Every year, the sales team turnover for most companies is approximately 40%. For any company, experiencing that degree of turnover can be very damaging, considering how much it costs to hire and train new employees.

One common sense solution to turning that turnover around is to hire better sales reps—but how do you do that, exactly? You might consider using a sales recruitment firm to help you with hiring sales reps, as they have experience finding the right person for the job, but also because some sales recruitment firms will provide services even after the hire, such as management and training.

When hiring sales reps with the help of a recruitment agency, it is important to have a firm grasp on what you are looking for in potential candidates. Sales jobs require a certain set of skills that can be hard to find in just one person, but excellent sales people are out there. Here are three things to look for when hiring successful sales people.

Promising Sales History

If a person has performed poorly in the past, you have little reason to believe that once they are at your company they will perform any differently. This, of course, is not the case if someone has no history at all. If a candidate with no sales history displays a number of other valuable traits, then they may be worth the hiring investment.

Research Skills

Not only should a successful sales person be able to research a prospect or a company before approaching that prospect, but they should be able to gather information during a pitch. In this way they can confidently and accurately address concerns, increasing the chances of closing the deal.

Perseverance

A good sales rep is not just capable of meeting and exceeding a quota—they are motivated to do so by their belief in the product or service they are selling. Motivation is just one part of the equation, however, because closing the deal, ultimately, depends on the amount of patience and perseverance a sales rep has to follow through with prospects in the face of adversity.

With the help of a sales recruitment firm, your chances of finding individuals that possess these traits is much higher than if you were to throw a job description out onto a job board. Once you have identified sales reps who personify these traits, it will be up to you, and in some cases the agency, to ensure that your sales rep gets the training and management that they need to stay with the company and thrive.