring Manager. And it is the Hiring Manager that we will hold accountable for the performance of this open position.

Yet, I find MORs and Hiring Managers are very “busy” with production issues and will, if allowed, short-cut this process. HR can bring that discipline to the process. HR can make the process easier, more visible, consistent and insistent. HR can be the teacher of the process.

But the active participation of the MOR and the Hiring Manager is required. Period.

From a comment posted yesterday by Michael Cardus on the flow of the hiring process.

Background
In his research on Time Span, Elliott Jaques observed an important role for the Manager Once Removed (MOR) in the hiring process. The MOR is identified as one stratum above the Hiring Manager and for most companies only gets involved in the last stages of the hiring process, for final candidate approval. Elliott was quite insistent that the MOR be the person at the front end of the hiring process, creating a qualified talent pool for the Hiring Manager to select from.

Question:
This flipping of the funnel is a great idea, although, what concern do you have about the HR team feeling that their turf is being stepped on by the MOR wanting to see the resumes up front? I have found that, often, HR is very territorial and not very understanding of a manager wanting to see the resumes first. The system is built to go through HR initially.

Great idea of eliminating the delay that is caused, I just have to think through the concept.

Response:
The problems created as resumes travel up the food chain is that qualified candidates get screened out. There are a number of reasons. The Hiring Manager may perceive a threat from a candidate with the necessary capability. Others may not identify or understand why a threshold capability is required in the role in the first place. The person best in position, who is not threatened, who most clearly understands what is required in the role is the MOR.

The biggest hiring mistake that most companies make, is underestimating what is really required for success in the position. When a company makes this mistake, they settle, compromise and eventually accept a person who cannot perform at the level required.

The biggest contribution that HR can make in the early stages of the hiring process is to enforce the discipline in the process.

• Creating a role description, including the goals that must be met in the role.
• Assigning Time Span to each of the goals.
• Identifying the criteria that will be used to evaluate candidates on skills, interest and behaviors.
• Creating a bank of written interview questions around each of the identified criteria.
• Insisting that the MOR schedule and execute the necessary time to create the qualified talent pool.

Most companies skip these steps and then wonder why the rest of the hiring process seems disorganized, rushed, ending with a group of mediocre candidates.

Tyler thought for a minute. “If we did something wrong, then we have been doing it wrong for some time,” he observed. “That’s the way we have always hired people from the outside.”

“And how is that working out for you?” I asked.

“Ten percent of the time, we get lucky, most of the time we get someone who is okay, and ten percent of the time, we get stung.”

“As you look at your process, who is the first person to touch the resumes on their way to the Hiring Manager?”

“That’s easy,” Tyler replied. “HR.”

“And, you, you’re the Manager Once Removed. When do you finally see the resumes?”

“Well, right before we extend the offer, I usually see the last three resumes. Often, I will bring back the strongest candidate for a final interview.”

“And, what would happen, if you turned your system upside down, so you were the first person to review the resumes?”

“Now, wait a minute,” Tyler stepped back. “I have enough to do without looking at dozens of resumes.”

“Tyler, what more important thing do you have to do than to focus on building the infrastructure of your team? In fact, the reason you are so busy, is because your hiring process is designed to produce exactly the people you end up with.”

“What went wrong?” I asked.

Tyler recounted the steps they used to qualify candidates. First, they killed a couple of trees printing resumes. Because there were so many, the stack was moved to the reception area. The large stack was divided in two, those from out of town were discarded, those in town were delivered to an area supervisor. The area supervisor was familiar with the job tasks, so that’s where the first real cuts were made.

The final forty resumes were delivered to the hiring manager. The hiring manager was very busy and a little put off by having to deal with forty resumes. He made quick work of the process, however, quickly finding some defect in thirty-five candidates. In the final five, two wanted too much money, two were working somewhere else, so that left one candidate who could easily start within 48 hours. Too good to be true.

“So, where do you think you went wrong?” I repeated.

How prepared are you to engage in the process of hiring talent?

Preparation saves time in the long run. If you post a position and receive 200 resumes in response, how can you sift through to the right candidates? The only way to efficiently and effectively do this, is through preparation. And in my years, this preparation is only haphazardly done.

Yesterday’s comments drew fire related to Stupid Hiring Questions. Both responses centered around efficiencies in the process, to quickly eliminate unqualified candidates in the interview.

By the time I get to the face-to-face interview, I should only be dealing with the highest probability candidates. But getting to the highest probability candidates still requires hard work.

• Resume Review
• Telephone Screening
• Telephone Interview

Most managers miss the telephone screen. The telephone screen is based around five central questions related to the critical role requirements. It is based on an agreement with the candidate that this phone call has a short time commitment of five minutes or less to answer only a few basic questions. In most cases the telephone screen will last three minutes or less. It is highly efficient in qualifying candidates, allowing us to spend more time with only the best candidates.

If you are interviewing candidates for a position, buyer beware. Here is what you are up against.

While you and your management team are flipping a coin to see who is going to handle the interview, your candidate is in a seminar with a professional coach with the sole purpose to beat you. The stakes are high. The candidate has nothing to lose, everything to gain. And they WILL beat you. This comment posted by a professional coach to demonstrate how the candidate takes advantage of STUPID INTERVIEW QUESTIONS by unprepared managers.

Janet Palmer – Communication Excellence Institute comments, “From the interviewee’s perspective, ‘Tell me about yourself’ is a great question! It allows the candidate to talk about his or her background and capabilities, and how they link to the job description and needs of the hiring organization. For over 20 years, our firm has successfully coached high-level candidates to take full advantage of the wonderful opening question–“Tell me about yourself” or “Tell us why you are interested in this position,” which are essentially the same question–and to respond clearly and directly to the match between the candidate and the position for 3 to 4 minutes, the time during which serious first impressions are made. Our logic (proven by positive results) is that if the candidate can dominate the first critical 3.5 minutes of the interview (as suggested by research), then he or she has the greatest ability to make a favorable impression that is likely to last. I frankly hope interviewers never stop asking that opening question! It’s a gift to the smart candidate.”

And yes, one of the most STUPID INTERVIEW QUESTIONS is “Tell me about yourself.” But not as STUPID as “Tell me where you would like to be in five years.”

Both of these questions allow the candidate to talk in non-specific, inflated, exaggerated drivel. Which is exactly what they are coached to do. One of the Big Five Mistakes made by managers is –

• The manager loses control of the interview.

Most managers lose control because they are not prepared to ask the real questions that would be helpful in making a sound decision. And if the manager is not prepared, the candidate is trained to take over. Janet is right. It is a GIFT to the candidate.

The third Big Mistake managers make in the hiring process.

• Manager allows bias and stereotypes to influence the process.

Why?

It’s not that bias and stereotypes are bad. Bias and stereotypes are normal. We all have them. The problem, in the hiring process, is that we make selection decisions based on this bias.

Look, we can’t help having those impressions. They exist. And in the mind of the interviewer, they are formed and connected within seconds of the candidate entering the room. But that’s not the problem either.

The problem is that we allow those bias to make our decisions for us.

The problem, for most managers, is they arrive in the interview without preparation, perhaps 3-4 written questions to ask the candidate. From there, the interview crumbles into unproductive nonsense. Silly hypothetical questions are followed by a plant tour. In the end, the manager has insufficient data to make a decision, so the only criteria left are those impressions formed in the first few seconds of the interview. Back to bias and stereotypes.

Solid preparation is the antidote.