Street Smart or Book Smart? Which One Are You?

Have you ever heard the phrase, "keeping up with the times?" That is a little different these days. There is so much uncertainty right now that "keeping up with the times" is not so much applicable, if you ask me. Let me explain. With a down econonmy there are many industries and companies that are going back to the drawing board. They are trying to think of new ways to generate revenue. Yes, times have changed, but the way we do business has also, or has it? I am sure many of you have heard, or even said it yourselves, the acronym K.I.S.S.--yes that one. Keep It Simple Sally. Right! No, but you know what it means. Yes I agree that we need to get creative with the way that we look at business, but the only way that any of us are going to weather the storm, in my opinion, is hard work. Put your nose down and grind it out! Before you know it you will look up and the recession will be in the rearview mirror and you will be ahead of the game because all those other guys are still drawing on their white boards. Ok, so my real message is this, I just needed to get that out there first.

What I really wanted to touch on was an article that I came across on Forbes.com. It really resinated with me. It was about finding good closers in sales. The author took a controversial topic and pretty much laid it to rest if you ask me. The question that came up was, 'who will deliver better? A sales guy that has the experience and book smarts or that wild card that has the street smarts and personality for success?' Raise your hand if you consider youself book smart. And raise your hand if you consider yourself street smart. I'm totally raising my hand and no one in the room even noticed. Awesome! Yea, I don't have the experience or resume that many sales teams might be looking for. What I do have is a desire to be molded and trained to become the best at what I do. I love talking to people, and I feel like I have a good presence on the phone. At this point I am like a spongue looking for water to gobble up and absorb. I am not trying to toot my own horn here, but I really believe that someone that does have a degree (like myself) yet has more of that gut following, hard working, teachable attitude would run circles around some of these experienced sales guys. So who do you hire? That is totally up to you. But maybe you should ask yourself a few questions first. This guy that has this experience and this great Rolodex, why did he leave his last job and why is he looking to join your company? Where did he get his experience? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Yes, but it may take that much more of your precious time to break him of those tricks.

So you decide--Street Smarts or Book Smarts?