Recruiting salespeople should be an ongoing process that does not end. You may not always be hiring for open sales positions, but you should always be recruiting for and building a strong ‘bench’ of sales talent.
Nonetheless, most organizations remain reactive in their approach to finding sales professionals. Sales has such a critical role to every company, that it is imperative you should always be on the lookout for top sales talent.
The biggest challenge for most companies in recruiting salespeople are:
• Where do I find and hire good salespeople?
• How do I pay them?
• How do I keep good salespeople once I have found them?
Finding Good Salespeople:
Sales recruitment is unique. You should have a holistic recruitment strategy in place that will provide you with a steady stream of qualified salespeople to interview. In addition, a strategy needs to be in place to nurture these potential hires. Keep them engaged by providing company newsletters, successes, career information, etc. Each touch point will help strengthen your brand and position you as an employer of choice. To generate a pipeline of potential sales candidates, here’s a list of possible sources:
• Internal Employees
• Employee Referrals
• Specialized Sales Recruitment agencies and Executive Recruitment Firms
• Job Postings
• Social Media
• Industry Conferences & Events
The best way is to not just pick one of these avenues, but instead use a multi-pronged approach.
Prestige Recruiting Solutions – a leading sales recruitment agency – when hired by a client, utilizes all of these sources in order to cast the widest net and “scour” the market.
Clear Job Descriptions. Ensure your job postings clearly outline the role, responsibilities, and expectations. Use simple language to make it easy for potential candidates to understand.
Hiring Good Salespeople
During interviews, ask about past experiences and actions. This helps you assess how candidates handle real-world situations and gives insight into their sales approach.
Conduct simple role-play exercises to observe how candidates approach sales situations. This can give you a sense of their communication and problem-solving skills.
Sales can be challenging. Look for candidates who demonstrate resilience and a positive attitude in the face of rejection. This quality is crucial for long-term success.
Speak with previous employers to gain insights into a candidate’s work ethic, reliability, and how well they collaborate with a team.
How Do I Pay Salespeople?
Clearly communicate the potential for commissions, bonuses, and other incentives. Make it attractive by showcasing the earning potential in a straightforward manner.
From our experience the primary reason salespeople don’t work out or don’t stay with a company is the design of the sales compensation plan. Too little and they’re not happy, too much and the company isn’t happy. As many employers consider whether they’re still operating in a recession, temporarily out of it or see it in their rear-view, they need to have a defined sales strategy that aligns with their overall corporate strategy. For example, if their corporate strategy is hinged on customer retention but the sales organization is promoting growth of new accounts, the wins and losses may simply balance each other out. Add to that, a compensation plan that hasn’t been thoroughly designed and you’re destined for failure.
According to CPSA (Canadian Professional Sales Association), only 38% of Canadian employers maintain a salary structure specific to sales professionals. The best performing salespeople are typically motivated by $ and therefore need a sales compensation plan that effectively rewards them for the results that the company wants them to achieve and exceed. Without this, there will be a mismatch between their efforts and results, and you fall short of goals and risk higher attrition rates. Higher attrition means less investment in technology and infrastructure. A revolving door, little innovation and you’re sure to have low morale.
So how do you know if your compensation plan is effectively designed? Varicent, a leading comp design company offers the following diagnostic questions:
1. Do your plan metrics help drive the company’s strategy?
2. Is your plan a good fit for your sales organization?
3. Is your plan “mechanically sound”
4. Can you administer the plan with existing people, processes, data and technology?
Here are a few things to keep in mind when reviewing your sales compensation plan:
1. What is the desired level of income for a salesperson in your industry and what sales volume is necessary to achieve this income?
2. Is the plan tied to gross sales or gross profit?
3. In most cases, it is not advisable to pay commission of more than 20% of gross profit (this may vary by industry and product). Any more than this and you are paying too much.
4. How does your sales compensation plan compare to other firms in your industry?
5. Will sales commissioned be uncapped or limited?
6. Does your sales cycle require a team approach with multiple employees earning commissions?
There are 3 things you should always consider when evaluating your sales compensation plan:
A. Keep it simple
B. Reward for the behaviours that support your corporate strategy
C. Evaluate and modify
These are just a few of the issues that can come up and if you don’t know the answers to any of the questions above, it may be time to review your compensation structure for your sales team.
Retaining Salespeople
You’ve recruited and hired a great salesperson. You’ve spent a lot of time, money and resources to find this person…now what? How can you ensure that they will be successful and stay with your company for years to come?
As organizations claw their way through economic recovery and into growth mode, a certainty is that competitors will be knocking on the door to scoop up top talent. While there’s no way to build an impenetrable wall between your employees and the outside business community, here are six steps you can take to increase your chances of retaining your top assets.
- Make them successful;
- Create a Positive Culture: Foster a positive and supportive work environment. A healthy workplace culture promotes job satisfaction and reduces turnover;
- Reward appropriately;
- Recognize them: Top sales professionals indicate that recognition amongst their peers is the number 1 motivator for high performance, aside from personal compensation;
- Communicate and ask for feedback: Establish open lines of communication. Provide constructive feedback regularly and encourage salespeople to share their thoughts and concerns;
- Conduct personal performance reviews and use them as career growth tools;
- Understand what motivates each employee and build reward programs that are relevant (it’s surprising how many different motivators exist).
Let’s focus on the first step, Make them Successful. A common mistake is to hire a salesperson and hope they have contacts that can bring in big sales. The reality is that even experienced, well connected salespeople need help to be successful. Here is what your company needs in place to ensure a successful salesperson:
- A good sales manager – A big reason salespeople leave or do not live up to expectations is they have no one to rely on to coach them, mentor them and help achieve their goals;
- On boarding process – What happens when this person starts? Who is responsible for teaching them about the company, products, and services? What kind of support is available?
- Sales Training & Coaching – Tiger Woods uses a coach not because he doesn’t know how to swing a golf club. He uses a coach to fine tune his swing and get better. Sales is no different. Even experienced salespeople need reminders and refreshers on how to approach new business and how to move potential clients along in the sales process. Investing in ongoing training and development will go a long way to securing more business. Offer continuous training to help salespeople stay updated on product knowledge, industry trends, and sales techniques. This shows your commitment to their professional development.
These are all important steps to ensuring success.
Remember, simplicity and clarity are key at every stage – from attracting potential candidates to retaining top talent. Clearly communicate expectations, offer support, and create a workplace that values and recognizes the efforts of your sales team.
Good companies should always be on the lookout for top salespeople, once you have found them then be prepared to hire, train and retain!
Where Great Sales Teams Begin
Prestige Recruiting Solutions is a sales recruiting company and executive headhunting agency which specializes in the recruitment and placement of sales professionals. We work in nearly every industry sector and vertical from construction to manufacturing to business services and believe our Hiring Process can help you find the right salesperson for your organization. Sales is a critical component of every organization and hiring great salespeople is challenging. We help companies save time and money by finding the right salesperson quickly and ensuring your organization hits their sales targets.