A poor first impression doesn’t have to lead to a bad interview

First impressions matter. In fact, they're more powerful than facts. Research has shown that we form our most lasting impressions of someone within the first 5 seconds of meeting them and that we rarely change these initial ideas even in the face of hard evidence.

5 seconds...

That’s hardly enough time to walk in the door of an interview and take your seat, let alone make a strong case why you’re the best candidate for the job. But, it is enough time to blow an interview. Stumbling over a bump in the carpet, offering up a weak handshake, poor eye contact, or misjudging your wardrobe can all cost you dearly.

Prevailing wisdom dictates that it takes at least 8 positive interactions to overcome a bad first impression. And while that may sound insurmountable, the good news is there are some steps you can take to hit the reset button and reverse your losses.

6 Ways you can Reverse a Bad Interview:

1. Take a Cue from the Performers

Think back to the last time you were watching a live performance and a dancer slipped, or an actor flubbed their lines. The dancer who seamlessly continues on with the choreography or the actor who allows the gaffe play in their favor often winds up as audience favorites. It’s the ones who pull a face or get so flustered they can’t find their place that loses the audience’s favor - something no amount of raw talent can make up for.

Handling small mistakes with grace goes a long way to mitigate their potential damage. Allow yourself a brief moment to recover, make a joke or offer a polite apology appropriately. What is important is to dust yourself off and get back to the business at hand. You’re there for a reason - to get the job - now is the time to focus on that.  

 2. Remain Positive

Running yourself down or trying to overcompensate with ongoing apologies will only serve to highlight your flaws. Unless you’ve been summarily dismissed from the job interview, you still have the opportunity to turn things around. It’s important that you turn your attention from yourself and your embarrassment and toward your interviewer.

Demonstrating that you are flexible and can bounce back from setbacks is attractive to potential employers- use this as an opportunity to demonstrate your resilience.

 3. Pivot

Now is the time to return the full force of your focus to the interview. Leave the mistakes behind and communicate in an open, expressive manner. Let the interviewer see who you are and your core competencies. Shine a light on what you bring to the company and try to help them see you in a new.

A word of caution: Don’t push. Overcompensating will only serve to further alienate yourself and could do even greater damage than the original slip-up.

 4. Find Common Ground

Even a bad first impression can be softened if you and the other person share something in common. It is more difficult to affirm the negative ideas we formed when confronted by similarities. If you and your interviewer share a point of view or interest, they are less likely to hold their initial reaction against you.

 5. Close Strong

Just as first impressions are important, the end of an interview can have a long term effect. Leave the interviewer with positive things to remember you by. Arriving prepared, having done your homework and presenting your interviewer with well-considered solutions can help stem the tide that was flowing against you. There’s no reason to allow a poor beginning to set the tone for the entire interview- you’ve come to sell yourself, don’t sell yourself short.

 6. Let it Be

There are also those things that are outside of your control. All that you can do it make certain that you are professional, and have communicated the value you bring to any position clearly. Focus on the things that are in your control and let the blunders and mistakes be your teachers for future job interviews. After all, if you chose to wear grey shoes to an interview and the hiring manager absolutely detests grey shoes, there’s nothing you can do about it.

J. Patrick & Associates, Inc is an Executive Recruiting firm that focuses on Executive Management, Sales, Marketing and Technical roles within Information Technology markets. We have over 20 years of experience recruiting in every aspect of AV/VTC/UC, Application, Storage, Information/Network Security, Mobile Technologies and Telecommunications.

No hiring choice is black and white, there are always options to be weighed. But making the decision to promote from within or recruit externally can feel like a particularly knotty choice. Both options have their merits. But does one make for sounder hiring practices than the other?

Let’s weigh the pros and cons to figure it out

PROMOTING INTERNALLY: The Pros

A Powerful Promise

The promise that your company offers the possibility of internal mobility can be a powerful recruiting tool. It signals to candidates that you are invested in your team and that you have thought about their futures. Employees feel that they have a possible roadmap for growth, which in turn encourages greater loyalty. Ultimately it can enhance your retention rate quite a bit.

Ease the Transition.

Current employees already are familiar with your company culture. They know the rules, the policies and the inner workings of the business. Induction time is erased or greatly reduced, and the hire can get right down to work. Your business saves time, energy and money that would otherwise be expended on onboarding. Those valuable resources can be redirected toward the creation of new positions or saved for another time.

Moral Booster

The promise of promotion boots moral and keeps energy up in the office. When employees know there is an opening, they’ll hone their production and work hard to earn a spot on the next level.

