Most business owners and managers of all kinds can relate to the struggle of executive sales recruitment. With over 22 million sales professionals in the North American region alone, knowing how to write a sales job description is vital to increasing the number of applicants. In addition to increasing interest in the position, a good job description can aid in hiring sales people that are the right fit for the company. If the right person is not chosen for the job, the company could face losses up to 10 times the salary of that employee. Luckily, there are a few solutions to identifying the characteristics of good sales representatives.
For those business owners and managers looking to get more than the average 10% return on investment most common in sales jobs, here are three things companies should keep in mind in order to hire great sales people.
Studies have shown that new sales professionals tend to mirror the performance of their previous positions to their new positions. In conclusion, however much a candidate made in their last job has a great possibility of being almost the same amount they will generate for your company. To find out this information, ask the candidate to provide you with paycheck stubs or some other form of income verification of the past six months. Once you have this information, it is up to you to verify it.
In addition to finding out the numbers associated with a candidate’s performance, calculate how much they would have to sell in order to make a reasonable profit for your company. Once you have this information, decide whether or not this level of performance and revenue from it are satisfactory to your needs.
Discover what drives your candidate to work harder than their peers and make more money. Has an important life event happened that has caused their focus to shift? Have they recently purchased a home, gotten married or had a child? If any of these examples can be applied, that may be the source of their motivation to be and do better. If none of these apply or they do not have anything to name for their reason to make great sales, you can almost guarantee they will not be motivated to work hard for your business.
During the interview process, ask the candidate to sell you a product already in the room or even one of your products and see how they perform. Notice if they head right into the sales pitch or if they ask info-seeking questions to get a better understanding of the consumers needs and wants. Next, give a couple objections and observe how they react to rejection. This gives you an exact idea of how they will perform on the sales floor.
Following the above suggestions during the interview process of executive sales recruitment will save managers like you countless hours of wasted time on candidates that are not the right fit. Executive sales recruitment involves more than a simple interview. Taking the right actions from the beginning can be the difference between a thriving company and one that is simply getting by.
Rhys is a tenacious, top performing Senior Sales Recruiter with 15+ years of focused experience in the Digital Media, Mobile, Software, Technology and B2B verticals. He has a successful track record of headhunting top performing sales candidates for some of the most exciting brands in North America. He is a Certified Recruitment Specialist (CRS) and has expert experience in prospecting new business, client retention/renewals and managing top performing sales and recruitment teams. Rhys enjoys spending quality time with his wife, son, and daughters, BBQing on a hot summer day and tropical vacations.