homework, when it comes to the
company, and the science involved.
JEFF DOBBS: Our sales leadership
team has really taken competency-based interviewing to a new level.
We use it rigorously throughout
the selection process and have seen
great results from it. It’s not uncommon for our sales leadership
to spend 3-4 hours drilling down
to one question so we know who is
joining the team.
ERIC FINK: Behavioral-based
interviewing. We spend more time
on fit up front—it’s important
to have the right cultural fit and
technical fit.
What are your top interview
questions? Do you have any
interesting interview stories or
lessons learned?
ERIC FINK: We ask people about
their fondest memory; a time
when they had to work hardest to
get a product across the finish line.
Here, people need to develop their
own business plans; they need to
have a plan and work their plan.
They really need to be driven by
success, even when it’s more of a
challenge.
JEFF DOBBS: It’s not just about
determining what a person’s skills
and experience are. We really want
to know that they will be a good
cultural fit. Does the person work
to help others? Do they coach and
engage others? We want to know
whether the person is going to be
a fit with the type of culture we are
building here, and how they can
help the organization to be successful.
How do you assess, develop and
measure sales and marketing
leadership? Are there any processes or metrics you use that
have been helpful?
STACY MARKEL: We track
engagement and conduct leadership assessments, 360 assessments,
identify gaps in leadership. We utilize nine boxes to identify people
with high potential.
JEFF DOBBS: When we look
at performance, we are not just
looking to see if people are hitting
their numbers every year. They
also need to be developing KOLs,
bringing on new talent, coaching
others, helping others. If people
are doing this, they are able to
move up the career ladder. This is
the culture we have built.
What are some of the most effective programs you have put in
place from an HR perspective to
drive sales and marketing performance?
BRENDA VESEY: A total comp
statement. The value proposition
goes above and beyond traditional
comp and benefits. Communicate
with employees: the company is
investing in them: education, 401k
match, medical.
What are your retention goals
for sales and marketing? How do
you set them? How do you measure retention? What are your
metrics? Do you have any interesting retention strategies?
ERIC FINK: Jazz tracks retention
and, more specifically, regrettable
loss. Our board holds us accountable for this metric and our results
affect company performance metrics and bonus.
JEFF DOBBS: We’ve built a career
path and structure for our sales
and marketing associates. The
creation of that structure was led
by our sales and marketing leaders and is reinforced throughout
the lifecycle of an associate—what
we’re saying matters is what we
select for, coach toward and train
against. Understanding how it all
ties together, and ensuring the associates we promote reinforce the
right behaviors, is key to success.
STACY MARKEL: We are always
working to build a great environment, and develop leaders. We
provide equity grants for retention.
We conduct employee surveys and
exit interviews.
What is something that your
company does better than others,
with regard to sales and marketing and human resources? What
sets your company apart?
ERIC FINK: Training and development. Jazz focuses on education as
a main component to our incentive
package. We invest well above the
average in each employee, sending
them to top rated academic institutions to learn more about each
therapeutic state.
JEFF DOBBS: Consistency. Our
leadership team “walks the talk”
when it comes to not just the
results we want but how we expect
associates to go about getting those
results. Those expectations line
up with our selection criteria, our
competency-based interviewing
questions, our promotional criteria, our performance appraisals,
the reward and recognition we give
out, etc. You get the picture—it’s all
about being consistent in what we
expect and pulling that through to
