By Victor Antonio, BSEE, MBA

We all remember the Tom Hanks' movie, "Forrest Gump".  The story of a man who is a bit slow on the uptake and life in general, but still manages to accomplish great things.

The line that people often recite from the movie is, "Life is like a box of chocolate.  You never know what you're going to get".  This line has become part of American pop culture.  You can go up to almost any person and start the line, and 9 times out of 10 the other person will finish it.  I guess the lines popularity stems from the simple truth it contains, not just about chocolate, but about people in general.  Because when it comes to people, or more specifically salespeople, you never really know what you're going to get.

No one knows this more than anyone who has ever hired an employee to work for their company or team.   Sales manager for instance can relate to what I'm saying.  For example, hiring great salespeople is tough.  I mean real tough.  You can look at their resume and say "great".  Hire them, put them in the field and a few months later you're saying "Damn".  You can have them take 'psychological' test, and they'll pass and you'll say "great".  Put theory into practice and send them out to sell, and again, a few months later you're going "damn".

I don't have the answer or a system for hiring the ideal salesperson.  My only suggestion is take every precaution and take the time to do your due diligence (e.g., review resume, verify credentials, speak with references, have the take tests, have them interview with as many people in your organization, etc.).

But what happens when it isn't obvious that you have a poor salesperson?  How can you discern between a person who is just towing the corporate line versus a person who is out there turning over every rock to find a sale?

You may be thinking, "Well, you can easily tell by whether or not they're hitting their number."  

That's a fair response, but I would respond by making the following observations:

    1) Maybe the quota is set too low because you're underestimating the size of your market.

    2) Just because they're hitting their number doesn't mean you aren't losing market share.

I could come up with more reasons why this line of thinking is faulty.  And yes, I recognize that a salesperson hitting their quota is a great indicator, but I would caution against making the leap that this means they're great at sales.  Many of us have known people who would hit their quota, not because they were great salespeople, but because of market opportunity and timing (i.e., right place, right time, right product or service).   That's not selling, that's luck...and you can't be lucky 100% of the time.

But again, how do you know if you have a great salesperson or just an opportunist...a sales dud?  Well, I've decided to lay out...

7 Ways to Spot a Sales Phoney

Comfort Zone:  Watch for this!  In many cases sales phonies will not venture out to find new business.  Instead, they come up with creative ways to keep seeing the same customers over and over again.  Now don't get me wrong; I'm a fan of the "upsell strategy" to your existing customer base.   I'm also a fan of staying close to my customer.  But too often this becomes a comfort (safety zone) for sales phonies who over time stop venturing out for new business.

Not Perfect:  If a salesperson complains about every little detail of what's wrong with the company and "implies"  that the reason his sales are suffering is because of all the "little things we do wrong that add up to a big thing"...you may have a phony on your hands.  Like many managers, I struggled to get things right in a company (i.e., pricing points, lead times, delivery, customer service, etc.).  But if a salesperson continues to use the company's imperfections as an excuse for his lackluster sales, you may have a sales phoney on your hands.  No company is perfect...good sales people learn to manage their company's imperfection in front of the customer.

Sales Call Reluctance:  If a salesperson seems to come up with excuses of why he can't set up a meeting with key customer or why things are moving slower than expected, be suspicious.  Many salespeople are simply afraid to pick up the phone and make the calls.  Fear of rejection?  Yeah.  Fear of Success?  Possible?  If you've instructed your salespersons to make or setup a meeting with a customer and 1 month later it hasn't been done, you have a sales phoney.

Product Fear:  A subcategory of sales call reluctance is the fear of being caught with your pants down.  It's common for a salesperson to have been with a company a long time and still not understand the products.  Or, maybe they haven't kept up with the new product releases.  A true salesperson views a product release as an excuse to go back and visit a customer.  A sales phoney sees a new product as just another product they have to push.  What they say speaks volumes for how they think.  Sales phonies use a lot of fluffy language and anecdotes to cover up for their technical inadequacies.

The Reports:  As a manager I always had my team submit a summary of their work week.  Reading these reports gave me great insight to what they were doing it and how they were thinking about the business.  It becomes evident over time who the best salespeople are by the content in their report.  Another key report is a salesperson's travel report to a customer or tradeshow.  If they're not taking their clients out to breakfast, lunch or dinner, then you may have a sales phoney on your hands. 

Lower Prices:  Sales phonies like to use the shortcut method of selling value by cutting prices.  If a salesperson is constantly asking for more discounts across the board on your products, you may have a sales phony.  Great salespeople sell the value and expect a customer to pay a premium for that quality of service.

And finally, my personal favorite...

Blame the Product:  Sales phonies always blame the products.  They say things like, "If it only had this (fill in the blank) feature, I could sell (fill in the blank) more."  Or, they say, "We lost that deal because we didn't have (fill in the blank)."   My favorite excuse for not selling is the "Field of Dreams" excuse.  You remember the Kevin Costner movie about a guy who kept hearing a voice telling him, "Build it and they will come."  So he builds a baseball field and 'players from the past' showed up to finish a game that never happened.  Sales phonies do the same thing, they say "Build this product for me, and and the sales will come."   Greatness for them is ALWAYS over the next new product horizon.

If you're a sales manager, I hope these tips will help you in the vetting process when trying to find the right salespeople.

If you're a salesperson and have used any of these excuses in the past, CUT IT OUT!  Sooner or later you will be discovered.  Learn to win.  Don't be a dud.  Devise a real sales plan, don't be afraid to learn new products, go after new customers and if you need help...ASK FOR IT.  That's what sales managers are there for...to help you succeed in selling.