May 28th, 2012
I work with many business owners and presidents that need to hire salespeople. This seems like a simple task yet is truly one of the most difficult in any business. In addition to many companies not spending enough time on this task and just quickly looking to put butts in seats I see 3 other things way too often that are easy to fix.
1 ? Belief that the salesperson must have industry experience ? This is a NICE to have not NEED to have! Of course ramp up time can be shorter if you know the industry well but what is more important is function NOT the fit. Can this salesperson do the job? Do they have the strengths necessary to sell the product or service you have at the price you want? I see too many great companies hiring just based on the industry and that someone has a good personality but ultimately those two things do not lead to sales success.
2 ? We must sell the candidate on how great we are ? It is true it is a bonus if your company provides great benefits, has an amazing culture, and pays well but you don?t need to advertise these things right away. If you do everyone will want to work there. It is better to start out creating an atmosphere of what this salesperson will experience when selling in your industry and to write a job description that describes the type of person you want as opposed to outlining all the great things about the company. There is a different time for all of that. You want to make sure this candidate is the ?right? candidate and not only sees them self in your company for the bonuses but also sees them self in your company because the person you describe in your job description describes them 100% and they know they will succeed.
3 ? If you hire well your job is complete ? On the flip side some companies I work with do a great job of hiring but then they think their job is complete and just send the salesperson out into the field. That can work for some salespeople but most need a bit more than that. You MUST create an onboarding process after your salesperson is hired. This helps to not only get them introduced to your company policies but also enables you to set expectations and will ultimately help reduce turnover too.
Hiring can be frustrating. Hiring can be exciting. My advice is to have a set process just like you do in sales. Follow it, own it, and trust it. It costs too much to hire someone that does not work out to take this topic lightly!
- Karen Casey
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