In 1979, with a toddler to feed on a social worker’s salary of $19,500 annually, I decided to ‘go into business’ (whatever that meant) to earn more money. I went to Goodwill, bought a ‘business’ dress for $12.00 and took myself to Wall Street, thinking that was where I would find ‘business’.
Not knowing the protocol I walked into Merrill Lynch, White Weld International on 1 Wall Street. ‘Who’s in charge of hiring people?’ I naively asked a receptionist. ‘You need the CEO. Go up to the 50th floor,’ she said and pointed to a tiny (four person) elevator.
On the 50th floor I was greeted by a secretary who asked who I was there to see. ‘The CEO’. She smiled, then walked me into his office. The CEO of Merrill Lynch got up from his enormous desk in a windows-filled, corner office overlooking Battery Park and walked over to greet me. ‘How can I help?’ he asked this brazen young woman who’d just pranced in unannounced in a cheap dress. ‘I want you to hire me.’ He laughed.
CEO: What can I hire you as?
SD: A trainer.
CEO: Let’s make you a stockbroker.
SD: But I know nothing about stocks or bonds. (How I thought I was going to train anything is a mystery!)
CEO: If you could do what you just did, I’ll not only hire you, I’ll train you myself.
And he did.
It was a bear market. The Dow was 777 (Really!) and the brokers were suffering. But once I got trained, I was closing new clients daily. I would cold call people by saying: “Hi. My name is Sharon-Drew Morgen. I’m a broker at Merrill Lynch. This is a cold call. I want to be your broker, and I will most likely lose your money, but I’ll sure try not to.” ‘Oh!’ said the prospects. ‘An honest broker! Everyone else is losing me money and lying to me about it!’ I closed almost every prospect I called and became the rookie of the year.
Looking back, I unwittingly used unconventional standards to get my first job in business. I didn’t know any better: I have Asperger’s Syndrome, on the Autism Spectrum. As a social worker before that, I had no way of knowing I wasn’t supposed to walk into someone’s office (especially the CEO of Merrill Lynch!) and tell them to hire me; I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to tell people I would lose their money. As an Aspie I’m honest and direct. And very authentic. I was just telling people the truth. I ended up making a ton of money as a result. And yes, I lost everyone’s money.
No one knew what a neurodiverse person was in those days, nor did they care. My invisible ‘disability’ gave me the precise skills I needed to be a successful sales professional: relentlessness, hyperfocus, trustworthiness and authenticity, attention to detail, creativity, loyalty, and honesty. My most relevant skill for the job was my comfort with being rejected. With Asperger’s, I was accustomed to navigating adversity. Being neurodivergent made me successful.
NEURODIVERSITY IN SALES
Twenty percent of the workforce, and 50% of sales professionals are neurodivergent. In other words, of the 40,000,000 sales professionals worldwide, 20,000,000 are neurodivergent. And 75% of these people are undisclosed due to their fear of facing discrimination.
For some reason, while hiring folks of different races and gender orientations are standard, many companies avoid hiring neurodivergent (ND) people. But why? Sure, we’re different. Aren’t we all? What is it about neurodivergence that causes neurotypicals (NTs) to avoid us?
Thankfully, undisclosed ND people who can cope with standard hiring practices are being hired. But certainly, we’re not being interviewed in a way that makes getting a job easier and, once hired, we receive no services that help us flourish.
As a result, we face discrimination, get relegated to jobs well below our intelligence, and get shunned by colleagues and at meetings. I personally found myself in trouble often for doing things I didn’t know I shouldn’t do. Having a mentor or manager who could help me navigate NT standards would have made my job so much easier and helped me be even more successful. Instead of the stress of fitting in falling on my shoulders, I could have had an easier path to acceptance and acculturation.
CULTURE OF INCLUSION
Creating a culture in which ND employees not only fit in but are active, accepted members of the community, takes work. It’s not merely doing a few things differently but having a commitment to an inclusive workplace where everyone thrives, welcomes diversity, and collaborates. It means a culture change.
Company culture
Having a culture of inclusivity makes it easier to hire and retain ND sales folks. When you advertise your company as a culture of inclusion, the people who get hired are expected to respect and include everyone, regardless of race, gender, or neurodiversity. This gives ND folks the green light to apply for a job.
Since the focus of this article is on hiring and retention practices (below), I’ll just mention a few areas to address to make sure you’ve got an inclusive culture;
- Publish corporate guidelines on inclusion in all written communiques so both the public and current employees are aware.
- Rethink hiring practices to provide interviewing choices that help NDs interview comfortably.
- Discover the barriers to inclusion within the company and begin the process of unblocking them.
- Provide management training to give managers specific skills for communicating with, and helping NDs fit in.
Once the company culture is set up for inclusion, you’ll need to know the specifics for hiring and retaining ND employees.
Hiring practices
Neurodivergent salespeople are wonderful, loyal, successful employees who can give you a competitive advantage, but require different competencies to hire: We don’t make small talk and prefer plain-spoken questions; may not make direct eye contact; and may not answer typical interviewing questions in ways the interviewer is familiar with. Obviously not great for door-to-door sales but terrific for technical sales, e-commerce sales, cold calls, and business development research. We also make great account managers: our long term clients love us because of our truth telling, attention to detail, and loyalty.
Our different competences require a different interview process than hiring NT employees and may be best served with either email or zoom interviews. With a job spec that includes a sentence like Those applicants who need specific hiring accommodations, please tell us what you need, the applicant will provide the interviewer the specifics of an interview format to get the best interview possible. Remember: we’re different; standard norms will need to shift.
Retaining neurodiverse salespeople
Here are some ideas for managing and retaining neurodiverse sellers:
- For ND sellers working in a corporate building (and many work best from a home office) offer them a workspace situated away from lights or noise. Having a ‘quiet room’ on the premises helps.
- Make sure necessary information is in visual and written formats.
- Make sure we know how and when to use the appropriate technology. A ND techie (50% of tech folks are neurodivergent.) makes a great mentor!
- Managers must have appropriate communication skills as communication is quite different with ND folks. We may understand differently but are delighted to be told we’re doing something wrong and shown the right way. And note: consider bringing in an outside company to help here, like Ochtivate.
- Send out general questionnaires (no names required) that seek data from all sales folks with a specific note for undisclosed NDs to make requests, complain, etc. There’s no other way to get to the undisclosed ND population to provide any help they might need.
These are a few of the things that will help retain the ND sales professional; there are many books on the market that go into detail.
As I end this article, I’ll share something I do that works well most of the time to inoculate me from my communication partner’s assumptions of how I communicate. Indeed, I have found grace and kindness when I tell prospects/clients:
- “I have Asperger’s. That means I’m a bit loquacious, obnoxious, and annoying. But I’m also committed to using my knowledge, creativity, commitment, and integrity to serve you. So if you can put up with the annoying stuff, I am here for you.”
This has gotten me more business than any pitch or price reduction could have. And it’s absolutely honest.
Net net: the neurodiverse sales professional is eager to work hard, and can be your most loyal, successful seller. But make sure they have the right tools, in an accepting environment, with appropriate managers and mentors. We’re just different. But aren’t we all?
If you’d like some coaching to set up a culture of inclusion, or facilitate hiring and success practices for neurodiverse sales professionals, call me and we can discuss. sharondrew@sharondrewmorgen.com
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Sharon-Drew Morgen is a breakthrough innovator and original thinker, having developed new paradigms in sales (inventor Buying Facilitation®, listening/communication (What? Did you really say what I think I heard?), change management (The How of Change™), coaching, and leadership. She is the author of several books, including her new book HOW? Generating new neural circuits for learning, behavior change and decision making, the NYTimes Business Bestseller Selling with Integrity and Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell). Sharon-Drew coaches and consults with companies seeking out of the box remedies for congruent, servant-leader-based change in leadership, healthcare, and sales. Her award-winning blog carries original articles with new thinking, weekly. www.sharon-drew.com She can be reached at sharondrew@sharondrewmorgen.com.