One of the most frequent questions I’m asked is, “How can I recruit great salespeople?”
Many managers are struggling to find talented salespeople capable of producing the results they need.
One reason is they simply don’t have a Successful Recruitment Process in place.
Here are several tips to ensure your team is full of champions.
- Recruit talent constantly.
Often the recruitment process only begins when there is a vacancy that needs filling urgently. And that is a major mistake, primarily because it causes rushed and premature hiring decisions. Managers are more conscious of filling the hole in sales figures, rather than finding the ideal candidate to join the team.Alternatively, having an on-going proactive process in place to identify and engage top performers is the secret to hiring the best people. The best managers are constantly looking for new talent to bring into the organisation. They’re out networking and engaging with people on social media, reaching out and establishing good relationships with these salespeople long before they have a vacancy. And if someone they want is available, they will ‘create’ a position to ensure they get that talented individual onboard.
Another smart move is to set up a referral program that incentivises your best people to introduce talented new people to the firm. The great thing about this idea is that they are highly likely to introduce people they think will fit in and perform, so it’s a win-win for everyone.
- Know what’s important to you.
A challenge with typical recruiting is that candidates that respond or are sent by an agency may not have the qualities or skills your organisation needs. One way to overcome this issue is to formulate a list of the key qualities you specifically want. You can do this by reviewing the individual champions already in your business. What is it that makes them top performers and fit so well into the culture? Now focus your efforts in finding more people like that. To help identify the qualities you require read Chapter 7 of The Sales Strategist – What does your ideal salesperson look like? - Interview with Purpose.
Hiring is a major decision with long term consequences, but sadly if managers ‘wing it’ with insufficient preparation at the interview stage it’s easy to lose control of the recruitment process. You need to think carefully ahead of time about which questions and exercises you will use to help identify the key qualities you are looking for. Together with mentally reviewing how these traits will be demonstrated by the candidate’s behaviours at the interview stage.
- Onboarding to Create Champions.
Don’t leave anything to chance during the initial on-boarding period. This is the time when both your new recruit and you will be asking, “have I made the right decision?”. These first few weeks are pivotal in setting the tone for their relationship with you and the company. Many companies pay little attention to this process and suffer the consequences of reduced engagement and low retention. Your on-boarding process needs to support the new member through the doubts and difficulties of joining a new firm. Enabling them to quickly become comfortable and confident individuals who will stay long-term. For more specific advice on creating a solid on-boarding process read the article, https://www.linearstructure.com/how-crucial-are-the-first-90-days-to-your-success/
- Coach to Keep.
No other management activity delivers stronger results. Top sales managers are skilled at coaching their teams using an ‘Asking vs Telling’ mindset. They help individuals to be more self-aware and to set their own goals and plans for improvement. This is fundamental to staff engagement and long-term retention. Smart sales organisations are investing heavily in their sales mangers development as they see a direct link between superior sales-rep performance results and their managers ability to coach professionally.
In conclusion.
Recruiting top performers is not an event. It’s a professional on-going process that will attract, recruit and retain a group of highly motivated professionals. It all starts with you putting in the time and investment to create the process and then your commitment to run it consistently. It will take hard work but not nearly as much as the alternative…now that’s something worth thinking about!
I’d be happy to hear your thoughts and ideas on successful recruiting it’s always good to share additional ideas, so drop me an email and connect at peter.holland@linearstructure.com
