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KPIs, KPIs, KPIs. Is there any other aspect of business operations so widely spoken about, furthermore contested? It&rsquo;s a divisive subject in the business community &ndash; where some live by them, others dispute their place altogether; some employ but largely ignore them, either way.
Whether you utilise them day-to-date or oppose them entirely, if you work in the corporate world, you&rsquo;ve come across KPIs at some point.
The fact is, the reason they&rsquo;re so highly contested is that KPIs are seldom implemented effectively, or used properly.
It&rsquo;s not about the &lsquo;numbers game&rsquo; &ndash; it&rsquo;s about business efficiency.
Let&rsquo;s stop thinking about KPIs as targets, first off. There&rsquo;s a clear distinction between the two.
The definition of a KPI is, as it says on the tin, a key performance indicator &ndash; a figure which is (or should be) derived from information your business is providing you. KPIs should be used to evaluate the activity a business needs to undertake in order to achieve its targets &ndash; not as a target in and of themselves.
Get it?
Let&rsquo;s put it into real terms.
Your business currently has 10 sales execs. The team&rsquo;s target is to generate &pound;100,000 in revenue each month, so each individual&rsquo;s target is &pound;10,000. Currently, each person is achieving &pound;8,000 per month; upon drilling down into their activity, you find that they&rsquo;re each making 8 phone calls per month.
What can you take from this?
Your business is indicating that your team&rsquo;s activity needs to increase in order to reach target, and is telling you, hypothetically, how much it needs to increase by.
Analyse these tricky figures and you&rsquo;ll find it makes sense that, were they each to make 10 phone calls per month, everyone would hit that &pound;10K, no problem. But here&rsquo;s the thing &ndash; there&rsquo;s no need to now storm onto the sales floor and inform the team that they had all better hit those 10 calls, or else. Not in that fashion, anyway. You&rsquo;re not setting this as a target: your business is doing it for you.
It&rsquo;s a KPI, not a target. See?
KPIs should be in place to motivate, not condemn.
Information is king, or so they say, and it&rsquo;s our job as leaders to use it to our advantage. Particularly in sales and marketing, numbers do play a big part in the performance sense &ndash; from calls made to appointments booked, website clicks to conversion rates, your team is constantly running through figures in their mind.
Adding a panel of KPIs into that mix, specifically when posing them as targets/must-hits, definitely creates potential for the pot to boil over from time to time. However, if you were to go to your team and say, &ldquo;Hey, we&rsquo;ve collated some really interesting info here which we think is going to help you do your job better/more efficiently, want to take a look?&rdquo;, any employee worth his/her salt will be clambering to see your notes.
Keep targets and KPIs separate; monitor them both as equals.
Your KPIs should be based on fact and fact alone.
Here at Certus we get to know our clients well, and I&rsquo;d be lying if I said we don&rsquo;t sometimes have to do a little &ndash; err &ndash; re-education, shall we say. Often, businesses blindly set their KPIs based on industry standards or what their competition appears to be doing which, fundamentally, doesn&rsquo;t make sense. Just because Oracle&rsquo;s techs have to sit four appointments per day, doesn&rsquo;t mean that your hyper-growth, disruptive SaaS start-up should be doing the same.
In fact, we need to move away from this idea of &lsquo;setting&rsquo; KPIs altogether &ndash; I reiterate, your business sets them itself. Monitor activity, productivity, operations, all aspects of your business, over time to understand what your KPIs are and where they should sit in terms of activity. Don&rsquo;t pull numbers out of the air and &lsquo;set&rsquo; KPIs based on what you think you&nbsp;should&nbsp;be doing &ndash; base them on what you&nbsp;are&nbsp;doing, and the improvements that you want to make.
Remember, more doesn&rsquo;t always equal more.
Numbers and humans behave in very different ways. When a calculator does a complex mathematical equation, it doesn&rsquo;t need to take into account that, maybe, number 3 is recovering from a bout of the flu, or that number 4 is off on holiday for two weeks this month.
So, when you take a look at your figures and see that 25 calls equals 1 appointment, don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s as simple as commanding your team to make 50, and expecting them to achieve 2 appointments as such. It just doesn&rsquo;t work that way.
I&rsquo;m not saying that we as leaders shouldn&rsquo;t always strive for excellence and improvement &ndash; but, alas, we are humans managing humans. And that needs to be at the forefront of our approach, always.
We shouldn&rsquo;t be setting KPIs, we should be running our businesses based on the information it provides us &ndash; looking at them as the dataset they are, rather than another number to hold over our teams&rsquo; heads.
As ever, love to hear your opinions &ndash; what&rsquo;s your approach to KPIs, and are you making the most of them across your business?

KPI's or Core Activities? Love them either way!

​We all give credit to the students who stay up nights cramming for their final exam or upcoming test. We all empathise and/or sympathise when a partner or loved one has a deadline to meet, or is under some level of temporary pressure in their job. In these circumstances, we&rsquo;re talking about a week, maybe a month, of anxiety and stress which can do serious detriment to the mental health of the individual. Working in sales? That doesn&rsquo;t finish at the end of the week. To work in sales means ongoing pressure and constantly building towards &ndash; look away, Sales Managers &ndash; something you don&rsquo;t necessarily have full control over. Sometimes, your sales team could do absolutely everything right, and a deal still might fall through. It&rsquo;s having the highest expectations placed on you from the off, to perform and hit those targets &ndash; no excuses. Which is why mental health is something that, as a business leader, we should all focus on emphasising. This high intensity, often stressful career path can be incredibly rewarding &ndash; but, without the right understanding and focus from a mental health perspective, it can do damage. Particularly in the post-Covid era, where the world&rsquo;s economies are edging toward turmoil and nothing is set in stone, we need to manage the mental health of our sales teams. Here&rsquo;s how to do so: Be open and build trust If you&rsquo;re currently in a position of seniority over other salespeople, chances are you&rsquo;ve been there yourself. It sounds cheesy to say &ldquo;never forget where you came from&rdquo;, but it&rsquo;s important &ndash; build a real connection with your sales team on the basis that you truly understand how they&rsquo;re feeling, the pressure they&rsquo;re under. Be open and share your own experiences, where your career began, the path which led you to here; in doing so, you&rsquo;ll build trust and allow them to share their own fears or concerns in turn. A problem shared is a problem halved, so building these relationships and trust across your team will go a long way to easing many of the mental health hiccups they may encounter. Prioritise collaboration and teamwork It&rsquo;s likely that your employees work to personal targets; nevertheless, building a culture around collaboration and working as a team couldn&rsquo;t be more key to promoting positive mental health. Sharing connections, experience and knowledge amongst the team will show them the meaning of what goes around comes around, whilst ensuring that each individual feels like a part of something bigger than simply that number hanging over their own head. By working together, we also reinforce the notion that asking for help truly is not just okay, but encouraged. Teams which work together have been proven time and time again to perform better &ndash; I&rsquo;d be speculating to suggest a link between collaboration culture and mental health, but it does make sense. Give your team a breather from time to time ABC is dead &ndash; sometimes, instead of closing, let&rsquo;s take a breather. Let&rsquo;s let our teams simply mull over and discuss the happenings of the last week, month or quarter in a safe, positive environment. There have been studies in which employers have given sales teams a &lsquo;week off&rsquo; &ndash; that is, a week without a target. A week to simply sit back, reflect on what worked &ndash; what didn&rsquo;t &ndash; and make a solid plan to attack the upcoming sales period. Whilst this might not be entirely possible for many organisations, it certainly is food for thought; giving your salespeople time to breathe for a while, however often, lets them know that you value their headspace and allows them to arrange, organise and understand their own mind. Addressing mental health in the sales arena is something which has needed to be done for a long time, and yet still so many aren&rsquo;t doing so. In a world of moving goal posts, unpredictable economic circumstances and general unsurety, there are still SDRs, BDRs, reps and a plethora of other job titles out there expected to achieve a certain number each month &ndash; and if any of them work for you, their mental health should be held paramount moving forwards. Whilst building high-functioning sales teams is the &lsquo;bread and butter&rsquo; of what we do, helping our clients develop best practices and retain their employees comes a close second. Promoting mental wellness strategies is just one way in which we do so; get in touch to talk more.

Mental Health in Sales

​Whilst many, nay likely all of us have suffered at least some form of negative impact throughout the pandemic so far, the already high-pressure environment of a sales career has undoubtedly seen some of the most concerning spikes in poor mental health in the workplace. When performance is so finely attuned to the financial wellbeing of your family, livelihood etc, yet so easily influenced by outside factors, it adds more stress to what&rsquo;s already largely considered one of the most stressful professions out there. So, as business leaders, it&rsquo;s more important than ever for us to cultivate a healthy, safe sales environment for the betterment of our employees&rsquo; mental health. How to go about doing so? 1.Prioritise stress management techniques as a benefit of the job Encourage your staff to take regular breaks, and get active during them &ndash; stepping away from their desk (whether back in the office or a makeshift one at home) just to stare at another screen, this time that of the TV, isn&rsquo;t really disengaging. Exercise is a key player in the stress-management toolbox; is there a subscription you could provide, like Calm for meditation or 8fit for workouts? These are things that your employees may not want to pay for themselves, but it&rsquo;s a small outlay from your end which could hugely benefit the mental health of your salespeople. 2.Encourage creativity; new ideas to solve new problems The truth is, whilst the overall activities of a sales job likely remain the same, the objections and circumstances surrounding every call have changed. This means that the same old training and support being offered likely isn&rsquo;t going to cut it. Get the team together (whether in-person or virtually) to hold regular discussions about what they&rsquo;re coming up against, ways in which they&rsquo;ve managed or attempted to get around these challenges, and how they might do so better moving forwards. Not only will this help drive performance in general, but just the camaraderie and understanding that everyone&rsquo;s facing the same issues, everyone&rsquo;s in it together, will go a long way to promoting the positive mental health of your team. Creativity in unprecedented times comes second only to adaptability in terms of success moving forwards. 3.Communicate with each and every member of your sales team, daily It&rsquo;s often easy to tell when a member of your team isn&rsquo;t doing so well, more so in sales than other professions; they&rsquo;re not as forthcoming, involved, communicative in general. This is something we all as business leaders should be aware of, on top of, and make a huge effort to mitigate &ndash; if you feel like something&rsquo;s off, it probably is. Communicating with each salesperson each day, even if only in short, will make sure you pick up on any potentially negative mental health developments, and be able to try and help from the off; getting to the root of the problem is key to solving it. Not only this, but simply the act of taking the time to communicate individually will strengthen the relationship between manager-employee and leave everyone much more likely to express if they are feeling under the weather or struggling in any way. We all know that mental health simply isn&rsquo;t spoken about enough, so now is the time to change that. 4.Last but not least, be realistic, agile and understanding I&rsquo;m not saying that we should all be given an excuse to underperform against sales targets here; simply that sales targets are very likely going to need rethinking, for the most part. Each situation, industry, product or service needs to be given its fair due in terms of what&rsquo;s realistic right now, and targets or expectations adjusted as such. Unrealistic targets are one of the largest factors to underperformance in sales regardless of the pandemic so, now more than ever, take the time to thoroughly research and understand what your team can achieve &ndash; which might change from day to day, even. Stay agile in your approach to setting expectations. And give your salespeople who, like all of us, are likely suffering some outside pressure, something realistic to aim for. Cultivating a mentally healthy sales environment is something that all business leaders, managers or otherwise decision makers should take pains to do &ndash; what could be more important? It&rsquo;s something we&rsquo;ve been advising clients on for years &ndash; not to mention developing our own. If you&rsquo;d like to talk more for some general advice, or to ask any questions you might have about mental health in sales, it&rsquo;s a subject close to my heart &ndash; leave me a comment below, or drop me a DM here on LinkedIn.

How to Cultivate a Mentally Healthy Sales Environment

​Too busy... Too expensive... Too many Applicants... Objections, objections, objections - we hear them every day and through understanding you're busy, we work hard to save time, increase your ROI and deliver the very best in available and often "not on the market" talent. Reach out to our experienced team to discuss your next hire!
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<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/oIr6czDvvW0" width="560" height="314" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>

Recruitment Objections (Video)

​KPIs, KPIs, KPIs. Is there any other aspect of business operations so widely spoken about, furthermore contested? It&rsquo;s a divisive subject in the business community &ndash; where some live by them, others dispute their place altogether; some employ but largely ignore them, either way. Whether you utilise them day-to-date or oppose them entirely, if you work in the corporate world, you&rsquo;ve come across KPIs at some point. The fact is, the reason they&rsquo;re so highly contested is that KPIs are seldom implemented effectively, or used properly. It&rsquo;s not about the &lsquo;numbers game&rsquo; &ndash; it&rsquo;s about business efficiency. Let&rsquo;s stop thinking about KPIs as targets, first off. There&rsquo;s a clear distinction between the two. The definition of a KPI is, as it says on the tin, a key performance indicator &ndash; a figure which is (or should be) derived from information your business is providing you. KPIs should be used to evaluate the activity a business needs to undertake in order to achieve its targets &ndash; not as a target in and of themselves. Get it? Let&rsquo;s put it into real terms. Your business currently has 10 sales execs. The team&rsquo;s target is to generate $100,000 in revenue each month, so each individual&rsquo;s target is $10,000. Currently, each person is achieving $8,000 per month; upon drilling down into their activity, you find that they&rsquo;re each making 8 phone calls per month. What can you take from this? Your business is indicating that your team&rsquo;s activity needs to increase in order to reach target, and is telling you, hypothetically, how much it needs to increase by. Analyse these tricky figures and you&rsquo;ll find it makes sense that, were they each to make 10 phone calls per month, everyone would hit that $10K, no problem. But here&rsquo;s the thing &ndash; there&rsquo;s no need to now storm onto the sales floor and inform the team that they had all better hit those 10 calls, or else. Not in that fashion, anyway. You&rsquo;re not setting this as a target: your business is doing it for you.
It&rsquo;s a KPI, not a target. See? KPIs should be in place to motivate, not condemn. Information is king, or so they say, and it&rsquo;s our job as leaders to use it to our advantage. Particularly in sales and marketing, numbers do play a big part in the performance sense &ndash; from calls made to appointments booked, website clicks to conversion rates, your team is constantly running through figures in their mind. Adding a panel of KPIs into that mix, specifically when posing them as targets/must-hits, definitely creates potential for the pot to boil over from time to time. However, if you were to go to your team and say, &ldquo;Hey, we&rsquo;ve collated some really interesting info here which we think is going to help you do your job better/more efficiently, want to take a look?&rdquo;, any employee worth his/her salt will be clambering to see your notes. Keep targets and KPIs separate; monitor them both as equals. Your KPIs should be based on fact and fact alone. Here at Certus we get to know our clients well, and I&rsquo;d be lying if I said we don&rsquo;t sometimes have to do a little &ndash; err &ndash; re-education, shall we say. Often, businesses blindly set their KPIs based on industry standards or what their competition appears to be doing which, fundamentally, doesn&rsquo;t make sense. Just because Oracle&rsquo;s techs have to sit four appointments per day, doesn&rsquo;t mean that your hyper-growth, disruptive SaaS start-up should be doing the same. In fact, we need to move away from this idea of &lsquo;setting&rsquo; KPIs altogether &ndash; I reiterate, your business sets them itself. Monitor activity, productivity, operations, all aspects of your business, over time to understand what your KPIs are and where they should sit in terms of activity. Don&rsquo;t pull numbers out of the air and &lsquo;set&rsquo; KPIs based on what you think you should be doing &ndash; base them on what you are doing, and the improvements that you want to make. Remember, more doesn&rsquo;t always equal more. Numbers and humans behave in very different ways. When a calculator does a complex mathematical equation, it doesn&rsquo;t need to take into account that, maybe, number 3 is recovering from a bout of the flu, or that number 4 is off on holiday for two weeks this month. So, when you take a look at your figures and see that 25 calls equals 1 appointment, don&rsquo;t think it&rsquo;s as simple as commanding your team to make 50, and expecting them to achieve 2 appointments as such. It just doesn&rsquo;t work that way. I&rsquo;m not saying that we as leaders shouldn&rsquo;t always strive for excellence and improvement &ndash; but, alas, we are humans managing humans. And that needs to be at the forefront of our approach, always. We shouldn&rsquo;t be setting KPIs, we should be running our businesses based on the information it provides us &ndash; looking at them as the dataset they are, rather than another number to hold over our teams&rsquo; heads. As ever, love to hear your opinions &ndash; what&rsquo;s your approach to KPIs, and are you making the most of them across your business?

KPIs: Use them properly, or else

​Throughout the Spring and Summer season in Australia, I play beach volleyball competitively. Roughly every other weekend there is a tournament, and last weekend was round 2 of the season. Despite the hit and miss springtime weather which I&rsquo;ve so grown to love here in St Kilda, it was a good but not great start to our campaign. After some pretty intense play and some encouraging words from partner to partner, we ended up placing 5th of 12 teams in our division. Why am I telling you all this? I&rsquo;m a competitive person. Obviously, no one enjoys losing, but for me, it goes further than that. As I mentioned in my previous article, I do have a tendency to beat myself up &ndash; but regardless, my competitive edge sometimes gets the better of me and I can become pretty frustrated. The tournament got me thinking about competition&rsquo;s place in the working environment, how it can motivate some and demotivate others completely. The concept of competition has actually been proven not only to change the way we think but to bring about physiological changes in humans &ndash; that is, your body and mind responding physically to the idea of being in competition &ndash; which can improve brain function and as such productivity. But, on the other hand, those physical reactions may also include symptoms of anxiety, panic even, and fast become counterproductive. It&rsquo;s a fine line. Certain professions &ndash; my own, recruitment, being one of them &ndash; can benefit greatly from an air of competition and the often results-orientated reward systems which go with them. Sales is another obvious one, but competition can play an important role in the legal sector, PR and marketing and even more techy-roles such as software engineering and development. Competition breeds innovation, and as such it can be a helpful tool. With that being said, it&rsquo;s important not to go too far the other way; when does competition stop helping progression and begin creating barriers? As a manager myself, I spend a lot of time thinking about how to motivate my team. Here are my thoughts on the core factors for a healthily competitive office environment. Create excitement, not anxiety The prospect of competition amongst your employees should be a positive one, not a negative; it&rsquo;s not about punishing the losses but celebrating the wins. Highlighting top performers in any profession is key &ndash; studies show that physical reward or not, recognition in the workplace goes a long way towards motivation. But steer way clear of anything which could be perceived as &lsquo;naming and shaming&rsquo;; nothing takes the fight out of a person more than being touted as the loser of the show. Sure, the odd hyper-competitive individual may hear that they&rsquo;re trailing and step up their game &ndash; but is that the kind of environment you want to promote or be a part of? I&rsquo;m leaning towards a hard &lsquo;no&rsquo;. Encourage innovation, not short-cuts What we don&rsquo;t want our employees doing is feeling as though they must win at any cost &ndash; the term &lsquo;by hook or by crook&rsquo; comes to mind, &lsquo;crook&rsquo; being the operative word. Competition in the workplace has proven to encourage people to come up with new ways of working, new routes to the goal they&rsquo;re trying to achieve &ndash; innovation. Unfortunately, for the uber-competitive amongst us, it could be taken too seriously &ndash; you don&rsquo;t want your employees feeling as though they must win, whether the job is done properly or not. Keep it clean, keep it healthy Banter is one thing &ndash; but it can go too far quickly and without warning. As a manager, it&rsquo;s your job to make sure that the competition is as healthy as can be, without encouraging employees to put their co-workers down as a result. The ego is a real thing, and it must be managed as such; keep office chatter in check and make sure the environment is a heartening and supportive one for all involved.

Competition and its place in the professional world

​Sales professionals don&rsquo;t just need to have great negotiation and closing skills; they need to have bags of enthusiasm for the job and self motivation coming out of their ears in order to be successful at what they do. Finding leads, picking up the phone to speak to total strangers and constant pressure to hit targets takes self discipline and is why so many people fail. Yes, recruiting good sales people, training and developing them and providing progression plans is all very important, but an even more vital element is the trust between a Sales Director their team. It&rsquo;s no secret that sales environments are high pressure, intense, competitive and at times very stressful, especially if you&rsquo;re falling short of targets. But is this pressure leading to behaviours that are destroying crucial employee trust? In general, a big downfall of Sales Directors is a lack of patience; trust takes time to build. You want numbers, and you want them now! But hang on a minute here, your sales professional may not be performing, but don&rsquo;t automatically assume it&rsquo;s because they are lazy or that they don&rsquo;t care enough and they are not working hard. Has your sales professional had the right training, do they need guidance on how to approach a difficult task, are they a bit lost? Nurturing and supporting is the first point of call for any manager before making any accusations. Are you being consistent? Consistency is arguably the biggest factor in building trust. Employees notice constant day-to-day flip-flopping between treatment of staff, processes and actions and they will remember it. Inconsistency creates impressions of in-authenticity and this will only led to employees claiming cases of favouritism and lack of integrity. If you&rsquo;re one for making sweeping statements and promises without much thought, then stop. Often promises made without genuine consideration of what the promise may mean in the long run or without the bigger picture in mind, have to be re-addressed and amended. Doing this, especially around bonuses or progression plans will only serve to cause serve mistrust when telling the employee about anything else similar in the future. It is also likely that it will leave a bad taste lingering and the employee will remember it for the foreseeable future and feel let down by you. Don&rsquo;t preach accountability if you don&rsquo;t fully practice it yourself. Shying away from your own mistakes or entirely pushing the blame onto someone else for a problem means that your employees will probably use the same tactic for their own shortcomings, which in turn will frustrate you. Instead, be completely transparent because after all isn&rsquo;t that what you&rsquo;re trying to achieve with them? Showing your employees that you are aware of your own errors and that you regret them and have learned from them will encourage respect from your team for your honesty. If you own up, then your employees will see that it is OK to make genuine mistakes and will be truthful about their own errors. In these instances, show support and understanding when communicating the facts about problems whilst also being sensitive to their efforts. Watch your own behaviour. Ensure that you are practicing what you preach, if you say that teamwork is important, reinforce this by working across the teams; if you say numbers are important, reinforce by getting on the phone and contributing. Your team will be impressed that you are willing to get stuck into the hard work with them and will trust that you too will understand any difficulties they face. Don&rsquo;t allow a disconnect between what you say and what you do because people will copy your behaviour good or bad rather than act on your instructions, it&rsquo;s just human nature. Don&rsquo;t make your team walk on eggshells around you. Yes, sometimes employees need a bit of reality check when it comes to performance but if a bad day translates into yelling and pessimism it isn&rsquo;t going to result in best outcome and will probably make your team feel more disheartened. Instead, when addressing low performance, explain the situation clearly but speak positively, motivate and reinforce the objectives necessary to turn it around. Listening to your employees and not just telling them what to do is an important part of working effectively together. Don&rsquo;t just steamroll ideas at them &ndash; talk solutions through and let them be part of the decision on how to achieve a goal. Trust underpins a good working employer &ndash; employee relationship. By building trust managers can achieve significant improvements in performance and engagement. Vice versa, losing that trust will led to performance and engagement problems. Team members will feel uncomfortable addressing issues because they are unsure of how you might react. If your employees trust you they will have confidence in your decisions and believe in what you are saying. Even in uncertain times, this trust will influence your leadership ability.

Does Your Sales Team Trust You?

​It is common knowledge that an ironed shirt, clean teeth and brushed hair give you brownie points in a job interview, but does your success come down to much more? In today&rsquo;s world, the way you look and present yourself play an important part in how you are received; as a possible partner, friend and now, a professional in your career. However unfair it may seem, those who rate higher on levels of attractiveness have a better chance of being successful in a job interview, going further in their careers and even being paid more. This phenomenon is called the &lsquo;beauty premium&rsquo;, and sees attractive men and women gaining more success in their careers than their, shall we say, less photogenic colleagues. Human beings are hard-wired to respond better to people who are more attractive, according to Dr Gordon Patzer, Founding Director and CEO of the Appearance Research Institute. &ldquo;Good looking men and women are generally regarded to be more kind, talented, honest and intelligent than their less attractive counterparts.&rdquo; This theory reflects upon the way a person is viewed in the workplace as well. Studies show that a boss who falls in the &lsquo;good looking&rsquo; category is seen as more competent, collaborative and is considered a better delegator. Furthermore, anyone who is in a customer-facing, sales rep or CEO role is considered the &lsquo;embodiment of the brand&rsquo; and a reflection of the business, so it makes sense that attractive people in these roles climb up their career ladder quicker, and are taken more seriously. There are also downfalls to appearing too attractive however, as assumptions are often made about how a person got the job or people may question how skilled a good looking person is. In these cases, people may have to push harder to prove their worth in the workplace or in an interview, or strive to maintain trust and loyalty as a leader. This can ring especially true for women, who in today&rsquo;s image obsessed world are expected to emulate what is perceived as beautiful in the media. &ldquo;Whether it&rsquo;s about our appearance or whether or not to assert ourselves, we&rsquo;re damned if we do and damned if we don&rsquo;t&rdquo; says Bonnie Marcus, president and CEO of Women&rsquo;s Success Coaching. A lot of companies see an attractive woman as a distraction; a rather sexist way of thinking, considering how far society has come in terms of equality for women in the workplace. So how far do looks get you? It&rsquo;s one thing to show up with fantastic genes, but unless you put your skill set forward into actions and behaviours than unfortunately good hair and a great set of teeth won&rsquo;t get you very far. One critic of the &lsquo;beauty premium&rsquo; is Adam Eyre-Walker from the Centre for the Study of Evolution at the University of Sussex. He argues that the theory is a culture phenomenon rather than an evolutionary one. &ldquo;We are taught to look upon small women and tall men as desirable.&rdquo; Height, amongst other factors such as symmetry in the face, good teeth and a slim/muscular physique are attributes that define an individual&rsquo;s level of attractiveness in this day and age. &ldquo;Our preference for attractive people has been culturally created and not hard wired in the human species&rdquo; he continues. This reaffirms the idea that a person looking to further their career is better off depending on their skills and personality, which are longer lasting than looks. Being genetically blessed can be useful and there is no shame in admitting that and using it to your advantage in love, life and even in the workplace. It may get your foot in the door and a second glance, but a person with a great sales pitch, brilliant communicative skills and a strong work ethic is much more likely to leave the right lasting impression.

Does your level of physical attractiveness dictate your job success?

Covid-19 has undoubtedly taught us a lot, about many things. Change is happening all around us, from how we shop (online, wearing a mandatory mask or via curbside pickup) to how we communicate (Zoom fatigue, anyone?) and even the way we greet one another. There&rsquo;s also been positive change in the way we see and treat each other. There&rsquo;s a feeling of community when out and about; people are coming together. Sure, some things have changed which we&rsquo;ll miss &ndash; potentially for good &ndash; but there are some things which are changing for the better. And one of them, almost certainly, is the way we work. The way we do business. As we shift towards the new normal, there are certainly some business practices, or &lsquo;maxims&rsquo;, you could call them, which we&rsquo;d be happy to leave in the past &ndash; particularly when it comes to managing sales teams. As we move into a future where employers have to be evermore considerate of the circumstances surrounding their business, here are the 3 business maxims we&rsquo;d love to see catch up with where 2020&rsquo;s focus should be moving forwards. &ldquo;Always be closing&rdquo; We&rsquo;re salespeople, yes. But shouldn&rsquo;t we be thinking more about solving our customers&rsquo; problems than we do about closing the deal? &lsquo;Doing business&rsquo; is no longer about just making sales; it&rsquo;s about consulting with clients, understanding their needs. And being willing to turn away if you know that your solution isn&rsquo;t the one which serves them best. Sales teams who value customer experience and excellence in service over targets and revenue will be the ones who thrive in the months to come. Always be closing &ndash; business maxim number one, out. &ldquo;Failure is not an option&rdquo; It might not be an option, but it&rsquo;s an absolute inevitability. Our social media feeds are littered with memes, motivational quotes and the like about getting back on the horse; relaying stats about how many shots Michael Jordan missed before he made it big; reiterating the importance of trucking on in the face of adversity. Yet, there are still sales teams being run into the ground by unrealistic targets and a lack of awareness about the fact that, yes, sometimes external circumstances do effect your ability to hit target; sometimes we have to fail to grow. Failure is a part of learning; it&rsquo;s how we learn what works, and what doesn&rsquo;t. Failure literally helps us improve what we do and how we do it; it shows us which processes need to be created, implemented or streamlined. Not only is failure an inevitability &ndash; it&rsquo;s a tool which we as managers should be harnessing to help our teams learn and improve, continuously. Business maxim number two &ndash; not this year, thank you! &ldquo;If your business isn&rsquo;t growing, it&rsquo;s dying&rdquo; I disagree &ndash; it could be changing, evolving, learning. Or, in truth, it could simply be surviving. And there&rsquo;s absolutely no shame in that. Of course, growth is a sensible, moreover practical end goal for a business to have. But long gone are the days when the notion was that growth is everything. As we transition into the post-pandemic world, many businesses and their leaders will be trying to determine the direction of their business whilst staying afloat and trying to do best by their employees; that should be the focus over the coming months, not simply money. No growth equalling a dying business is the third and final business maxim which needs to catch up with 2020. As the leader of Certus&rsquo; business here in Aus, I&rsquo;m proud to say we&rsquo;ve always conducted business with our clients in mind, rather than just focusing on the numbers &ndash; and we&rsquo;re looking forward to partnering with businesses who operate in the same way. When it comes to building cohesive, customer-focused sales teams who perform, we&rsquo;re proud to provide recruitment solutions tailored to your business. Contact our team in Melbourne today to talk about the current market conditions and what you can expect from a hiring perspective over the next few months.

3 Business Maxims Which Need to Catch Up

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist recruitment consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist staffing consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.

Established in January 2001, we are a specialist recruiter working with businesses of all sizes from global &lsquo;Superbrands&rsquo; through to innovative start-ups and everything in between. Working globally we help our clients plan, source, attract, and retain world-class talent for their business. Our people are each specialists within one of our three practice areas; sales, marketing, and technical, operating at all levels of experience up to Director &amp; Executive level.

Established in January 2001, we are a specialist recruiter working with businesses of all sizes from global ‘Superbrands’ through to innovative start-ups and everything in between. Working globally we help our clients plan, source, attract, and retain world-class talent for their business. Our people are each specialists within one of our three practice areas; sales, marketing, and technical, operating at all levels of experience up to Director &amp; Executive level.

Established in January 2001, we are a specialist staffing company working with businesses of all sizes from global ‘Superbrands’ through to innovative start-ups and everything in between. Working globally we help our clients plan, source, attract, and retain world-class talent for their business. Our people are each specialists within one of our three practice areas; sales, marketing, and technical, operating at all levels of experience up to Director &amp; Executive level.

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals.The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviours as commercially focused recruitment professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviours as:​

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals. The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviors as commercially focused recruitment professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviors as:​

At Certus Recruitment Group our people are our greatest asset. We believe a coherent and motivated team of passionate people will always achieve more than a collection of individuals.The ongoing success and growth of our business are determined by our behaviours as commercially focused staffing professionals who demonstrate expertise and commitment to the provision of service excellence to clients and candidates alike. We have defined these behaviours as:​

"Certus has been simply fantastic. The support along my journey to securing my dream job has been faultless. They provided clarity throughout the process and offered guidance that has undoubtedly helped me prepare for a successful interview!"

We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network

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We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network

We're always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network

At Certus Recruitment Group we recognise that our employees are our greatest asset, which is why we have developed a rewards and benefits package that recognises the value of your contribution to the business. From protection for your family through to discounts on gifts and events, our benefits are designed to ensure everyone benefits, regardless of their individual circumstances.

At Certus Recruitment Group we recognize that our employees are our greatest asset, which is why we have developed a rewards and benefits package that recognises the value of your contribution to the business. From protection for your family through to discounts on gifts and events, our benefits are designed to ensure everyone benefits, regardless of their individual circumstances.

Established in January 2001, the Certus Recruitment Group has become a leading specialist recruitment consultancy with a global presence and a client list that is envied by our competitors. Revenues have grown consistently and are continually invested back into the business to enhance growth and reward those that contribute to our success.We have a clear vision of where the company is going and how it will get there. This vision is shared with everyone at Certus and we work hard to create a vibrant working environment that provides real opportunity to develop, progress and prosper within the Company.To achieve our objectives we need great people and are always looking for applications from both experienced recruiters or from experienced sales, marketing or technical professionals who have a strong knowledge of their sector and are looking to forge a new career within a professional recruitment environment.

We attribute our success to our core values

Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector

Cookies are files that are recorded in temporary Internet folders on your PC. They're a useful tool as, by recording the way you use our site, they enable us to get to know you better. For example, we’re able to recognise you when you return to the site, identify your preferences so as to provide you with a more personalised service and speed up searches that you conduct when visiting.​You don’t have to accept them. Most browsers allow you to refuse cookies by activating the relevant setting (please check the help menu of your browser for more details) however, selecting this setting may mean that you are unable to access certain parts of our site.​Please note that unless you have adjusted your browser setting so that it will refuse cookies, our system will issue cookies when you log on to our site.​Further Detail on Cookies​Cookies are text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website. Cookies are then sent back to the originating website on each subsequent visit, or to another website that recognises that cookie. Cookies do lots of different jobs, like letting you navigate between pages efficiently remembering your preferences, and generally improve your web site experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.​We can split cookies into 4 main categories:​Category 1: strictly necessary cookiesCategory 2: performance cookiesCategory 3: functionality cookiesCategory 4: targeting cookies or advertising cookies​Category 1 - Strictly necessary cookiesThese cookies are essential in order to enable you to move around the website and use its features, such as accessing secure areas of the website. Without these cookies services you have asked for, like register for job alerts, cannot be provided.​Please be aware our site uses this type of cookie​Category 2 - Performance cookiesThese cookies collect information about how visitors use a website, for instance which pages visitors go to most often, and if they get error messages from web pages. These cookies don’t collect information that identifies a visitor. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. It is only used to improve how a website works.​By using our website and online services, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.​Category 3 - Functionality cookiesThese cookies allow the website to remember choices you make (such as your user name and password) and provide enhanced, more personal features. These cookies can also be used to remember changes you have made to text size, fonts and other parts of web pages that you can customise. They may also be used to provide services you have asked for such as watching a video or commenting on a blog. The information these cookies collect may be anonymous and they cannot track your browsing activity on other websites.​By using our website and online services, you agree that we can place these types of cookies on your device.​Category 4 - targeting cookies or advertising cookiesThese cookies are used to deliver adverts more relevant to you and your interests. They are also used to limit the number of times you see an advertisement as well as help measure the effectiveness of the advertising campaign. They remember that you have visited a website and this information is shared with other organisations such as advertisers. Quite often targeting or advertising cookies will be linked to site functionality provided by the other organisations.​We do have links to other web sites and once you access another site through a link that we have provided it is the responsibility of that site to provide information as to how they use cookies on the respective site.​You can find more information about cookies by visiting www.allaboutcookies.org or www.youronlinechoices.eu. Google also have a brief video which explains the use of cookies.

<h2>Our team</h2>
Our Senior Leadership Team has a combined experience of 60+ years of recruiting into the technology sector, with experience gained in sales, marketing and technical experience across the globe. They continue to be heavily involved in the business, operating at the coal face and remaining close to clients and candidates alike. Please feel free to reach out to any of our leaders to discuss any aspect of how Certus Recruitment can help you achieve your objectives. We look forward to working with you.

<h2>Our team</h2>
Our Senior Leadership Team has a combined experience of 60+ years of recruiting into the technology sector, with experience gained in sales, marketing, and technical experience across the globe. They continue to be heavily involved in the business, operating at the coal face and remaining close to clients and candidates alike. Please feel free to reach out to any of our leaders to discuss any aspect of how Certus Recruitment can help you achieve your objectives. We look forward to working with you.

Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector.

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +61 (03) 4050 7777</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/au/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">here</a>&nbsp;and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: hello@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

There is no shortage of fantastic recruiters to choose from. There are those that specialize by sector or by function, there are large multi-site high street agencies, global players, and single-site niche businesses. So how do you determine which one will be best to support your business?​We believe the most important element is to choose a partner you trust. If you don't immediately feel they understand your unique situation and they don't go out of their way to really understand your purpose, speak to another. Your reasons for choosing may sometimes be difficult to articulate, however, after speaking you will quickly know which company is best to represent your brand.​And finally, whilst price is an important element in choosing a supplier, make sure you're calculating all the costs - not just the fee %. The company that delivers you a great shortlist the first time round, who organizes your stakeholders and minimizes wasted time will save you thousands over the course of the project.Ultimately, the best way to measure us is to speak to us. However, in the meantime here are a number of frequently asked questions that may just help you decide to include us on your shortlist!

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +44 (0) 204 538 8222</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">her﻿e</a><a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a>and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: info@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

If you have any further questions or would like to find out more about how we can help your business grow, we'd love to hear from you. Just pick your preferred way of contacting us and we look forward to speaking with you soon.<ul><li>Pick up the phone and give us a call on +1 737 201 9992</li><li>Click&nbsp;<a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/us/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(234, 13, 140);">her﻿e</a><a href="https://certusrecruitment.com/us/submit-job/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">&nbsp;</a>and you can send us details of your business and your current vacancies</li><li>Send us an email to: america@certusrecruitment.com</li></ul>

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"Technology led businesses across the globe depend on us to drive growth through the delivery of innovative Talent Solutions"

"Technology led businesses across the globe depend on us to drive growth through the delivery of innovative Staffing Solutions"

We have a clear vision to be the Global Specialist Recruiter to the Technology Sector. To achieve our Vision we need amazing people who share our vision and subscribe to our values: Passion, Energy, Commitment, Integrity and Fun. If the Tech Sector excites you as much as it does us, get in touch or explore our current openings.

Great companies are built on great talent

We&rsquo;re always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network.

We&rsquo;re always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network.

Call Certus Now

Our specialist consultants can&rsquo;t wait to hear about your business!

Looking out for fresh talent for innovate organizations

At Certus Recruitment Ltd ("we", "us" or "our" for short) we and our group companies are committed to protecting your personal information. Your personal information (also called ‘personal data’) is the information which identifies you as an individual that we get from you and others in various ways. Under the Data Protection Act 1998 (the "Act") and the General Data Protection Regulation 2018 (“GDPR”) specific obligations are placed on us in the way we handle this type of information. The aim of this privacy policy is to let you know what personal information we collect from you when you apply for a job with us or our group companies, when you use our website and when you contact us, how we store and use it, and how you can access and manage this information.​Your personal information may be stored online and therefore we take steps to ensure that our systems are well protected.​The registered office of the above company is at 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN. Our company number is 12619774. We and our group companies, together with the products and services we sell and provide, are regulated by the Recruitment &amp; Employment Confederation (REC - https://www.rec.uk.com/)​Please note that this privacy policy only covers https://www.certusrecruitment.com/. Other websites belonging to us or accessible via links are not covered by this policy. If you access any of these sites, please check the privacy policy applicable to these sites (if any) before you submit any of your personal information to them.​So, what personal information do we collect about you?​We process the following types of personal data about you:• Contact details• Identification information• Information about past and current employment• Education and qualifications• Information about your lifestyle​We collect the personal information requested on our application forms and contact forms together with any comments or remarks that you may provide in free text fields (such as personal statements) or CVs (where applicable). We may also keep a record of references received from third parties (including those you give us, credit reference and fraud prevention agencies) and of any other correspondence or communication between you and us, whether written, e-mailed, or as a result of visits, interviews or recorded telephone calls.​We also monitor site traffic, and like most websites, we use a Unique Visitor Cookie (which is supplied and managed by a carefully selected statistics provider) to identify your PC by a random number (e.g. #12489). More details about cookies and how you can disable them can be found below.​We will (unless it's impractical) tell you if we obtain and store information from any other source and also how we intend to use it in accordance with this privacy policy.​Making sure your personal data is secure​Whilst we take steps to protect user privacy, no data transmission over the internet can be entirely secure. We therefore do not guarantee the security of personal information that you send to us, or your use of the site. Any personal information you do send is at your own risk but once we receive it we use strict procedures to safeguard it.​How do we use your personal information?​In connection with a contract between you and us or an employer… We (and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to do so to in connection with or anticipation of a contract between you and us (or At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company) or an employer.• to process your job application and otherwise manage the recruitment process• help potential employers assess and process your job application;• help potential employers check and confirm the references that you provide as part of your job application;• check with any necessary regulatory, industry and/or security authorities relevant to the position that you have applied for; Our Legitimate Business Interest… We (and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use and process your personal information where it is necessary for us to pursue our legitimate interests as a business for the following purposes:• help us identify you so we know who we are talking to;• help prevent and detect fraud or loss;• to contact you with information about opportunities that you might be interested in from time to time via phone or post;• assess risk, carry out market research, statistical analysis, test systems, improve the way that we run our recruitment process and your application (including quality assurance) and analyse your application and recruitment history;• train staff and monitor our services. This may mean that we record our conversations or our correspondence with you to make sure we are providing you with a good service and to make sure we keep to our legal and regulatory obligations. Where you have provided consent… We and any At Certus Recruitment Ltd group company may use your personal information where you have consented for us to do so• to contact you by email or other electronic means about opportunities that you might be interested in from time to time;• to provide you with job alerts. This consent can be withdrawn by logging-in to your account on the website and updating your details. Unless otherwise stated, we will hold data processed through contractual and legitimate interests indefinitely. Data processed via active consent will continue to receive marketing relative to the initial opt-in until we have received a request to unsubscribe/opt-out.​Who do we disclose your personal information to?​We may make your personal information available to agencies and employers who subscribe with us or use our Website, working within the above ways in which we use your data. These clients may then use that information to contact you about specific roles via email, phone or post. Other clients or agencies should not send direct marketing messages by email or SMS to you unless you have consented (opted in) to this.​We may disclose your personal information to any member of our group, which means our subsidiary companies, our ultimate holding company and its subsidiary companies.​We may disclose your personal information to third parties:​• In the event that we sell or buy any business or assets, in which case we may disclose your personal data to the prospective seller or buyer of such business or assets.• If at Certus Recruitment Ltd or substantially all of its assets are acquired by a third party, in which case personal data held by it about its customers will be one of the transferred assets.• If we are under a duty to disclose or share your personal data in order to comply with any legal obligation, or in order to enforce or apply our terms and conditions to and other agreements; or to protect the rights, property, or safety of At Certus Recruitment Ltd, our customers, or others.​How can you find out what personal information we hold about you?​You are entitled to see the personal information that we hold about you at any time. (If you write to, email or phone us and ask to see this information, it is known as a ‘subject access request’ or ‘SAR’ for short) You can do so by:​• e-mailing us at dpo@certusrecruitment.com inserting the words ‘Data Request’ in the heading or• writing to us at Data Request, Certus Recruitment Ltd, 1 Vincent Square, London, SW1P 2PN​Even if you don’t want a copy of your personal information, you can still contact us to check that the personal information that we hold is accurate or to let us know of any changes to your personal information. We always try to ensure that the information we hold is accurate, up to date and relevant and, as you are applying for a job with us, it is important that we have the right information in order to be able contact you. We'll be more than happy to make changes or to correct any inaccuracies.​You have the following rights when it comes to your data:• to object to any legitimate business interests processing;• to withdraw consent (only in respect of any processing which depends on consent);• to ask for your data to be updated or corrected (where it is inaccurate);• if we have carried out any automated decision making as part of recruitment practices, contest any such decision and ask for a human intervention;• ask for the client to stop processing for any reason or exercise their right to be forgotten;• ask for a copy of their information that they have provided to you electronically (such as their CV) in a portable format;• complain to the ICO.​External links from our site​From time to time we may include hypertext links to sites which are created by individuals and companies outside of our group companies. We do this when there is a particular relevance to the topic you're reading about. Whilst we endeavour to check that the content of these sites is suitable, we unfortunately cannot take any responsibility for the practices of the companies who publish the sites that we link to, nor the integrity of the content contained within them.​What if we update our privacy policy?​We do keep our privacy policies under regular review so please do check each time you use the site. You'll be able to read about any updates on this page - as soon as they happen.​If you have any questions or if you feel that we are not complying with the terms of this privacy policy please do contact us by e-mailing us at the following address dpo@certusrecruitment.com inserting the words ‘Privacy Policy Grievance’ in the heading.​This policy was last updated on Thursday 4th June 2020.

Supporting businesses going through transformation, managing a transition or completing animplementation, our contract services team understand the challenges associated with resourcingyour project. In addition to our knowledge of the technical functions, our understanding of projectmanagement methodologies and the project life cycle means we’re best place to identify the bestcontractors for your project.Recognising the importance of continuity, we ensure our contractors are managed and supportedthroughout the duration of your project, utilising the latest technologies to ensure a seamlesscontractor experience.

Put simply, we help technology businesses scale.

We're always keen to introduce great talent to our extensive network.

We're always looking to introduce great talent to our extensive network

We provide a bespoke, specialist recruitment service that adds real value to your organisation. We believe a truly great recruitment service is not about filling a vacancy, it’s about helping you scale your business. On every occasion it’s our job to identify the right candidate who, due to experience and cultural alignment, goes on to significantly contribute to the attainment of your organisations goals.

We provide a tailored, specialist recruitment service that adds real value to your organization. We believe a truly great recruitment service is not about filling a vacancy, it’s about helping you scale your business. On every occasion, it’s our job to identify the right candidate who, due to experience and cultural alignment, goes on to significantly contribute to the attainment of your organizations' goals.

Send a brief

Our specialist consultants can't wait to hear about your business!

Although we assess each application we receive, due to the volume of responses we are unable to respond to all enquiries personally.<a href="/au/jobs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">View all jobs</a>

Although we assess each application we receive, due to the volume of responses we are unable to respond to all enquiries personally.<a href="/jobs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">View all jobs</a>

Although we assess each application we receive, due to the volume of responses we are unable to respond to all enquiries personally.<a href="/us/jobs/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">View all jobs</a>

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Mental Health in Sales

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KPIs: Use them properly, or else

Competition and its place in the professional world

Does Your Sales Team Trust You?

Does your level of physical attractiveness dictate your job success?

3 Business Maxims Which Need to Catch Up

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