A question I am often asked by my clients is should I hire someone who can sell but lacks industry experience; or should I search for someone who has been around the industry and has good product knowledge.

I advise them to hire a re who can sell, and teach them the specifics of the industry. Here is why.

I recently delivered am appointment setting program at a company in a vertical I do a lot of work in. In the audience was a lady whom I trained at a competitor some six months ago. Before she came over to peak with I remembered her clearly. She was very outgoing, and I remember she spoke to me at length when we first met, talking to me about her experience, and the challenges she faced in selling the products and services of the company.

It didn't strike me till this last encounter, that she had mentioned that she had deep experience in the industry. She knows a lot of people both on the customer side and the various providers. It was clear that she had a good understanding of the product, in fact her schooling was directly related to the industry, and she had kept her knowledge up by attending a number of continuous education programs offered by associations active in her industry. She was a keep participant, open to learning, mostly due to the fact that despite her "industry experience", she had only made her target once over 12 years, with four different companies, the current employer being her fifth in the industry.

What really got me to think about this more were tow prospect meetings I had the following day. One was with a VP of Sales in a "highly specialized" industry, who made a point of telling me that he only hired people who have product and industry experience. The other was with a Sales VP in the special chemicals field, who went out of his way to tell me that he will hire anyone that can sell, and is not very concerned about the individual's product or industry knowledge. Key for this leader was that he hired "sales ability" as he called it, "I can always teach them about the product, I need someone who can find the right people to talk to and know how to talk to them". He went on describe his sales process, how he measured activities and other sales related things that have helped him deliver year after year.

This reinforced a belief instilled in me by one of my first sales directors, who hired me despite the fact that at the time I know little about the industry he brought me in to, but he felt I could sell and to him that was the key thing.

Many people I work with would rather spend money on "industry" knowledge or experience rather than sales ability and attitude. But over and over I see successful companies focus on hiring those that can sell and have a winning attitude. They stay away from sales rep who may know people in the industry (let's hire their book theory). Often these are the same industry experts who know all the reasons why things wont work, people wont buy, and how you - the employer - need to change (sometimes everything) to help them sell.

We recommend to our clients that they hire "sales people" to sell, and focus on teaching them the industry or company specifics. The alternative usually leads to a lot of smart people who can tell you exactly why the numbers aren't there. They know everything about the product except how to sell. I often encounter people we train who tell us that "it is different in this industry"; you can't sell if you don't know this or that, or him or her. The only accurate part of their statement is that they "can't sell" and their organization is not willing to call them on it, especially since they hired them for the wrong reason.

Seems to me that if you need a CFO you're going to hire someone with a finance background, not industry expertise, why not apply that logic to your sales force. Hire someone with ability and attitude, you can teach them about product, it does not work the other way around. If your goal is to increase sales, go for a sales rep!