As a sales recruitment agency we know finding top-tier sale talent can be a challenge at any time. But right now it’s more challenging than ever to build out your sales team. Talent scarcity is a legitimate issue and many sales organizations are struggling with their recruitment efforts. So, you need to have a strong and effective hiring process. How effective is yours? Are you making rookie mistakes that could be hurting your chances of finding top sales talent?

Our sales recruiters outline some rookie mistakes that are commonly made during the sales hiring process:

1. Not providing specific details about what the role entails

Sales roles can vary significantly. If you are not providing specific details about what the job entails, you’ll have issues attracting the right types of candidates. If you are too general, you will likely get more applicants. But this will increase the pile of resumes you have to search through to find qualified individuals. This could increase your time to hire. 

2. Focusing on hiring within your industry

A common mistake made by sales managers is restricting their focus to people with specific sales experience in your industry. For example, if your company works in IT, you are only looking for candidates with IT sales experience. This can severely reduce your hiring pool. Great salespeople can move across industries and have success. 

3. Overselling the opportunity

Overselling and underdelivering is a big no-no in the sales industry. The same goes for when you are hiring. While you may want to build up an opportunity to some degree to get people excited about the position, don’t oversell it. This can lead to quick turnover, and it could hurt your employer’s brand. 

4. You focus on experience over potential

There is no question that experience is important. But it’s not the only thing you should be focusing on. Many sales managers make the mistake of focusing too much on experience and not enough on potential. Experience is the past and potential is the future and what a candidate can do for your organization. Make sure you consider both equally when assessing and comparing candidates. 

5. Not having a comprehensive onboarding process

The hiring process doesn’t stop once you fill the role. If you want a salesperson to stick around long-term and have success, you need to support them and offer a comprehensive onboarding process. Learning a new sales system and customer base takes time and support. If you don’t have the right training system in place, even the most seasoned sales professionals can struggle to ramp up. 

If you are guilty of any of the above, it’s time to review your hiring processes and make adjustments. 

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SalesForce Search is a sales recruitment agency that specializes in hiring sales rockstars. Hiring top salespeople is tough. Only 55% meet their quota. Our proactive approach recruits talented salespeople before they hit the market. As North America’s leading sales headhunter we recruit salespeople in every sector of the economy including, software, manufacturing, financial services and medical devices. To find your next sales rockstar, start your search here.