New data from Objective Management Group (OMG) suggests that while the top 10% of millennials are just as strong as the top 10% of veteran salespeople, millennials as a group are far weaker than veteran sales people. There are two key data points I want to explore in this post. First, the OMG data shows that millennials, as a group, have a lower level Commitment to sales success. And second, millennials have a lower overall Sales DNA. Let’s unpack these points and discuss what that means for anyone hiring younger salespeople.
Commitment
The commitment finding is by far the single most important data point on the OMG sales evaluation. It measures a sales person’s willingness to do “whatever it takes” to be successful. We see many sales people with conditional commitment – they’ll do whatever it takes as long as it’s not too hard, doesn’t push them beyond their comfort zone, or when they are being closely managed.Salespeople with a higher level of commitment will make extra phone calls, ask extra questions, find a way to push through resistance, work more deals, ask for referrals, apply new ideas and training faster, and generally will do whatever they can to succeed.
Salespeople with a lower level of commitment will consistently choose easy over hard. They will also need to be managed more closely and are more likely to resist any coaching or training that pushes them out of their comfort zone. When we are working with clients to help them recruit salespeople, we NEVER recommend a candidate with low commitment (anything below 60 on the 1-100 scale OMG uses in their assessment).
On average, millennials have a 53% commitment versus a 62% average commitment for veteran salespeople. That is a big concern for anyone hiring younger sales people because they will need closer management and are less open to training.
Sales DNA
A person’s Sales DNA is a combination of beliefs that will either support or work against a salesperson’s ability to execute the right tactics and behaviors to be successful in selling situations. There are six components as shown on the chart below. The dial to the right shows the average cumulative Sales DNA for millennials at 61%, which makes them suited for easy selling situations.
I have had several conversations with CEOs in the past few months who want to pursue a strategy of hiring raw sales talent right out of college. The advantages are obvious, lower base pay, ability to teach them the unique aspects of their business and market, and the ability to make several small bets on the hope of finding that one rockstar salesperson who will be with them for a long time. It’s a great strategy, but hard to execute. Implementing a tool like the pre-employment assessment from Objective Management Group can help you find out if you are attracting millennials from the top 10% who have high Commitment and Sales DNA. Without this evaluation in place you are more likely to attract candidates from the other 90% who will require extraordinary efforts to get up to speed. Is that a risk you can afford?