The Bottom Line.

Finally, promoting from within your business is far less costly. You’ll save on recruiter fees, background checks, and advertising. Money in your pocket.

Sounds like a no brainer, right? Well, hold on, here comes the other side of the coin.

PROMOTING INTERNALLY: The Cons

Conflicts Abound

Opening up an internal search might energize your employees, but what happens to the candidates who don’t get the new job? Any responsible and well-executed internal search is going to include complete vetting of the candidates. The process can easily lead to increased dissatisfaction and eventual resignations. It’s one thing to interview for a position at a new firm and not get it, but it’s quite another thing to be turned down by your current employer for a promotion. These are employees who have already gotten a taste of the possibility, if you can’t fulfill it, they’ll look elsewhere.

Skeletons Have Legs

Everyone makes mistakes -- it’s what helps us grow. But some mistakes are hard to live down or move past within the company. The story of how Tim tripped at a luncheon and spilled a cup of coffee in the CFO’s lap, the time Phil blew the sales luncheon because he was fighting a stomach bug. These stories have legs, and like other skeletons in our closets, that have a habit of following us around.  Stories linger, and so do reputations -- it may be hard for your other employees to see their peer in a new light.

Stagnation

There’s something to be said for being too familiar with company culture, being too close to what goes on. When you move someone new into a management position you’re putting them there because of the ideas and the energy they bring. It’s hard to push innovation when someone is too familiar, or too comfortable with how things have always been.

Bad Habits Can’t Be Promoted Away

Just as it would be incredibly unwise to marry someone in the hopes that their bad habits will magically change after the wedding, so too you can’t promote bad habits away. More responsibility will only enhance weaknesses and shine a spotlight on difficulties.

EXTERNAL HIRE: The Pros

Fresh Perspective

Businesses grow and prosper when the spirit of innovation is encouraged and the limits of imagination are pushed. Getting a fresh pair of eyes on your business is one of the best ways to get ideas flowing and energy moving. Bringing in an outside hire is one of the best ways to infuse your department or company as a whole with new ideas.

Pick From the Best In The Business

When you contract with an outside recruiter, they are looking not only at people who are already in the job market, but also talent who haven’t thought about making a move yet. Through their connections and networks, recruiters pre-screen for the best and most qualified talent, bringing you a wealth of talented people who might not otherwise have been attracted to your job opening.

Create Diversity

Recruiting outside talent enables you to think outside the box. You will be pulling from a worldwide talent pool, a vast pool of talent, ability, and connections.

Beat the Competition

Non-compete clauses aside, external recruiting allows you to pick from the best talent in the industry.

EXTERNAL HIRE: The Cons

Higher Costs.

An external higher will cost you not only in recruiting fees, but, according to a 2012 study by Wharton management professor, Matthew Bidwell, salary will be on average 18-20% higher than an internal promotion. They are also at a higher risk of being let go in the first 18 months. However, when an external hire makes it past the 2-year mark, they are more likely to remain in your employ for the long term.

Slower Onboarding

Any new hire is going to require training, but someone new to the company or even the sector is going to require an investment of time and money to train them up on systems, processes, and protocol. In the first year and external hire will be bound to have lower productivity than an internal promotion -- about 20% lower.

HOW TO DECIDE

Ultimately you have to look at your business and the position in order to determine which hiring model is going to work best for you. If you are not in the position to spend the resources on training, and if your company culture cannot support or does not demand much innovation, then you are better off developing talent within the company. However, if you have a stable base, and have systems in place that support training and development, then look outside -- you’ll have a much wider pool of talent to pull from.

Congratulations! You’ve gotten yourself a new job; taken another step up the ladder. Time to celebrate and daydream about all the future holds for you. But before you pop that champagne, you have to resign from your present job first. Handling a resignation well requires forethought, planning, and professionalism. 

What to Consider when Resigning from your Job

First Things First

As tempting as it may be to rush to resign as soon as you get an offer, don’t. Offers fall through, negotiations break down, budgeting gets pulled. Wait until you’ve got a signed offer letter in hand, start date and your benefits package all figured out before letting your manager know you’re leaving. There’s nothing worse than jumping the gun then finding yourself empty-handed.

Make A Plan

Before you schedule a meeting with your manager make a plan of how you intend to ease out of your position. Offer a schedule to transfer accounts, information etc… to co-workers or your replacement, and make recommendations of how best work can be reassigned or shifted. Make certain to include a road map for any unfinished projects and clean up any files that are in less than pristine shape.

Write TWO Resignation Letters

The first letter you’re going to write is solely for your own use. This is the letter where you air all of your grievances -- you say everything you’ve ever wanted to say. Think your present boss is a moron? Say it. Hate the way your co-worker laughs? Say it and tell them if you never see them again it would be too soon. Still angry that you were passed over for an important project? Let it all out.

Doesn’t that feel good?

Yes, it does.

Good. Now delete the file, burn the paper, empty the trash. No one else on the entire planet needs ever see it, and in fact, it’s probably wise to destroy it as soon as you type the last period

Now sit down and write the second letter -- the real one. Keep it short, clear and always professional. State what you are grateful for, what worked for you and what you will carry with you through the rest of your career. Be certain to say thank you, and of course include the date for your last day.

And unless you’re as clever as the guy who sent a condolence card, keep it simple, straight forward and professional.

Schedule An Appointment

Unless you work on one continent and your supervisor is on another, always offer your resignation in person. And always schedule a meeting -- a drop-in is not the way to handle this kind of information.

Make sure you let your direct supervisor know first-- you don’t want word leaking out before you’ve had a chance to handle it yourself. Once they’ve been informed, ask your boss how they’d like you to manage letting other people in the office know. They may want to get out in front of the information first -- if so, respect their choice.

Be Prepared For the Counter Offer

There’s every chance that your well-planned resignation will be met with a counter-offer. And it may be sweet -- more money, added benefits, extra time off. Your boss may be very motivated to keep you around. But be wary.

No matter how valued you are, you’ve already identified yourself as a flight risk, so even though the company is fighting to keep you around, they also know you’ve got one foot out the door. When the time comes for cut backs or reorganization, your name very likely will be at the top of the list.

You went looking for a new job for a reason, is more money really enough to make you want to stay? Not likely. Stick to your plan to move on and up.

The Best Laid Plans

Your perfect resignation scenario probably looks something like this: You book a meeting with your manager, hand them your letter, offer two weeks and share a hearty handshake. You then spend the next two weeks easing the transition, saying goodbye, having your exit interview and preparing to move on.

But there’s every chance that the company wants you gone that day. So be prepared, have boxes at the ready, make sure you’ve cleaned up your company computer and be prepared to be walked out by security with little time to wrap anything up.

Finish Strong

Resigning a job isn’t only about what happens next. It’s about what happens three, five, ten years down the road. You want to exit the company on a positive note. Be helpful and constructive in your exit interview, consider what you say carefully and aim to be an asset up until the end. Then say thank you and wish everyone well. If you exit on a high note, then you’ll have even more to go out and celebrate.

6 Skills You Need To Develop To Be A Leader At Work 

“Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.” - Jack Welch

Let’s get this straight from the get-go; there is no such thing as a natural-born leader. Regardless of how much power and influence one may have been born into, leadership is a learned skill. Sure, it comes easier to some and we can’t ignore that there are those who enjoy a quicker route to the top, but in order to stay there, to keep growing their influence, they had to cultivate some key qualities.

Leadership is not a title, it’s a mindset, a way of being. Whether you have your sights on management, the C-level suite, or run your own business, you’d do well to begin integrating these qualities into your everyday life now, for habits only become habits with practice.

Here are 6 things Great Leaders know:

1. Leaders Speak Less, Listen More

The only way to get a broad understanding of any situation is to first listen to what others have to say. Take everything in, consider all sides of the story before formulating your response. Then, once you’ve considered what it is you want to contribute, concision is the key to effective communication.

When you are willing to listen more and speak less, others will feel more valued if you are willing to hear them out. When you do speak, people will be far more apt to listen.

2. Leaders Value Integrity 

Someone who motivates and drives a successful team is, first and foremost, a model of reliability and accountability. Reliability is won by doing what you say you’re going to do when you said you’re going to do it. And then going one step further to take responsibility should things go sideways.

3. Leaders Are Always Adapting

There has to be more than one solution to any given problem, and a good motivator knows this to be true. Rigidity kills innovation, leaving no room for new ideas to bloom. Certainly there may be standards and procedures that must be adhered to, but a good leader leaves room for creativity to bloom.

4. Leaders Communicate 

While this may sound at first like a contradiction of Speak less, listen more, it’s in fact an important leadership skill. Assumptions not only cause conflict and wasted time and resources, but they also diminish trust. Once again concision is the key - it takes less time to communicate clearly with your boss, your team, your customers than it does to clean up the mess left behind by confusion and miscommunication.

