How can you be sure you are recruiting the right salespeople?

Recruiting the right talent is one of the most effective things you can do to ensure you company continues to grow and hit those revenue targets. Salespeople evidently play a vital role in hitting those numbers as they are the ones that sell your products and services directly to customers and negotiate the best possible margins for the company. But how can you ensure you are recruiting sales individuals who will make a positive impact to your business, customers, and teams?

1. Be attractive – Recruitment is a two-way selling process - candidates and companies need to sell their benefits to each other. If you want to get the best salespeople, you have got to get them to want to apply. Be overt in why your company is a great place to work. This isn’t just solely about packages i.e., the salary, car, and pension. Whilst money generally is a key driver for successful salespeople, they are also interested in the quality of the products or services they will be selling. They will also want to know the development and career opportunities that will be on offer. More now than ever, company culture also plays a big factor in job decision making; for example, can they work remotely, expectation of office working etc.
2. Be clear on expectation - All too often we see non descriptive or non-committal job descriptions. This does not help with being attractive. Be clear on what the role is and what it isn’t. The qualities and skillset you are looking for. We have blogged previously on the positive impact creating functional competencies can have. See: Pure Blue Ocean | How leadership and functional competencies grow your business By defining the competencies and what is expected by role, you can create accurate job descriptions that reflect the key responsibilities and objectives of the role and how these fit within the overall organisation. It can also accurately outline the expected behaviours, values and functional capabilities that is expected of them to be successful within a specific role.
3. Leverage resources and networks – Many organisations work with recruitment agencies to obtain talent. If this your approach, choose the right recruitment agency that understands your business and needs (not the lowest cost). Being clear with them as to your expectations and the remit of the role you are recruiting for means you are more likely to interview strong candidates. Or you may choose to leverage LinkedIn and recruit inhouse. Whilst more time intensive, it can be effect in getting the right talent fit for your business. Also look to leverage your existing employees, they will be connected to like minded people. Offer incentives for successful requirement outside of the organisation.
4. Assess against various capability requirements – Whilst interviews are an effective way to test experience, style and fit (clearly using a competency framework to do this); Asking interviewees to take part in a range of assessments will give you a much better-rounded picture. For example, aptitude tests or psychometric tests enable you to assess their intellect and psyche against numerical or verbal reasoning. Requesting they create a presentation based on a sales case study will enable you to assess their thought process, presentation style and problem solving. Role playing is also an effective way to assess salespeople. Be the difficult buyer and see first-hand how they would cope.

These simple steps should lead to more effective and efficient recruitment. Obtaining the best talent you want first time. The second challenge is then how you retain them…but that is a whole new blog!

If you need support in knowing how to recruit the best talent (or retention strategy) contact us: help@pureblueocean.com