Everyone wants to avoid sales hiring mistakes, but not everyone understands the actual cost because it’s multifaceted. That’s a big problem because, without good data, leaders will almost always underestimate the time and money spent. Here’s a tool to help you.
What if you could avoid the mistakes altogether? Hiring salespeople is different than hiring anyone else in your organization. Salespeople should be good at selling themselves BUT hiring managers must be on point and not rely on the same old hiring processes.
Here are 5 ways you can improve your sales hiring practices immediately:
- Understand the outcomes required for your sales role.
- Write a better job posting.
- Use a predictive assessment specifically for sales professionals.
- Control the interview process.
- Review the Onboarding process.
Let’s dig into each.
Understand the outcomes required for your sales role.
Not every sales role in your company is the same. The activities might be different plus, the type of prospects & decision makers they will call on can vary significantly. Aspects of the role like sales cycle, price of your product/service, and the amount of competition your salespeople will encounter can vary.
All these elements play a factor in who will be successful.
Clearly defining who you are looking to hire and exactly what they need to do every day, week, and month will make it easier to ask the right questions during the hiring process.
Bonus Insight! Experience isn’t as important as you think. A lot of sales experience often comes with bad habits you don’t want.
Consider this example. A candidate has lots of experience with a well-established and recognized company that has rigid sales processes. How well will that experience fit with your company’s nimble approach to sales? Will it afford them the skills to get the prospect’s attention, sell value, and create urgency? Probably not.
Write a better job posting.
Make it stand out. Skip the standard accountabilities & responsibilities job ad in favor of describing the person you want and what they are good at executing.
For example, you have had success selling complex and expensive solutions to CTOs in healthcare. The entire job posting should describe the person you need; you know, the one you identified in step 1.
You want the candidate to self-identify, and be excited about the opportunity. They may not have all the criteria you describe, but enough to throw their sales hat into the mix!
Use a predictive assessment specifically for sales professionals.
This is a plug and meant to help you understand that there are many great assessments out there. Here is the question to ask –
What are you trying to learn about the sales candidate?
Our assessment is predictive and does not use benchmarks of social situations. It predicts if the candidate will sell to your prospects in your market segments at your price points and against your competition. 91% of recommended candidates from our assessment rise to the top half of your sales team within 12-months.
Want proof – third-party validation here.
Click here when you’re ready to try it out on a great candidate before you hire. If you are a true do-it-yourselfer, you can get a subscription without having to speak to someone.
Control the Interview Process.
Let’s face it, sometimes we fall in love with a candidate’s resume. Other times, the candidate is so damn impressive on the phone or does a great job of selling herself in the meeting, you unwittingly give up control of the interview process, and start selling the wonderful company and the perfect role. You abdicate the responsibility of vetting the candidate.
Start with a brief phone screen, ten minutes tops. Ask everyone
- how they feel they meet the criteria in the job posting.
- about a time they had to sell value over price.
- what they are most proud of in their professional career.
Next comes a 60-minute face-to-face or Zoom meeting. 20 minutes is used to challenge the items on the resume. It’s not about being a jerk but to see how the salesperson responds when they are put on the spot. No need to do this, if all the prospects they will call on will roll over and never ask a tough question.
Next, spend 20-minutes on the assessment. Challenge the weaknesses in their mindset and selling skills.
The last 20-minutes describe what is important in the role, the culture, and management. Don’t sell how great it is, but share the real expectations of the candidate.
The final interview should be with 2 or 3 candidates who did well throughout. Sell the role and the company now.
Review the Onboarding process.
Evaluate how you onboard salespeople. How quickly can you tell them who the ideal target prospects are, what problems the prospects have that your team can solve, and how well do you set up the salespeople with the right questions to ask?
Do you have an optimized, staged, and milestone-centric sales process? The sales process allows management to
track opportunities, it becomes the language your sales managers use to discuss opportunities, and how we track accountability. A sales process as described that is implemented is worth 15% revenue growth in 12-months.
Do your new salespeople engage quickly with the prospects? Get them out on the road or on the phone talking with prospects and customers. Sales Managers should be heavily involved with onboarding salespeople. The messaging, prospects, technology, and expectations must be discussed consistently.
Expect a 6-month timeframe to onboard a salesperson well. You went to the trouble of hiring the right people, don’t lose them because they do not feel supported.
As always, we can go deeper with these concepts. If you have questions, you can learn more at our website or reach out on LinkedIn. We share a ton of good information.