5. Leaders Know It’s All In The Timing

Patience is a virtue, so we are told, and it’s also a key to understanding what true leadership means. Now is not always the best time to hold that meeting, to send that email, to ask your boss to assign you to that project. Just as entrepreneurs know that there must be a period of sacrifice before success, planning ahead and being willing to be patient often means the rewards will be all the sweeter.

6. Leaders Know the Goal. 

The point of being a leader is not glory or accolades, or even the biggest office. In business, the goal it to build a strong company and ensure that everyone succeeds. Ego, selfishness, competition and other cut-throat tactics might get you ahead in the short term, but a career to be proud of is built of stronger, more generous material.

Successful leaders are not born, they are made from integrity, respect and hard work.

Are you looking for a new position to help you meet your career goals? If so, let J.Patrick & Associates hunt for you!

A winning Olympic team is not so different from a winning sales team -- well, aside from the whole medal and international fame angle. What it takes to build a team of dedicated, talented and motivated individuals is the same whether we’re talking sports, IT or AV solutions. While your team’s top-grossing salesperson is never going to wind up on a box of Wheaties, they are going to rise to fame within your company. And just like the coach training star athletes, a great sales manager also has to build and train their team.

Here’s how a great sales manager is like an Olympic coach.

They Build a Diverse Team

Just as a good swim coach understands that a team made up entirely of freestyle swimmers will not win the most medals in the games, so too, the smart sales manager knows that a diverse talent pool makes for the most wins. 

While top salespeople may share some fundamental skills or abilities, a team made of salespeople with the same strengths and weaknesses does not make for the highest sales numbers. Different clients may require different sales styles, just as different products may too. You need the closer who can work with your larger, more corporate clients, and the “finesser” who knows how to nudge a new customer toward a close.

Just as athletes need to stretch and grow, so too do salespeople -- make sure you’re making room for your team to get new training, face new challenges and keep pushing the limits of their reach and ability.

They Know It’s A Mental Game

An Olympic level coach knows how to read their athletes, and understands what it takes to make each individual perform at their best. Some members of the team may need loud music to pump themselves up before the game begins, while others need a quiet place to find their focus. The smart coach makes room for both team members to get what they need. And they also make room for failure; there is no such thing as success without trial, error, and mistakes.

This couldn’t be more true for salespeople. Not every call is going to result in a win, not every deal is going to close. There will be winning streaks, and there will be times when it’s hard to get a spark lit. Winning sales managers understand they have to create an environment that fosters resilience, where each salesperson gets the supports, training, and kind of incentive that keeps them pushing through the tough times.

They Know that Teamwork is Important Even in an Individual Sport

Just as the 200-yard dash might be an individual event, even Usain Bolt’s chances of reigning dominant diminish without a strong team to support him. Sales may be an individual sport, but even a top-grossing sales star cannot reach those heights without the support and dedication of the entire team.

They Understand the Transformative Power of Failure

The best sales managers are the best because they know that failure isn’t measured by deals not closed, but opportunities for growth not taken. And in fact, I’d argue that the very best managers of any stripe are the ones who are willing to share the stories of their loses, who don’t pretend they’ve always been exactly where they are in their careers. There are studies, after studies, after studies on the power of failure -- you need not look further than silicon valley to know how so-called failures or losses can lead to transformative innovations.

Practice, Practice, Practice

Even the kid born with innate ability or talent needs coaching and an incredibly high number of repetitions to hone their abilities. Michael Phelps might have been born with the wingspan of a champion, he might even have the focus and passion to win buried deep in his DNA, but he would never have made his first Olympic team if he didn’t have the drive to keep practicing and honing his skills.

None of this is to suggest that you going to be hiring salespeople who solely are athletes, already experienced in sales or have proven track records, but you are looking to hire people who are driven and are committed to honing their skills.

Providing your team with ongoing training, holding sales competitions, and constantly raising the bar on performance and outreach all help to build a better, stronger team.

They Know A Win Isn’t the End Of The Game

Just as the US Women’s Soccer Team knows that past glory in the World Cup doesn’t insure how they’ll perform in the future, a sales team is always building on success. It might be tempting to rest on the laurels of a hot quarter, but taking those wins and pushing for a banner year is what makes a sales team truly successful. The constant drive to improve is a mindset that needs to be encouraged, fostered and rewarded.

