I have hired a number of top producing salespeople and have learned a few things along the way. I will save you the frustration and lost $ by outlining a couple of those sales recruiter mistakes with you today. Hiring the wrong sales talent can be a very costly mistake not only in $ but also lost productivity and opportunities.
Over the years I have been involved with a number of solid great hires in which I am proud of. Of course I have also seen my share of poor hires and in all of these situations, the hiring mistakes could have been easily avoided. How many of these are you guilty of?
Not Being Crystal Clear On The Position Requirements
Believe it or not, this happens more often than you think. I have seen this countless times where the sales managers assume that recruiting a great salesperson will solve their top line issues without understanding the greater need of identifying the sales role specifics and the necessary support of the company. They ask HR to generate a job description which ends up as being too generic. As a result you end up with a poor pool of candidates, wasting valuable time interviewing the wrong candidates.
The Sales Manager needs to take an active role in understanding what the successful sales person looks like at their organization, identify the sales task and generate a job description which match those recruitment needs. The HR department must be aligned with the sales department regarding the specific job sales environment so they can effectively recruit the right candidates.
Underestimating the importance of on-boarding
New hires are expensive. You want to protect your recruitment investment . A structured on boarding process must leave a good impression on your new hire. The Aberdeen Group conducted a study in which they found that 86 percent of respondents felt that a new hire’s decision to stay with a company long-term is made within the first six months of employment. Organizations that invest the time and resources to develop a formal Sales / New Hire on-boarding program benefit by a reduced risk of attrition, an increase in revenue growth and sales reps who are happier and fit in culturally.
On Boarding needs to last longer than 1 day and can even begin before the first day. Relying on a one-day HR orientation, a series of unrelated administrative tasks, and a folder of forms doesn’t work. General considerations are:
Knowledge of the Sales Role including sales tasks which lead to success.
Expectations - Activity levels, company sales processes, sales resources.
Sales planning and timelines. Including Targets and Goals.
Sales tools / systems / CRM.
Product / Service sales knowledge and training.
Customer/buyer knowledge.
Regularly check in with the new hire to ensure they have what they need to be successful. Listen to understand their struggles and offer guidance. These are a few things to consider, however I am sure you can come up with many more aspects to your new hire training to ensure the new hire is being positioned for success.
Not Verifying and Verifying
Not sure if I mentioned the need to verify...challenge yourself to listen to understand more about the candidate. We realize that the candidates resume prominently outlines all the good stuff about the candidate. Let's look deeper into what the resume doesn't say. There are numerous creative ways for you to look deeper to understand more about what is missing. What don't you see on the resume? Attempt to uncover and separate, then validate the facts and fluff.
Both the facts as well as the fluff need to be validated and understood during the reference phase of the process. Verifying references needs to be done by someone who understands how to properly interview references. This is the best opportunity you have to verify the capabilities you seek within the new hire to ensure they are the best job match. Remember the references you really need may not be listed. I generally uncover additional references from my personal network or other sources.
Not Selling the Company and the Sales Opportunity
Anyone who has been involved in team-building will know interviews are a two-way process. The best candidates are vetting employers as much as being vetted by them. So, it’s important for employers to recognize the need to sell their own organizations if they are to attract the best talent. Present an honest assessment of the company, growth projections and opportunity so the candidate can visualize the role and as part of the team. describe the company and how it is aligned to support the sales team with product, sales tools, sales training and the willingness to invest in the process. Be honest and upfront about the opportunity and expectations.
Not Testing Up Front To Weed Out Bad Matches
We use a number of predictive candidate sales assessment tools to weed out candidates which don't have the necessary "skills" to be successful. It's important to understand there are numerous forms of testing when hiring sales team members and applying the correct set of assessments is critical. It's also important to realize that there are no "one fits all" approach to sales testing. The success rate is very dependent on the job specifics and process established by the sales recruiter.