Your Guide to Hiring “A” Player Account Managers

Today’s show will demonstrate how to identify an “A” Player profile for an account manager. If you are relying on the heroic efforts of a few, eventually, it will catch up to you and you will miss your number. To follow along, download our 10th annual workbook, How to Make Your Number in 2017. Turn to the sales strategy section and review the People phase on pages 285 -293 of the PDF.

Our guest today is Lloyd Wirshba the Chief Commercial Officer for Convergys. It’s likely you spoke with someone from Lloyd’s company the last time you contacted a customer service center. Convergys is the largest business process outsource company for contact center services in the United States. With well over 130,000 contact center agents, they are a powerhouse for voice, chat, and more. Lloyd is the ideal guest to demonstrate how to identify an “A” Player profile for an account manager.

Hiring “A” players starts with knowing what great looks like. Lloyd and I discuss the attributes and competencies in this article that buyers value in account management talent. Watch as Lloyd and I follow SBI’s methodology to review how to determine the best profile for an account manager. Why is this important? “A” players generate 5x more revenue than “B” players and 10x more than “C” players.[p]

Lloyd begins the interview by discussing the growth of his industry and the corresponding impact on the hiring profile. Lloyd ties the need for top talent in a B2B environment. His sales force needs A-Players who understand the dynamics of the industry and challenges impacting the buyers.

Executives without a sales background sometimes have a misconception that a great product will sell itself. There’s a belief that a company with a great product can get by with an average sales force. Greg and Lloyd dispel this thinking for a complex b2b sales process. B and C Players simply can’t project the eminence to give your prospect confidence that your company can add value to their business. This requires expertise in attracting, evaluating, hiring, onboarding and retaining A-Player talent.[p]

During the interview, Lloyd answers these questions:

Is growth coming to come from market expansion, market exposure, or market share gain?
How does the answer to the market growth question factor into your hiring profile?
How does your hiring profile compare to:
Your competitors
Industry standard
Cross industry best-in-class
Has there been a change to the routes to market recently, and if so, did this come with a corresponding change in the hiring profile?
Do the job profiles of your account managers reflect the profiles of the buyers inside the target accounts?
What attributes and competencies do your buyers value in account management talent?
Do the interview questions test job applicants for these specific buyer-driven attributes and competencies?