J. Patrick & Associates is an Executive Recruiting firm that focuses on Executive Management, Sales, Marketing and Technical roles within Information Technology markets. We have over 20 years of experience recruiting in every aspect of AV/VTC/UC, Application, Storage, Information/Network Security, Mobile Technologies and Telecommunications.

Congratulations! You’ve landed a new job, in a new city. 

Maybe you’re moving to a new company for a job with better pay and the promise of advancement, or perhaps your current employer has chosen you to open up a new branch or expand a branch in another city. 

Whatever the reason, you’ve got a new job in a new city and now it’s time to start planning your transition. Whether it’s just you and your pet goldfish, or the entire family, you have a lot of work to do. You have to find a new home, get your bearings in a new city (or country) and master a new job all at once!

Here are 8 Tips to Make Your Relocation Easier

1. Organize

Just as you may have made a list of Pro’s and Con’s when considering taking this new position, lists are going to be your friend when planning the move. You’ll want a list for both ends, leaving and arrival. Be certain to include not only the big things, like turning off/on the electricity and internet connections, but also close out local accounts and make sure you picked up the dry cleaning that you keep forgetting about. It is best to leave no loose ends dangling so that you can hit the ground running in your new town, be certain to get organized early on.

2. Do Your Research

Even if your job offer came with reimbursement of moving expenses and a fully staffed department devoted solely to relocating employees you have to do your own research. 

Many large corporations have preferred provider agreements with movers, realtors and shippers. You want to make certain that you are not only getting the best service you can, but also not endangering reimbursement. Work up a detailed and specific list of anticipated costs- and don’t forget to account for items such as your car and your pets.

If your move is taking you overseas, be certain to understand in what currency you will be paid, and what penalties you might incur when switching currencies.

3. Build In A Buffer

Whether your offer allows you a month before your move or two weeks, you must insist on having some time to do your research. If you are not able to physically visit the new city, then cyber research will have to do. Read the local papers, talk to people in your network who live/work there, contact the local chamber of commerce to find out the best resources for new residents.

4. Get Social

Now more than ever, your friends, associates, and extended social network can be your lifeline. Join local professional organizations, sign up for meet-and-greets and get a handle on where people in your industry are flocking to. Your new employer very well may have a lot of valuable information for you, but don’t rely on anyone else to help you feel grounded in your new town- that responsibility is and should be, yours. If you’re moving with your family ask colleagues for recommendations on schools, neighborhoods and after school activities. But always do the research on your own, no one knows your needs as well as you do- don’t take someone else’s word for it.

5. Create A Calendar

There’s nothing as stressful as rushing things at the last minute. But chances are high that you’re planning this move while finishing up at your old job, or starting at the new one. So, regardless of the time frame required for your move, schedule as much as you can in advance. Calendar everything! And I mean everything, right down to what day to pack up the kitchen, and when to put in the change of address at the post office.

Remember, you’re taking this leap for the best of possible reasons. Don’t sour the experience by allowing stress to take over.

6. Leave Things Behind

Take the opportunity to pack up your home to leave some things behind. You’re starting fresh in a new town, you can go ahead and leave that ratty set of towels behind, or even the recliner you’ve been toting around since college. I’m not advocating for putting yourself in a position of having to replace costly items on the other end, but this is a perfect time to do an inventory of what you need, want and what you’ve unnecessarily been clinging to.

7. Take Your Deductions

If your new employer is compensating you for your move, you must first find out if those monies will be counted as income. If that’s the case, then you must take the deductions due to you, for these expenses. Understanding the tax benefits becomes even more important if you are footing the bill yourself. Make certain that you understand the local tax laws and stay up-to-date on federal rules and regulations.

8. Consider The Possibilities

Even though this may look like your dream job in your dream city, there is always the possibility that things might not work out. You may find that while that new town looked great on paper, once on the ground you might just not ever feel right. And the same goes for the new job. A position can look very different from the outside than it does once you are in it.

Now, careful research should mitigate the possibility of the move going south, but you have to plan for contingencies. So, whether that means moving back from whence you came, or trying something new, it always pays to have a plan in your back pocket.

If there's one thing we know about what drives the top SaaS sales talent that we place, it's that they're always looking to get involved with the next great technological leap. Innovation, disruption, and a team of proven leaders are all prime motivators. So when they go looking for a new position at a new company, they are inevitably confronted with a choice between one of two ways to go: Public or Pre-IPO.

While one is popularly considered to be the safer, more reliable bet, there are very specific advantages to both. You do yourself a service to look at both sides of the coin when considering a move.

