Recruiting Top Sales Talent
It is sometimes very difficult to discern a quality candidate when you are in the interview process. This is especially true of salespeople who communicate for a living. Most salespeople come across very personable and make it tough to decide whether they truly will benefit your organization or if they are just a nice person. It was once said to me by an old sales manager that all salespeople are “just a little bit off”……. after all who would honestly CHOOSE to spent their career being constantly rejected? Surprising several. These days, I definitely find truth in that statement and as a sales recruiter it is my job to separate the true talent from the truly desperate.
How I Find and Evaluate Top Talent
My Network. In sales it is all about who you know, who they know, and what people know about who you know. I look to the people I trust in business to send me the names of potential candidates before I do anything else. Once I have some quality leads it is easy to build rapport based upon the referring person’s recommendation. In this case, I have moved past sourcing active candidates and into recruiting passive candidates. These are the salespeople that are consistently #1 and #2 in sales rankings and don’t have time to talk with a recruiter because they are out closing so much new business. A great tool to use in this capacity is LinkedIn, Click Here (Check out if we know any of the same people!)
Candidate Referrals. Your best candidates usually produce your best referrals. Salespeople are ego driven and will certainly not pass along the name of someone that is not at least as good as them. It is key to ask early and often for referrals. I even compensate for these because they are so valuable.
Once I have located candidates, I have a method for qualifying them further.
Proof of Performance. Many salespeople love to talk about the success they have had….. It is my job to determine if it what they claim is really fact. Before submitting a candidate to my client, I ask for all supporting documentation of sales success. I want to know where the stand in the rankings, the biggest deal they’ve ever closed, and what they have forecasted to close. From here, I utilize my resources to verify as much information as possible. The truth really is in the numbers, at least from a sales managers perspective. If the salesperson has documented repeated success, chances are it was not by luck.
Creativity and Uniqueness. I challenges my candidates to answer questions around why they feel like they are better than the next salesperson. I am curious to know what they do differently then their peers and why it works. This involves everything from sales process to contract negotiation. I need to know why people buy from them and how they have adapted during challenging times. If I am not hearing new ideas, I begin to wonder about the long term success probability.
Manageability. I must truly understand the management style that my candidate is most successful under. It is amazing the diversity that I find in this area. If I cannot match a candidate with my client’s management style, I know this will not be a successful match for either party. It is also important to understand what may be going on in a candidate’s personal life that may end up affecting their performance. It is better to uncover these issues up front so management is aware and can react accordingly.
Professionalism. I feel that a salesperson must take pride in how they appear in business if they are going to be successful. Outward appearance is a direct reflection on how one feels about oneself and the confidence that they have about their company and/or profession. A positive professional appearance is essential in my criteria for evaluating sales success likelihood.
