When hiring a new producer, I look for these 8 Key Success Criteria:
- Sales skills
- Drive to achieve
- Relationship skills
- Cognitive abilities
- Work ethic
- Verbal skills
- Career desires fit
- Compensation fit
Randy Schwantz, the legendary Wedge innovator, published a list in his fine book “GRIT – Find, Hire and Develop Real Producers“:
- Able to deal with rejection
- Resilient
- Relationship builder
- Smart
- Economically driven
- Coachable
You will notice mine and Randy’s overlap.
An answer key, if you will.
Go hire a person with the stuff on the list.
Easy, right?
Not that simple, is it?
So, I distilled the listicles into 3 BIG questions.
3 BIG ONES you need to answer when hiring a new producer.
#1: Can they do this job? (Look for sales skills and ability…AND also the capacity to learn and be coachable and grow)
#2: Will they do this job? (Look for motivation — includes $$ but it’s not only $$ -find yourself a grinder)
#3: Will they fit (the career, your firm, your location, your money plan, your hiring manager, your culture, etc.)? This can be tricky. Ignore fit and that “right” candidate who can succeed in one firm may fail in yours. And if you clone your top producers and call that culture fit, you shrink your candidate pool and cut out diversity.
Answer these 3 BIG ONES as best you can.
Then go make your new producer hire.
(Good news – bad news: YOUR efforts AFTER YOU hire a new producer matter a lot.)
If I can help you with this, please let me know.