THE PRE-IPO APPEAL 

Even as the rate of IPO's have slowed this year, we still see well-funded start-ups that are proving to be enticing to our sales candidates right now. And while there are risks associated with moving to a new/unknown entity, the rewards, as you know, can be enormous. That is, if you’re moving to the right company.

Here are the defining characteristics that make a Pre-IPO appealing.

Disruptive Technologies with an Achievable Plan.

A disruptive technology is one that either displaces an existing technology or introduces a ground-breaking product that opens up a new industry. It’s exciting, it’s cutting-edge and it’s potentially important. You won’t find better salespeople than those who are looking to be engaged with the product they’re selling, who need to feel that they are helping to build something new, innovative and/or helpful. And truly, what salesperson worth their salt doesn’t want to be selling the world’s next great technological breakthrough?

But above and beyond the technology itself, savvy salespeople are considering the marketplace for this product. How addressable is the market? Are there too many players? Is the company engaged in a red ocean or a blue ocean strategy?

Confidence.

A top salesperson got where they are based on the value of their relationships, and the depth of their network. There’s no point in making a move where you can’t carry those relationships forward with you. It’s not enough to only believe in the product you’re selling, it’s vital to consider if it’s one you can sell to a marketplace/customer base you know well. How well will you be able to leverage your existing network? And, more importantly, does this new product solve a real problem for your current customers?

Top-Level Management.

When it comes to startups, who is just as important as what. Top management leaders who’ve scaled a company before, who have the knowledge, experience and following to build a successful company are nearly as important as the technology itself. Savvy salespeople look to the management team as a good barometer for potential success. They’re looking for managers they not only they feel they can work with, but who have a track record of success and can move the company toward profit and beyond.

It’s also important to remember that more people cite lack of faith in, or a conflict with, their manager as the number one reason for leaving a position. And while you can’t know how you’ll get on with a manager, doing due diligence on the people you’ll be reporting to is a key consideration to make.

High-Scaling.

Look, salespeople know a worthwhile lead when they see it, and they can also recognize a dead-end long before it comes into view. Yes, there has to be a belief in the technology and an investment in the worth it adds to business, or society at large, but more than that, there has to be the potential for a high return.

Always consider who is involved. Is this a purely VC backed venture, or PE? Where are they in their funding? While getting into a company while they are still in series A funding might promise higher returns later on, we are currently finding that the majority of our sales candidates are interested in series C or beyond. This may be attributable to the fact that the first quarter of 2016 has seen the lowest number of companies going public, or it may be that they are looking to move only to companies that are further along in their development. Either way, the real potential has to be there for a company to attract top sales talent.

Getting in on the ground floor of a disruptive technology insures that a salesperson is both challenged, engaged and invested in the company’s success. The only gamble of course, is whether the tech will catch on or not. If they’ve judged well and have gone where the smart money is sitting, they can expect to find themselves post-IPO in a very comfortable position, and their reputation as a sales leader greatly enhanced.

THE PUBLIC APPEAL

On the other side of the coin, public companies, long considered a safe and reliable bet continue to be attractive. With a few caveats:

The Company That’s Gone Public, But Has Not Been Acquired.

There’s a big difference between a public company with an institutionalized culture, and the company that has managed to maintain its pre-IPO identity. What this means is that the original structure and charter remain in place, and that the company has not allowed its identity to change in order to fit that of its parent corp. Because of this attitude, they are able to attract and retain an 'A' level sales team that is more deeply dedicated to the company's brand, culture, and continued growth.

A good example of this is Zappos. Even after they were acquired by Amazon, Zappos has been able to buck convention in the interest of preserving their independent spirit. And this has served them quite well as they are widely regarded as one of the top companies who have gotten company culture right.

The Company That’s Already Been Acquired, But Is Siloed Under An Umbrella.

Rules were made to be broken, so we know that not all acquisitions mean the termination of a company’s identity. Depending on the terms of the merger or purchase, it’s entirely possible for an innovative company to hold on to their identity: as long as they are siloed under the umbrella of the larger corporation.

A good and timely example is the pending acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft. If early reports prove to be correct, LinkedIn will exist as an independent entity under Microsoft’s umbrella. Rather than being an integrated brand, they will remain singular, retaining their identity, feel and flavor while benefitting from the reach and technological edge that a parent company like Microsoft can provide.

What these types of companies offer sales people is the ability to have one's cake and eat it too. It provides the foundation and stability of a public company as well as all of the perks that come with greater financial reach— all the while being energized up by the innovation and forward culture of a startup. 

