I was recently talking with my friend who just got back from a family vacation in Hawaii. I was very interested to hear all about her trip. When we finally talked I asked her very excitedly, “How was Hawaii?” and she replied with “It was beautiful, we had a great time.”

Before every NFL season, thousands of fans gather in groups to "draft" their fantasy football teams. Many spend hours poring over data and statistics to try to pick who they think will be the best statistical performers in the coming season. So popular is the challenge of diagnosing potential in football players, that there are ESPN programs, magazines, and websites totally devoted to helping you with your picks. There’s even a TV series, "The League,” about a group of rabid fantasy football buddies and the hunt each season for the cherished league trophy. These judgments of which players will perform in the coming season are incredibly difficult, even for the most talented scouts and recruiters.

While on an 8-hour journey back to my hometown of Beaver Dam, Kentucky from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, I needed to listen to something to prepare me for the sights and sounds of what coming back home to a small, country town entails. So I decided to listen to none other than fellow “redneck” and comedian Jeff Foxworthy. If you want some insight into my small, rural town in Kentucky, some of the iconic Jeff Foxworthy “You might be a redneck” jokes certainly do not fall far from the truth. Regardless, I am proud to say I am one of those rednecks and his jokes may or may not fall far from describing me and my hometown ...

Ever wonder why some people succeed in sales while others don’t? Perhaps a more perplexing question is why someone who succeeds in sales in one job is a complete failure in another, or vice versa. Is there a way of dramatically increasing your odds that someone is going to succeed in a sales role? We’re going to be providing answers to these questions in an upcoming presentation at Selling Power’s Sales 2.0 Conference in San Francisco on Monday April 8th from 1:55 to 2:40 p.m.

There is no magic fix all. There’s not even one profile that guarantees success in sales. If it were that simple then we wouldn’t be asking questions about success in sales. Instead, we’re going to be talking about what results from over 600 studies of over 450,000 salespeople tell us about the factors that help determine success in sales. What those results tell us is that there is no one single factor or one single profile that predicts success across all sales positions. The combination of Competencies, Sales Styles and Drivers (i.e. motivators) provides a solid foundation upon which to accurately identify who is likely to be successful and who is not.That’s the basis for the Select SalesPro® assessment.

For some positions, a number of the key sales competencies are likely to be unrelated to success in the job, while for other positions those same competencies emerge as the best predictors. The same is true for Sales Styles and Drivers. It’s important not to assume that because someone is in sales that their primary motives are to make a lot of money, and they have to be extroverted and great at reading people. In some cases, that combination may be a fine match. In others, it might be that successful individuals are more motivated by being recognized for their accomplishments and tend to be adaptable and good at time management.

While recently on a flight to Philadelphia, I noticed an advertisement in an airline magazine. The advertisement claimed to be able to “put your sales into overdrive” by using new marketing technology that allows a salesperson to use a tablet PC for sales presentations. I asked myself, "Will this gadget truly help sales people become more effective?" Marketing folks would say "probably" but only if the product or service has desirable features that appeal to the masses. If that was the case, businesses wouldn't need sales people to sell –the product would sell itself. But what if you are selling something that does need a business development manager's expertise? Then this new marketing tool now becomes a lot less intriguing.

Last weekend, I was walking through Costco and found myself fighting to make it through crowds of people all vying for food samples. On the weekends, there are multiple stations throughout the store where you can taste samples of different foods before you buy them. Because they sell food in bulk and customers are hesitant to buy large quantities without trying it first, they have found that offering a taste boosts their sales. In general, people like free food – but they also like to be able to try something before they commit. Wouldn’t you? And, the larger the commitment, the more likely it is that you’ll want to try it.

Let’s face it - entry-level hiring can be frustrating. On the one hand you don’t have much to screen and, on the other hand, you know that not just anyone will be a good fit (because you’ve tried that). You want to avoid turning your new hire training into a scene from Clerks, but how do you keep the Dante’s & Randal’s out of your candidate pool? Here are a few tips to help you find candidates that won’t make you want to tear your hair out.

It seems like my ESPN Scorecenter did its best to distract me from my daily tasks last week. After all it was the first day of free agency in the NFL, and many teams weren’t short of activity. I’m especially pleased to see my hero Peyton Manning collecting Wes Welker in his receiving corps, but that’s nothing you care about.

With shamrocks abound and the color green in every corner, we know it’s almost time to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  With this holiday comes the idea of luck.  I’ve heard people toss around the word luck in many situations but should you consider luck in your talent management plan? After you find the perfect candidate should you leave up to luck that they stay at your organization? I would say, absolutely not!   You need more than just luck to keep those top employees around.

Before you jump for joy and tell your boss you’re researching potential candidates at the nearest watering hole, please read on.  Although I love a good happy hour, we’re not talking about that kind of bar.

I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but it’s worth saying again: