HR Professional - December/January 2008 - (Page 58)

ON THE SHELF o of this book isn’t to transform f followers into leaders or to give speciﬁc, prescriptive advice, the b book does shed light on how f followers can better harness their collective power, which is a an invaluable lesson for CEOs, regular employees and, most i importantly, HR departments: the connecting link. Topgrading for Sales: Worldclass Methods to Interview, Hire, and Coach Top Sales Representatives By Bradford D. Smart and Greg Alexander Portfolio, Penguin Group, 2008 In 1999, Bradford D. Smart published Topgrading, a detailed how-to book that ex- 389268_Sheraton.indd 1 9/16/08 it’s all about your stafﬁng needs kellyservices.com With more than 60 years of experience, Kelly Services® continues to establish a tradition of innovation while providing companies of all sizes the quality service and commitment they expect from a human resource partner. Which stafﬁng solution is right for your business? Let Kelly® help you ﬁnd the answer. Visit us at kellyservices.com today. Committed to Employment Equity © 2008 Kelly Services (Canada), Ltd. T0341 direct hire temporary to hire temporary Business Professional and T echnical Outsourcing and Consulting plained how the best companies recruit and retain top-level employees, and how you can do it, too. In essence, top- grading is about stocking your company with A-level players while nudging out poor performers. Now, after selling more than 150,000 copies of Topgrading, Smart returns, this time with Greg Anderson, CEO of Sales Benchmark Index, to narrow the focus on topgrading for sales managers. The book begins by breaking down the hiring chain into 10 links; by carefully focusing on each link, you will ﬁnd and keep the best of the best sales talent. There’s nothing mystical to hiring the right managers, the authors argue. Analyze your sales team and past mis-hires, ﬁgure out who you want to keep and who you should nudge off, and carry out a few hiring techniques (e.g., round-robin behavioural interviews to screen ﬁnalists) and you’re sure to end up with a 4:55:26 PM top-performing sales force. In 112 tight pages, Topgrading for Sales is a compels ling book that aims to take the guesswork out of hiring by breaking down the hiring process, through actual processes and techniques instead of hunches or, worse, prejudices. With an aging population and an ever-tightening labour force, Canadian companies need to rely on more than “gut feelings” when hiring, especially when it comes to hiring sales reps, where the average cost of a mis-hire is $600,000, half of all hires are mistakes and the typical tenure for sales managers is less than 20 months. HR P ROF ES SI O N AL 373040_Kelly.indd 1 58 D e c e m b e r 2 0 0 8 / J a n u a r y 2 0 0 9 3/5/08 1:48:46 PM http://www.sheraton.com/centretoronto http://www.kellyservices.com http://www.kellyservices.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of HR Professional - December/January 2008

HR Professional - December/January 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Contributors Leadership Matters Upfront Legal Compensation Human Capital Talent Management The R-Word Speak No Evil On Message Strategy HR 101 Interview with Donna Wilson Off the Shelf The Last Word

HR Professional - December/January 2008

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