If there is one constant, clear thread we are seeing, it is that independence and innovation are of prime importance. Top SaaS salespeople are looking to be ignited by disruptive technologies, and excited by the opportunity to represent the next great products out in the world, and they are looking for the right company to support their growth.

J. Patrick and Associates serves Information Technology firms that are looking to improve or expand their teams in mission-critical functions, where the success of the firm is highly dependent on the quality of certain hires. Whether you’re a candidate looking to move to one of our top-end customers, or a vendor looking to build your sales team, contact us today. 

When you think of a sales leader it’s likely that you think of the person with the 85-90% wins, right? Well sure, that’s one way to think about it. But a sales leader is many things  - above and beyond being a top producer. They understand the art of the deal in a way others don’t, and that’s what get them to the top of the heap. Yes it’s numbers, but it’s also about leadership, attitude, style and approach. 

9 Traits of a Sales Leader

“Leadership is the ability to translate vision into reality.” -- Warren Bennis

1) Insight

Building success for both yourself and your team requires vision, being able to see the big picture, and to always be looking for a new way through a problem. Sales Leaders allow themselves to not only think differently, but they also encourage their team to.

2) Integrity

Where there is trust, there is progress. Only a leader who is honest, ethical and fair can create a team that is loyal, honest and respectful. Lead by example and your team will rise up to your level and help carry you all to greater success.

3) Innovative

The tried and true might always work, but can they ever deliver anything but the same results? Real breakthroughs come from new approaches, trial error and daring to fail. Striving to maximize potential beyond the way things have always been done can lead to better results, higher numbers and greater rewards.

4) An Effective Communicator

Just as effective communication is what leads to an increase in your own sales numbers, it’s equally important that you effectively communicate with your team. Being able to clearly relay your thoughts, intructions, goals and ideas helps the overall performance of the sales force and allow them to work autonomously and effectively.

5) Analytical

Certainly gut plays a good role in sales, but a sales leader knows to dive into the data to expose what’s working, and what’s not. But they also know that the numbers don’t tell the whole story, that any data set requires a critical eye to discern the true story they are telling. Knowing the difference between being data driven and driven to do better makes all the difference to the bottom line.

6) Creative

Being able to think beyond the playbook is vital if you want to be a sales leader. And sometimes creative solutions are the only way to get through a crisis successfully. Modeling the ability to think past the established lines and build new solutions also tells your team that there will always be a way through to success

7) Delegatory

Understanding that a leader is only as strong as their team is vital. The ability to recruit and train a team of strong performers puts a sales leader at the top of the heap. But knowing how to retain that team is equally important. Sharing the load, being sure to always be teaching, training and rewarding your team helps create a stronger unit.

8) Empowering

Knowing how, when and what to delegate to the team not only allows you to focus on leading, but also sends the strong message that you trust and value the input of your sales team. The leader who micro-manages or refuses to delegate is not maximizing the potential of the group, nor are they investing in the future of the company. Always be building both your team and the abilities of the individuals.

9) Positive

It falls to the sales leader to set the tone for everyone else, and a negative outlook will never build anything but doubt. Knowing that there is always potential, that failures are an integral part of success, and that your attitude informs everyone else’s is a sure sign of a sales leader.

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WHAT GETS ENTERPRISE SALES-LEADERS EXCITED THESE DAYS

J. Patrick and Associates serves Information Technology firms that are looking to improve or expand their teams in mission-critical functions, where the success of the firm is highly dependent on the quality of certain hires. If your goal is to build a star sales team, or find a new position, contact us today.

We’ve heard it before: email is a productivity killer. According to a study conducted by Loughborough University, it takes an average of 64 seconds to recover from a distraction. That’s 64 seconds spent trying to remember where you were before you stopped to check that email, read that text, or look at that link before you can get back on track. Multiply that by 96 -- the average number of emails a worker may receive in a day -- and you wind up with a grand total of 100 minutes of every day that employees spend recovering from distractions.

And it’s not just the time lost that’s killing productivity, it’s the energy spent always trying to pick up dropped threads and get back on task.

So what can you do to keep your team on track?

KILL THE MESSENGER.
Well, not literally of course, but there are an increasing number of companies that have eliminated inter-office email for the simple reason that it’s a stress-inducing time killer. The constant ping of incoming emails and IM’s, both work related and personal, creates an environment where getting anything accomplished can be like wading through mud. Sure, some degree of task switching may be beneficial --  it allows for short breaks that keep the mind fresh and challenged. But too much switching can lead to distraction and lack of focus, not to mention guilt, stress and anxiety as they fight to pull, or push their attention back to work.

