Big Swift Kick CEO and bestselling author Andy Miller chatted about his book “The Science of Hiring Quota Busting Sales Team.”
Background on Andy Miller
Andy Miller is CEO of Big Swift Kick, an international sales strategy and sales performance consulting firm that specializes in helping middle-market companies accelerate sales. He has 29 years of experience and is responsible for helping companies generate $5.7 Billion in new business across 200 industries in 46 countries. His clients include well-known tech companies IBM, BMC, EMC2, Deltek, McAfee, Intuit, eLynx, Pfizer, and a number of middle-market private equity firms.
He is a Vistage Top 50 Speaker, a Selling Power Magazine Top 10 Sales Consultant, and senior advisor to a network of 140 sales consulting firms around the world. Andy has lectured at Georgetown University, Wharton School of Business and is a former advisor to the University of Houston Bauer College of Business Sales Excellence Institute. He has been featured in Newsweek, CNN, seven books on business growth, Tony Robbins “Modeling the Masters” DVD series, and is a Forbes contributor.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his wife Theresa, working out, hiking, touring Virginia wineries, and hanging out with family and friends.
Book Description
The first book written on hiring salespeople is based upon 85 years of organizational psychology research, data analytics on 2.1 million salespeople, and the best practices of top-performing sales organizations.
The purpose of this book is to help companies hire stronger salespeople. Research shows there is a huge gap between what science knows and what businesses do! The research is not something you can easily find on the internet or in any of the human resources or sales management journals.
During our two years of research, it became clear that the hiring process is highly flawed from the beginning. It’s the lack of understanding of the actual job, poorly written ads, misplaced ads, ignoring Glassdoor ratings, bias in the process, poor interview skills, misused assessments, and lousy onboarding to name a few. It’s no surprise that 70 percent of new hires say the job was misrepresented!
This book will answer such key questions: What is the most effective hiring process in a tight labor market? How to shorten your hiring process since the best talent is off the market in 2 weeks? What are the best sources for finding candidates? How do companies mess up the process before an ad is placed? What type of ads attract the best sales candidates? Which job boards outperform the rest? What are the 10 types of interview bias that hurt your efforts for diversity, inclusion, and quality selection? Why use assessments in the hiring process? What are the 11 common assessment types and which is right for you? What’s the difference between a behavioral interview and a motivational interview? Why use a structured vs. a traditional interview?
Your book, “The Science of Hiring Quota Busting Sales Teams,” was recently a No. 1 Bestseller, what was that experience like, and more so what was the publishing experience like for you as a published author. Is there any advice that you can offer to others looking to publish for the first time?
Writing the book took a lot more time than I expected. First, it is an important topic yet misunderstood, so we had to dig deep for the data and triple-check what we found. Then, once we knew we had the content right, the question is how do we get published? Do we find a publisher or self-publish? What should the cover look like, and who can do that? Finally, how do we launch the book and reach the target audience? My advice for a first-time author is to get a coach who can help you through the whole process and identify what resources you will need.
Word on the street is that you are one of the top gurus in the world of sales. Without sales, companies cannot evolve, they cannot grow if revenue doesn’t come into the business. Your life has been focused not only on sales but also on the training of individuals and corporations, why is being in this space important to Andy Miller?
This isn’t something I usually talk about because it’s very personal to me. The bottom line is I’m in this space because I see how hard salespeople work, and how much time they spend away from their families, and it doesn’t have to be this way. If they learned ways to be more consultative, had a sales process that was beneficial for all parties, and improved their skill set, they could get clients more results, make more sales, work fewer hours, and focus on other life priorities. I hope that translates to more time with family and more time to give back to the community.
How does Andy Miller define success?
Success for me is about what brings joy to myself and my loved ones. That changes year to year, but the one constant is spending time with my wife, family, and friend and improving my spirit, mind, and body.
If there is one key takeaway from your book, “The Science of Hiring Quota Busting Sales Teams” what would it be and why?
The biggest takeaway is that the traditional ways that companies recruit are significantly flawed and against everyone’s best interest. The candidate discovers the job is not what they expected, and the company realizes the candidate is not the performer they hoped for.
Now that the book is out and that it is a bestseller, what is next for Andy Miller in terms of your company and the direction that is heading especially in the normal that companies have to learn how to navigate in?
I’ve been doing this for 29 to 30 years now but never really got out and tooted my own horn. Yet I’ve been called the best-kept secret, have many well-known clients, being recognized as one of the top sales consultants, and am a master coach to a network of 512 sales consultants worldwide.
My approach has always been to look at what the world-class do and their best practices. What has always made us different is that we focus on results. That means we have to take a holistic approach, do a deep diagnostic, and identify the best path to that outcome. That might be a change in strategy, learning how to land large accounts, improve their sales process, help sales managers become better coaches, sales training, or something else.
The next step for us is to stop being the best-kept secret, get out and share our knowledge with CEOs who want to accelerate sales performance.
His bestselling book ” The Science of Hiring Quota Busting Sales Team” is available on Amazon by clicking here.
