I recently gave a great webinar on Talent Development with Potential.com
You can watch the first part here.
This was the short presentation I referenced. I’ve never been one for a lot of slides. I like to talk about what I know
I think the Storify application is cool so I chronicled the happenings on the Twitter. #humblebrag
Some ideas on Valuing Sales Staff in the #UAE bit.ly/zOkGGY Laimoon’s own @jacob_lebo sheds some light on page 51
— Laimoon.com (@LaimoonJobs) February 14, 2012
I was recently published in Reseller Middle East where I discussed valuing your sales staff. There are stark differences between the Middle East & the US regarding sales. I attempt to shine some light on how MENA managers can value their sales staff similar to how it works in the west.
You can find it on the ResellerME Online Magazine-Page 51. Or read the unedited article below.
Talent Retention starts with Recruitment
All recruiters and employers face common problems, yet here in the Middle East, and particularly in IT these problems all are noticeably amplified. Overall the perception is there are not enough qualified candidates – however common problems such under prepared, under educated or already gainfully employed are consistently mentioned. As a result many hours and much hard work go into the recruitment of the staff of your company. Despite this hypercompetitive marketplace rife with problems, and sincere intention of attracting the top talent the recruitment, development and retention for the position of sales is often overlooked.
Perhaps another article for another time, would be due if I have to tell you why skimping on the hiring of sales people is a bad idea. Instead addressing the larger prevailing attitude throughout the region that the sales profession is viewed a more of a stepping-stone to a ‘better’ position does more to help us understand the problem of attracting and developing top IT sales talent. While both job seekers and employers foster this misperception it causes pain on both sides of the equation. As a virtue of being treated as second-class employees sales professionals are always on the hunt for their next higher paying job, ready to jump ship with an increase of a few hundred dirhams at a moments notice. Employers are aware of this and thus treat sales people as a flight risk, under compensating, micromanaging, and fostering the atmosphere of irreplaceability. This results in a vicious cycle of disloyalty where by sales ‘professionals’ hop from company to company acting as hired guns for the next highest bidder.
Since this retention of top sales talent starts with recruitment, how do you attract the top talent? Simply put treating your employees well. A more complicated answer would be a larger organizational change, fostering an environment that is view upon as a great place to work. Since we as humans spend the better part of our days and particularly our lives at work we look for a great and dare I say fun place to work. But what makes a great place to work and how do I attract great people to work here? When advertising and recruiting for the position it is ok to use unique incentive structures to attract top talent, and just like offering value added services, this will distinguish your business in the market place. Besides straight monetary compensation here are some other incentive ideas to attract top talent, particularly sales talent.
A flex work environment – Offering the ability to work one day at home a week To keep employees productive on these days clear and measurable benefits and goals must be set
Emphasis on a diverse skill set – Talented people appreciate the opportunity to perform a wide array of tasks and responsibilities. Proclaiming this to be the case when recruiting and hiring will drive you top talent.
Offering training and continuing education – Along with a diverse skill set, top talent needs to be driven to excel. Mastery of concepts and technical aspects will contribute to employees personal and professional growth as well as creating more knowledgeable employees for your business.
Laying out a clear career path – Business is not expected to grow without a clear business plan, why should your employees be any different? Laying out clear career paths assist in showing employees how they must perform to get to where they want to be.
Unfortunately workers can become comfortable at their jobs figuring out how to do the least amount of work, but still impress their bosses. This is why unique and goal driven compensation can enable employees to perform not only for your business, but also for themselves.
There are many challenges in sales in the MENA region. Only when perceptions change and a few forward thinking companies start to change environments will then the market change and sales professionals will then soon follow.
I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture Economics. While I don’t directly use economic theory in my daily work, I do appreciate a good discussion on Opportunity Cost. So when I came across these minimalist economic posters on NRP I had to share.
This is a blog post I did while I worked at FireDrum Internet Marketing. The tone is fairly lighthearted but I think hits something interesting, using direct mail to increase effectiveness and digital marketing efforts.
This morning I was listening to the Diane Rehm show after leaving an appointment. Her guest was John (Jack) Potter, U.S. Postmaster General.
Mr. Potter had the unfortunate task of defending to Diane and her listeners why the U.S. Postal Service was still relevant and how to fix the acute financial crisis that was affecting it.
While there is a very real financial crisis effecting the health of the postal service, it was a very in depth and extremely informative interview.
There was one interesting perception of Postmaster General Potter’s that really stayed with me.
Stayed with me so much I actually had to tweet about it.
Click here to read more
Direct Mail and Email Marketing | FireDrum Internet Marketing Blog.
I helped launch a mobile web marketing platform. I had some great partners and wore many hats. Part of this SaaS model was selling through partner channels. I created messaging to more effectively educate the potential partners and essentially close more deals. Below is an example of the simple presentation I would conduct over a conference call and screen share prior to showing the software platform.
Pay no attention to the inbox or the open tabs… Instead focus on the Google Ad above my inbox.
Facebook wants to help me find sensitive girl.
Thanks?
Maybe because my IP is in the Middle East and the blue monster is trying to grow India.
Jacob Lebo 