Unique Skills and Talents of CLSSE’S

In nearly 30 years of hiring and managing and/or recruiting these Sales Athletes, I have observed that the true CLSSE’s have a strong foundation of business acumen and a broad grasp of the many working parts of the complex world of healthcare. Obviously, this is essential if one is to conduct meaningful dialogs within the healthcare C-Suite. Next, these gifted sales executives possess lightening quick intelligence that allows them to understand the calculus of healthcare issues and potential value propositions from the array of software solutions available in the industry. By themselves, these are rare foundational talents and skills. However, in my opinion, it is just the tip of the iceberg, since these true Sales Athletes are “over the top” with the following skills:

• Ability to quickly establish C-Suite rapport and credibility due to superb communication skills. This begins with the ability to ask GREAT and RELEVANT QUESTIONS and possessing unbelievable listening skills to sort out Client’s strategic goals, challenges and needs.
• Next, the CLSSE’s have phenomenal intellect and comprehension skills to sort out the complex and disparate information that is being shared “rapid-fire” during these discovery conversations in the C-Suite. More amazing, as they are collating this complex information on one side of their brain, the other lobe is organizing how this information can lead to additional key queries to optimize the discovery call.
• Here is where it gets amazing: Using their rare intellect, in the background, these gifted Sales Executives are organizing all of this key info for both a “here is what I heard” re-cap and also prioritizing how this information will dictate what “solutions summary discussion” will best position their company and also box out the competition.

It is a beautiful thing to watch when the “best of the best” ask the client if they can re-cap what was discussed and then with superb communication skills impressively present what was heard in a thorough and cogent fashion which normally elicits client comments such as “you definitely get it” or “you are spot on!”  This powerful re-affirmation of what was shared by the C-Suite through adroit discovery questions and exceptional communication skills is really something to behold!!
 
And of course, then and only then does the CLSSE politely ask if they could share a few of their company’s potential solutions and then perhaps suggest a collaborative plan of action.  Again, based on rapidly collated information gained during the call and an acutely incisive intellect, the CLSSE hits exactly the right notes in presenting their company’s solutions that fit hand in glove with the client’s major goals, objectives, needs, etc.
 
And all of this is occurring with a calm, professional and empathetic demeanor!
 
Of course, in a long and complex sales cycle, these skills are displayed many times during the course of C-Suite and departmental meetings during the sales cycle.  And, if the above skills and talents are not impressive enough, the CLSSE also possesses amazing account sales strategy skills to successfully navigate through a complex, long term, multi-level decision process.
 
Without a doubt, the skills and talents required for true successful C-Suite sales are immense and are also very rare!  Thus, therein lays the challenge to qualify the real players from the pretenders!

1. In-depth understanding of healthcare workflow combined with superb “discovery skills” to gain insight into prospects’ complex healthcare goals, challenges and needs;

2. Amazing intellect which allows them to quickly connect the dots between these complex needs and potential solutions available in the new emerging technology;

3. Ability to creatively, effectively and credibly paint the picture and sell the vision to the prospects;

4. Stringent (and ruthless) qualification skills to invest time and resources with  real prospects vs. “tire kickers”;

5. Urgency to successfully close “momentum-building”, prestigious clients to gain market awareness;

The Entrepreneurial Sales Explorer may be working for a larger or smaller company.  If at a large company, it is likely their prior (and probably smaller) employer was acquired due to the successful introduction of an emerging technology.  Whether located at a smaller or larger organization, TMG has learned that many of the usual hiring “hard stops” may not apply to the Sales Explorer.  After achieving prior successes launching new solutions and/or new companies, these “explorers” seek new mountains to climb.  As a result, they may show more job movement than typically accepted.  While some of their risky career moves were successful, it is not surprising to see many that were not successful.  Also, the successful “Explorers” probably have more experience on their resume.  There may be more lines on the resume but if one digs deep for the past successes and the skills that led to these past successes, one may likely find a truly superb hire!

• Talent Always Wins
• An Open Territory Doesn’t Close Business
• Successful Prospecting starts with an Intelligent Prospecting Strategy; the
  tactics of how prospects are contacted are only successful if a Strategy is
  in place
• There are many apparent C-Level Sale Reps that have been around or have orchestrated a complex, C-Level Sale, but few have the real skills and experience to create and execute a C-Level Sale
• Bobby Knight had it right when he said, “Most people have the will to win, few have the will to prepare to win.”

OFT-MISSED SALES TRAITS!

• The need for an incredible memory and a “mind like a steel trap”.
• The Art of Listening is not only comprehending what was said but also discerning what was not said.
• Comprehensive Communication Skills including; speaking, listening, writing, the ability to organize disparate information into an effective presentation, and finally superb presentation skills.

Since joining SMS in 1977 and then founding The McHenry Group (TMG) about 20 years ago, I am a believer in the “Bell Curve” Theory of locating, interviewing and hiring truly top caliber candidates.  Of course, the “Bell Curve” is a familiar concept (which helped me and millions of students miraculously achieve passing grades on particularly difficult exams).  Simply put, in any sample population and by any specified criteria, you have the top 10%, the bottom 10%, and everything else falls to the middle of the “Bell Curve”.

This most certainly applies with the population we call “Healthcare Software Sales Professionals”.  Based on specific skills, talents, experiences and successes, one can identify the top 10% that always excel, the bottom 10% that one wonders how they ever got into sales, and then the rest of the average sales professionals that fall somewhere in the middle.  (A hiring “Bell Curve” becomes more complex but stays true when a company overlays its specific hiring criteria on top of the standard healthcare software sales talent curve.)

This is probably not an epiphany but does immediately highlight why many healthcare software companies experience too much turnover and have too many under-performing sales professionals. It also highlights potential problems with internal/external recruiting and interview processes and why they are set up to fail.

For 20 years, my firm, The McHenry Group (TMG) has worked diligently to help companies establish a new paradigm in identifying, qualifying, and hiring top sales talent. I would love to set-up a call do discuss this in more detail.  However, this much I will share:  recruiting and interviewing is like healthcare software sales—

…it is ALL ABOUT DILIGENT, RUTHLESS QUALIFICATION.

For that reason, as part of our recruiting and candidate qualification process, all potential finalists for client openings are not just telephoned-screened by TMG, but also participate in a face-to-face video conference (VC) interview with me. With over 30 years of healthcare software sales interviewing experience under my belt, trust me, I can flush out the pretenders and talkers from those top 5% to 10% of Sales Professionals who really make it happen.  For those successful VC interviews, TMG digitizes the video of the VC interview, up-loads it to a web site and emails the web link (with passwords) to our clients so they can view the 20 minute interview on their laptop computer and then decide whether to bring the candidate to HQ for a final meeting.

By the way, our process can be integrated into your internal recruiting functions.

Interested?  Let’s set-up a ½ hour call and discuss this in more detail!