“Though interruptions can often bring relevant information for one’s work in many cases, resuming after an interruption involves a cognitive cost to reorient to the task. Interruptions can become nested, leading to stress in keeping track of multiple states of tasks.” — Examining the Nature of Fragmented Work

When Atos first introduced their Zero Email™ they were considered mavericks. After all, how can a company with over 76,000 employees maintain fluid communication without email? But they’ve been doing it for several years now, and each year more and more companies are following suit.

DON’T PUSH, PULL.
If the problem you are trying to solve is the constant distraction of devices and applications pinging and ringing all day, you can’t simply replace them with other applications that also demand attention. What’s the point of replacing email with a group messaging app like Slack, when it too is going to be pushing notifications all day long?  

The best solutions are those that allow employees control over when they get information -- that allow them to pull information in, rather than constantly having it pushed to them. That’s where collaboration platform such as Asana comes in. These are built to streamline communication and collaboration without the constant interruptions while maintaining a team project feel. Control over when to break to check on communications is handed back to the individual, and the noise making devices get put on a more meaningful mute.

SMART MAIL.
The solution for many companies may be not to kill email all together, but rather to simply learn to work smarter still. What this very well may look like is segmenting how we communicate by WHO, HOW and WHEN. For urgent on-deadline tasks, instant message tools are going to be far more efficient and capable of handling time constraints. On the other hand, long term projects that require a greater degree of tracking and management very well can be still be handled via email. Without the urgency for an immediate reply, there’s no need to constantly be jumping off to check the inbox.

The truth is that things are not going to get simpler and our brains are not likely to adapt to all these distractions any time soon. We are still going to be fighting to keep ourselves on track and focus, but what we can do is learn to harness these technologies, rather than always being at their beck and call.

In Part 1 of this blog we asked the question, What Does it Take to Attract Top Sales Talent? And the answer we provided was simple: pre-IPO status. Read about why leaders in the field are looking move to these kinds of companies here.

While we stand behind that assertion, we also know it doesn’t tell the whole story. Of course not all of our candidates are looking for the same thing. So while the major trend may still be to go pre-IPO, we also have many top candidates for whom public companies are a better match. However (and this is a big caveat), what they are looking for in a public company is quite specific. And it’s a good distinction to understand.

The Company That’s Gone Public, But Has Not Been Acquired.

There’s a big difference between a public company with an institutionalized culture, and the company that has managed to maintain its pre-IPO identity. What this means is that the original structure and charter remain in place, and that the company has not allowed its identity to change in order to fit that of its parent corp. Because of this attitude, they are able to attract and retain an 'A' level sales team that is more deeply dedicated to the company's brand, culture, and continued growth.

A good example of this is Zappos. Even after they were acquired by Amazon, Zappos has been able to buck convention in the interest of preserving their independent spirit. And this has served them quite well as they are widely regarded as one of the top companies who have gotten company culture right.

The Company That’s Already Been Acquired, But Is Siloed Under An Umbrella.

Rules were made to be broken, so we know that not all acquisitions mean the termination of a company’s identity. Depending on the terms of the merger or purchase, it’s entirely possible for an innovative company to hold on to their identity: as long as they are siloed under the umbrella of the larger corporation.

A good and timely example is the pending acquisition of LinkedIn by Microsoft. If early reports prove to be correct, LinkedIn will exist as an independent entity under Microsoft’s umbrella. Rather than being an integrated brand, they will remain singular, retaining their identity, feel and flavor while benefitting from the reach and technological edge that a parent company like Microsoft can provide.

What these types of companies offer sales people is the ability to have one's cake and eat it too. It provides the foundation and stability of a public company as well as all of the perks that come with greater financial reach— all the while being energized up by the innovation and forward culture of a startup. 

The one constant we are seeing in these highly desirable candidates who are ignited by disruptive technologies and excited by the opportunity to represent the next great products out in the world, is that independence and innovation are of prime importance.

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WHAT GETS ENTERPRISE SALES-LEADERS EXCITED THERE DAYS? - PART 1

J. Patrick and Associates serves Information Technology firms that are looking to improve or expand their teams in mission-critical functions, where the success of the firm is highly dependent on the quality of certain hires. Whether you’re a candidate looking to move to one of our top-end customers, or a vendor looking to build your sales team, contact us today: